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Installation Begins

Introduction

After getting the OEM version of Windows Vista in early yesterday, several readers in our forums asked for information on the installation process of the new OS. Never one to disappoint, I took some pictures of the various screens and menus that you'll see if you choose to upgrade to Vista.

The screen shots are mostly self explanatory, but where details are needed I will explain!

A Fresh Installation Begins

The first screen in our Vista installation process after booting off of the DVD, you can select the installation language and region settings right from the beginning.

Right away you'll be asked for that all important license key and with the check box below it, you're actually setting an option that will be very important later. When "Auto activate" is checked, Windows Vista will only give you three days to activate; but if you uncheck this box, Vista said I had 30 days to play with the system before activation was required.

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Since this was a blank drive, upgrade options were not allowed, though even if you wanted to upgrade you are forced to start the process from the current Windows OS.

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The actual file copying, expanding and installation is pretty quick; much more so than Windows XP.

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After you set the default user and password, security settings, and time zones you are ready to enter the OS for the first time.

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But not until you let Vista run a performance test on your hardware. This test will generate a performance number for your system which can be used to judge application compatibility with future Vista-ready titles. More on this later.

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The opening screen on Vista is set to answer most of the questions you might have moving from a Window XP experience.