Install And Activate Windows Vista
Microsoft till date has released the RC1 (Release Candidate)
version of Windows Vista. There are many changes to
the graphical user interface in this version of windows.
From the RC1 point of view, the installation process
has changed almost entirely. The screens look new and
different for the users of previous versions of windows
family, especially for the users of Windows XP. This
promises to the user that, vista will be good enough
to replace Windows XP. The RC1 version will probably
requires Windows Vista Beta 2 pre-installed in the system.
Requirement study –
The first step
Installation of any new product including Windows Vista
involves two major steps. They are,
- Studying requirements and checking whether the
system meets the requirements or not.
- Installing the product.
Requirements Study is the study of what are the things
required for installing the product. The Requirements
for Windows Vista is, a system with any x86 (32-bit)
or x64 (64-bit) compatible Processor (Example: Pentium
4, AMD 64) with a speed of minimum 800 MHz and above.
The minimum primary RAM required is 512 MB. The GPU
must support a resolution of 800x600. The system memory
must be of 512 MB. The minimum capacity of hard disk
should be 20 GB. However, one needs higher capacity
hard disk drives, to install other heavy programs. There
must be a CD-drive or DVD drive mounted in the system.
The drive can be external or internal.
Though there are no specific requirements for sound
card, it is better to have sound card. At the installation
stages, the internet connection is not required. However,
during activation process, this is a must. Or one can
make call to Microsoft to get activation code, whenever
activation is needed. Windows Vista need to activate
once after it is installed. In case of internet activation,
the system details including processor id will be sent
to Microsoft. Microsoft stores this information securely
for verification, in case a request is made from other
system. According to Microsoft, this process ensures
that the installed copy of Windows Vista is genuine.
If one needs to make use of the “Aero” features
then they must have a good and high quality 256 MB VRAM
graphics card supporting DirectX 9.0 installed in the
system.
Not compatible with FAT32 partitions
One cannot install Windows Vista into FAT32 partitions.
Microsoft has done away with FAT32 from now on. There
was a plan of bringing a new File System called WinFS
which is based on Relational Databases. However, the
plans were dropped later. Windows Vista requires NTFS
as File System. Setup hides all other partitions which
contain FAT32 file system. Microsoft claims it as one
of security measures. One can give Folder level security
in NTFS. One cannot access the folders that are password
protected by other user accounts. So, one need to create
and format the partition using NTFS. One needs to take
backup of all important data before installing Windows
Vista.
Requires Older Version of Vista
To start installing Windows Vista, insert the Windows
Vista DVD or CD into DVD or CD drive. If there are more
number of CD’s, insert the first disk. To my knowledge
till date, Microsoft has not specified in how many CD’s
does the software comes out in the market. One can upgrade
the operating system to Windows Vista, if the system
meets the above said requirements and has got an older
version of Windows installed in it. But, while upgrading
to Windows Vista, the installer will convert the existing
partition to NTFS. Suppose, if one has a computer with
no operating system installed, then the installer will
perform a clean install.
Windows Vista installation process needs to be booted
from CD. To make system to boot from CD, one needs to
change the boot sequence or boot order or some word
like it. Immediately after the computer is switched
on, while in text mode, press DEL key. This will take
us to BIOS Setup Menu. The BIOS setup menu varies from
computer to computer which is purely depends upon the
manufacturer. Remember to save settings before beginning
booting the system. I think, one can run setup from
CD-ROM in text mode, if the CD-ROM drive doesn’t
support the feature of booting from the CD-ROM. If so,
then you need enable the CD-ROM by installing its MS-DOS
drivers that came along with the CD-ROM and reboot the
system using old MS-DOS mode and type “setup”
from command prompt.
Now, the system gets booted from the CD-ROM. Wait till
a screen prompting you to do something appears. Usually
the screen will be,
The screen may change, when it is released as retail
full version. The above screen is taken from RC1 setup.
The check compatibility online requires one to connect
to the internet. This will check the compatibility of
the system, and tells which version is suited for the
system along with price lists for different editions
of Windows Vista in RC1. This button may go off the
screen, when Windows Vista is released as full version.
Four Windows Flavors to choose from
There will be 4 editions in Windows Vista, when it
is released to the market. They are, Home Basic, Home
Premium, Business and Ultimate. Each one will have its
own features and prices. Home Basic and Home Premium
are meant for home users. There will be features like
parental control etc. in this edition. The Business
edition meant for Business people. Windows Vista Ultimate
Edition will contain all features of Windows Vista and
will be the most powerful edition among Windows Vista
Editions, including support for developers. The Release
Candidate 1 is pre-release version, hence, it is Ultimate
edition.
Selecting Install Now button will take you to next
screen. In the next screens, one may need to select
destination drive along with the folder to which the
files of Windows Vista be installed. After this or before
this, one may need to enter a product key. A product
key is a sequence of some numbers. This value must be
entered in order to proceed further. This number will
be printed on hard print material given with the Windows
Vista box container which comes with Software. This
key will be usually printed on the Certificate of Authenticity
and will contain 20 to 25 characters in length.
Windows Vista Key – key to successful installation
After entering the key correctly, the next screen
appears which will contain a prompts to accept or decline
the license agreement. Declining to accept the agreement
will cause exit without installing Windows Vista. In
Release Candidate 1, the license agreement tell that
the installed product will stop working from May 31,
2007, the installed product must be activated within
few days of use, using without activation will cause
the product to self destructive mode, and also, since
RC1 is a pre-release software, one must give their feed
back to Microsoft, say at least the product is good
or bad! After these procedures, you will have to just
wait and watch while the intelligent installer copies
files that are needed to run Windows Vista into the
system. It may even ask you to insert disks. Don’t
go away to have a cup of coffee! You may even wonder
and may get afraid to see the system gets rebooted automatically.
Now, the installation program installs various drivers
for the various hardware components detected in the
system. You may have to install various hardware drivers
for various hardware components manually or provide
the driver CD’s which are provided by the manufacturer,
while purchasing the hardware. However, there are some
devices for which drivers are made available in Windows
Vista default. Such devices have no problems at all.
There some older devices whose drivers are not compatible
with Windows Vista. These devices will still work, but,
without the guarantee that they are 100% trouble free.
After this process gets completed, probably a prompt
will flash in front of you, saying that you need to
reboot the system. Just reboot the system by clicking
ok or by clicking any other button provided with the
message. Don’t reboot the system by pressing reset
button or by switching the system OFF and ON or by pressing
CTRL+ALT+Del Key combination. Doing so, will cause some
problems to just installed files such as corruption
of files that are related to the operating system.
Activate Windows Vista
After the system is rebooted and is ready to use,
you need to activate Windows Vista. Otherwise the product
will be disabled after some days of use. Just click
the Activate now button displayed on the right hand
bottom corner of the screen. It will start activating
process. Provide information, if asked. You need to
be stay connected to the internet, while activating
the product. If there is no internet connection is available,
you should get activation code by contacting Microsoft
over telephone or by correspondence and then enter the
given code in the activation wizard.
I think, In case of activation by using internet, the
product may not get activated, if the product is activated
once. I think Microsoft is aware of the situation. If
you get some problems, while activating Windows Vista,
or any other problems, contact Microsoft itself over
telephone. They will be providing technical support
to Vista users.
Windows Vista will be a product to watch and buy, when
it goes to market during late 2006 or during early 2007.
Hope it will make good and intelligent operating system
in the years to come.
|
