Vista Clean Install

I should be recieving my new laptop (XPS M1530) tomorrow. *crosses fingers*.

If all goes well and it is a good machine, I want to do a clean install of Vista.

I have read a lot around here about clean installing Vista and I have some questions for people who have done this on Dell laptops.

Does this mess with the warranty at all?
Does this destroy Dell's hidden Restore partition (Are these still even included in dell's computers)?
Would I need to reinstall Media Direct?

Anything else I should know?
If I spent the time to remove all the bloat, would this work almost as well as a clean-install?

Thanks in advance for any information you have to offer.

 

No
No
No
Don't screw up. Make restore discs.
Almost isn't good enough.

 

Here's how to do a clean install. I've done it about five times so far (just to get it perfect). I expect rep points!!! (Note the blatant whoring.)

Recommended: FIRST go to Dell website. Go to Support. Enter your Service Tag, download applicable drivers (see below). This is NOT necessary, as you can use the drivers disc that comes with your computer.

Insert Media Direct disc. Boot up computer. Press F12 on the Dell logo screen (may need to press it a few times until you see the boot comment at the top right corner). Boot from disc. Partition drive. Select "yes." Wait for format/repartition.

Eject Media Direct. Insert Vista disc. Wait a few seconds for DVD drive to read disc. Press a key. Press F12 on the Dell logo screen. Boot from disc. Answer questions. Install Windows. When Windows is installed, eject Vista disc. Insert Media Direct disc. Install Media Direct.

Now install drivers. You should have a few key drivers. They may be installed in any order. These include: Wifi, Ethernet, nVidia, and the Intel Chipsets. You don't need a new BIOS driver since the A05 is on every Dell shipping at this time. Note: if you REALLY need me to, I can post the links. In total, you should download and install 13 drivers (including the optional ones, such as the Touchpad one and the Webcam one).

Once this is done, perform Windows Update. Download a crapload of updates. One will be an error because it was messed up -- when it was written, it was incompatable with more than 2 Gb RAM, so you will likely encounter it. You need to UNINSTALL it and go to Microsoft's site and get the hotfix and manually install it. Once this is done, you are finished.

Tada.

 

Thanks for all the great information!

 

asking for rep points is against forum policy

haha, good fast guide though.

after reading tons of these guides, it really does boil down to being as simple as you've written it. I would still however recommend visiting Flamenko's guide which is somewhere (please don't make me search) so that someone who hasn't done this before can read what other users thought of the reinstallation process.

 

You have to reinstall all the drivers manually? Almost sounds more troublesome than removing software from add/remove =O. Or is it??

 

By the way, you do not need to install all drivers. For example, if you don't have a broadband card, obviously you don't need to install any of the "Communication" drivers (which are all drivers for the various cards). Therefore, although you have a selection of 29 drivers, you will not be using them all.

 

Installing drivers is easy because they are all EXE files. You just double click on them and let them go.

 

LOL, what's in your sig?

 

Sidetrack: Here's the thing, asking for rep annoys the people who actually have rep points. So just don't do it. Stay here long enough and the rep tail will grow naturally.

 

By the way, the Update error is something like KB929777. If you go to Microsoft's website and put that into the search bar, you will get the hotfix as the first link and how to uninstall it and manually reinstall it.

 

Yeah, but usually I give extremely bad advice.

 

That is good to know because I would not have known why I was getting errors. I would think I did something wrong and blew up my new laptop.

I really need to do this because I dont want all the bloat slowing down my new lappy.

You guys have been very helpful. Thank you!

 

The only error you will get is that when you run Windows Update, it will say that you have one critical update pending and when you attempt to install it, it will "fail." But the hotfix will get rid of that.