Clean Vista install WITH NO ACTIVATION

Today Windows activation downloaded 38MB worth of Vista updates, and tied up my system for about 45 minutes while installing them. I believe these updates make up some of what will be released soon as Vista SP1. After everything was finally installed, my "free upgrade" OEM version of Home Premium was just as securely activated as it was before.

Just wanted to mention it.

 

Could someone tell me where the best place to get a vista anytime upgrade disc is since CompUSA stopped selling them. I want to go to 64bit since I'm getting 4gigs of ram finally.

 

Try this link: http://www.windowsanytimeupgrade.com/disc (that and other options are also in the main guide)

 

Windows Update popped up today showing these updates aswell. Not sure if i should install them now. Any exact date for the SP1 release?

Should i just wait for the actual SP to come out and switch to 64-bit?

 

These updates are "pre-SP1" updates that will need to be installed before you install SP1. So if you want SP1, you should install these now.

 

Pre-SP1 updates? that doesnt make sense. Isnt the whole point of a service pack to include all patches, fixes and enhancements up to date?

Heres from an article i read:
Microsoft is hoping that Vista's Service Pack 1, released earlier this month, will change that perception. However, most users won't be able to get their hands on SP1 until the middle of March, when it starts showing up as a download on Windows Update.

Why the delay? Microsoft is being cautious.

Operating system service packs break things — some software and drivers may not behave as they should when a service pack is applied. Service packs may include changes to an operating system's fundamentals. When a piece of software expects the OS to do one thing but it does another, the software may not be able to cope with the change.

Between now and its release, Microsoft is working with hardware developers to make sure that the drivers required to make their products work with Vista are compatible with SP1. But if that doesn't happen, get this: Microsoft will have a list of noncompliant drivers and won't allow SP1 to be downloaded via Windows Update on systems on which those drivers are installed.

Sure, you can still tempt fate by manually installing it and possibly hosing your system, but don't say you weren't warned.

Microsoft sent reviewers SP1 last week, and I've installed it on several systems — both real and virtual. I've put it on my home-brew PC, and on Vista running in Parallels Desktop for Mac virtualization program on both my iMac and my MacBook.

Installing SP1 on the virtual systems — basically, simulated Windows PCs running on top of the Mac OS — went flawlessly. But that was not the case on the physical machine, which would simply not accept the update.

I had attempted to install one of the earlier test versions on my computer, and, possibly because of a hardware problem, it nearly nuked my Vista installation. System Recovery saved me, but I do believe Vista's underpinnings were permanently damaged. I was unable to download anything new from Windows Update, a situation that left me vulnerable to exploits aimed at unpatched machines.

When I tried to install the finished version of SP1, Vista again refused to accept it. Fortunately, Microsoft also sent a copy of a full Vista setup disk that included SP1. I backed up my data, formatted my hard drive and did a clean install of Vista plus SP1.
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Also Can anyone confirm the digital river links are safe and work properly? I dont wanna waste my time and bandwidth on something that might not work

 

I can confirm it. I downloaded the 32 bit of Vista and the links were 100% virus and trouble free. Not to mention, fast. I downloaded 2+ gigs in 45 minutes.

 

I know, it does seem strange, but that's exactly what's going on:
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/w...ecurity-update-coming-via-windows-update.aspx

I assume that if you were to install it on a fresh machine, it would include these patches as well, but it will require you to reboot a few times. This release schedule allows the reboots to happen over the course of a few days/weeks, so the final SP1 release won't take forever to install with tons of reboots.

 

Thanks Autobot. Im half way through downloading from digitalriver. I dont understand why they dont just post up the actual .iso image of the disc.

I probably wont do the 64bit install till the SP1 comes out and proven to be stable. I think windows update wont show up the service pack untill you install the 3 pre-requisite updates first

 

Instead of reading "all 86+ pages", how about reading the first one? You have asked the #1 and #2 F-A-Qs.

 

Dude - My post was up for literally 2 minutes before I noticed the FAQ and deleted it - Unless you were sitting at your computer refreshing every three seconds, I can't see how you even were able to read it.

Your post is obviously appreciated and it's good to have as a resource.

I have a Xanax if you need it.

 

There's this newfangled thing called "email" where you can get messages almost in real time. It's sort of like IM or text messaging.

Obviously not appreciated enough to restrain yourself from making snarky comments.

 

My "snarky" comment was just a lesser version of your "snide" response to my initial question, which was deleted after recognizing my mistake. Regardless, "said" deleted question in no way warranted snide, condescending Orev answer.

What is apparent is that you're having a bad day. I sincerely hope you feel better, especially considering it's the weekend. Have a drink on me.

 

it really works! it even passed the vista service pack 1 activation check. thanks so much.

 

jong81: i recommend doing a clean install, specially with some of the problems your having. Once you do it you will never look back and regret it. Your just too lazy to install your programs again

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Is it illegal if i upload a image file of the WAU into a ftp site?

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Ive finished downloading 64bit vista from digialriver. There is a slight confusion about eftboot.com . On one of the guides it doesnt mention this but on the other it says i need to put it somewhere for vista64 to work

 

Yes, unless you have some sort of distribution deal with Microsoft.

The eftboot.com file is needed to make the disc bootable.

 

Which guide should i exactly follow? Theres one with CDimagegui, and one with vLite:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/10/how-to-make-vista-bootable-dvd-with-wim-downloaded-files/

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/...ootable-iso-image-from-vista-win-image-files/

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/...able-dvd-from-microsoft-wim-with-vlite-guide/

Not sure which one to follow as one mentions placing eftboot.com somewhere in the vista folders

 

They are all just different ways to make the same disc image. One of them is a step by step, the 2nd one has screen shots, and the 3rd one uses vLite instead of cdimage. In the end they will be the same.

For 64bit, you will need eftboot.com, but it doesn't really matter where you put it. That file is used for the boot sector on the DVD, and doesn't really show up as a file on the disc. It is useful to place it on the disc though, so you won't have to get it again if you decide to burn another disc later.

 

I am sensing conflict here...

Seeing as a big website digitalriver posted it up, i though it would be somewhat legal since i did buy a real copy of the 32bit WAU.

As for 64bit, i dont plan to upgrade to it soon. The latest service pack has seem to be causing mayhem on peoples computers. Till its proven stable i wont switch to it. I still have to figure out how to make RMclock to work first.

orev did the acer crystal eye drivers work for x64?

 

who's going to know where you put a copy if you don't advertise it.....

just don't share, that might be illegal......

 

Digital River has a content distribution deal with Microsoft, that's why they are allowed to do it.

I don't know about the drivers. I think I tried them a while ago but don't remember having success. I haven't used the webcam since. I think it works in quickplay using the default drivers.

 

Having a clean install means having to lose all your programs, settings and data. Your just not ready for it yet

I hear Microsoft can breach your privacy and see what you do or im just paranoid with my conspiracy theories

 

lol, that' funny thanks for making us laugh

ok, so tell us, how can they breach our privacY?

def paranoid

 

Before i had Vista i read a few atricles at work about Vista being a "Big Brother" watching over us.

 

Anyone have a tool like this for XP?

 

I downloaded the Vista files from digital river and burned an image of the iso file. When I proceed to reboot with the dvd I get an error after I choose [install now].
Error code 0x80070570 Windows cannot open the required file F:\sources\install.wim. The file may be corrupt or missing. Make sure all files required for installation are available, and restart the installation.

I've tried burning several images following the directions digital river includes and still can't get past this error.

Any thoughts?

 

A google search for that error code turns up a lot of hits. A few of the things I saw mentioned in those results:

• When you burn the disc, use a slower speed than the max speed of the burner, if possible.
• Unplug any other USB devices you might have plugged in while burning the disc. Things like other USB discs. You wouldn't have to unplug something like a mouse.
• While the disc is burning, don't do a lot of other stuff on your system

It seems to point to a problem with the ISO file or the disc that was burned. Which specific method did you use to make the disc image? vLite, cdimage, etc.. ?

 

Okay - my friend has a Vista Premium disk, because he just installed it on his Mac and now I'm considering just borrowing that to do the clean install. However, my one concern is that he also gave me one of his licenses for MS Office 2007 (comes with 3) which I've already activated. If I do a clean install and then use the activation key over, will that accidentally use up his last license?

I came to this conclusion when I saw that my task manager has about 75 processes running and after much tweaking, I still can't get rid of them!!!

I think that even for Vista that's a lot of processes to have on your list, no?

 

The Vista disc has all versions on it, not just Premium. As long as you use your license key, you'll get the version that's on your system. As for Office 07, I'm not familiar with the activation for it, but I suspect that's not the intent of Office having 3 licenses.

As far as the number of processes, it means absolutely nothing. Do not count processes as a measurement of ANYTHING, and if you see others doing so please tell them to stop. That number is completely meaningless.

 

So what you're saying is that even though task manager is listing 75 processes, it doesn't necessarily mean they're running?

 

Check the Install.wim you first downloaded from the site. Check the sizes are the same. Mine before said the "Download was Completed" but when i looked at the file size it was only 1.6gb so yeh it was incomplete.

I have the student/teacher version of MS office aswell except its 2003 version which lets you install in 3 computers. I believe it is tied down to your OS licence. So if Microsoft sees that more than 3 OS's are using it will probably lock down. I did a clean install and activated online with no problems. It shouldnt use up the "3rd key"

After log-on i get a total of 62 processes, if i close the windows sidebar and QLBCTRL.exe i get 60. Do the clean install and forget about your HDD/software problems. The benefits outweight the risks and loses.

 

No, I'm saying your system will always have processes running in the background, and pretty much all of them are needed for your system to run. If you see a few pigs like Acrobat you can do something about that, but in general you should not try to kill off any of that stuff, especially if you don't know what it is.

 

I completely agree with you there, you have to know what you are doing when disabling processes, but I completely disagree with you saying the number of processes running means nothing.

When I got my latest laptop out the box it had 78 processes running, was extremely slow at booting up and at performing every day tasks such as opening word documents or firefox.

After doing nothing but de-activating 22 processes that were all junk, completely unesseccary, boot times improved dramatically and word documents/firefox opened much quicker.

Processes have a large impact on system performance, using up RAM and CPU power as they please.

Vista Home Premium can run with just 30 processes. Right now on the laptop i'm using (m1330) I have 36 processes running including AV and firewall and the system is fast and very stable. If I had as many as 60 processes running I know for a fact it would be significantly slower.

 

You can have one process that takes up 50% of your RAM and 100% of your CPU, or you can have 2 dozen processes that take up 100KB of RAM and use 0.1% of the CPU each. Which of those is worse? Of course it depends on what the process is doing, which is my whole point.

The simple number of processes is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is how many resources it is using.

 

Well, for those who have done a clean install, how many processes do you have running now in task manager? After tweaking, I have it down to 70 without the sidebar. The only ones that seem to be accessed often are lsass.exe and some other networking one.

The only thing that annoys me about it is the slow startup.

Regardless, I'll probably rock the clean install this weekend if I can get those disks from my friend. Otherwise, I have to wait for the Dvd +Rs I ordered to arrive in the mail so I can back stuff up.

 

With no tweaking right after a clean install it goes down to about 45 (can't remember exactly) but then just tweak vista with flamenko's guide and you will have Vista running as fast as it can, atleast until SP1 when it gets a little faster

 

OK guys, I think you've gone off-topic for this thread. Thanks.

 

I'll delete and post it separately. People should know in case is affects them. Didn't mean to upset you.

 

Fixed.

Apologies

 

Thanks to all the valuables infos in this thread
My hat to all of you..


<<For Dell discs:
Copy the entire Dell DVD to a folder on your hard drive
In the "sources" folder, there is a folder called "$oem$". Delete it
In the "sources" folder, there is a file called "pid.txt". Delete it.
Open vLite and burn a new disc using those files
Install vista. It should now allow you to choose a version of Vista to install, and also will not install the dell product key and activation files
(Thanks to Silas Awaketh for the info that helped me figure this out)
Dell is currently the only OEM I have info for. If you have a disc from another OEM, please let me know and we can figure out how to add it.>>


My question is: will a Dell discs install on my HP (without deleting
the $oem$ folder and "pid.txt")?
That way I use the Dell oem vista key
I could then have a Dell/HP vista - then install all the HP drivers?
You think it would work?
Thanks for all
mhp

 

You must use ABR to back up your HP activation, then you can install with the Dell discs, then you must restore the HP activation with ABR. Otherwise you will probably go into 30 day trial mode because the activation does not match the system.

Also, if you don't modify the disc, you will also get Dell logos on your system page. Not really a big deal. After installing, then yes you will need to install the HP drivers.

 

I already BK my key with ABR.
I will give it a shot just to see a Dell logo on HP

Thanks for your quick reply.

 

I should also add that the Dell disc must be set up to install the same version of Vista you already have (premium, ultimate), for it to work. If the Dell disk is set to Premium, and you have Ultimate installed, you will have to modify the disc before using it.

 

works with the hp dv9700t. well for me it did anyways.
ps. i got the drivers from the hp website

thanks orev

 

I tested the method in a fresh Vista install under Virtualbox, but it didn't work. Is it because the activation is verified from the HP bios?

I'm a little hesitant to try it out on my dv9000, because after 3 attempts, my recovery disc still turns out to be just 210 MB in size. I have no idea whats wrong.

 

Yes. It will not work on a virtual machine because, as you said, it is keyed to the BIOS. The virtual machine provides it's own BIOS, which does not have the correct activation information in it.

If you have the clean install discs, the worst that can happen in that you won't be able to run the ABR restore, and instead will have to use the serial on the bottom sticker, and you'll have to call MS to activate. That is unlikely though. The recovery discs are there as the ultimate failsafe if you need it.

As long as you do the ABR backup, save those files somewhere, then to the restore after, you shouldn't have a problem.

PS: I developed this process on a dv9000.

 

orev is right on as usual..........
the ONLY thing I would add is try using ImgBurn to burn the iso file

it has an option you can check to "verify" the burn/iso. It seems that for some reason a common problem is that the iso is corrupt. The verify option in ImgBurn(and Nero I believe) are to ensure the iso is exactly like the file it is burned from
just a thought from this flaky blond

 

I actually have a Dell, but came across this thread when looking for some Vista clean install info.

Am I right in thinking that if I use my Dell OEM Disk it will auto activate and I won't need to back up my key?

Great guide!

Beech

 

Every OS install will require activation

Backup your key anyway. Theres no reason why you shouldnt.

 

OK
I'll try it out and post the results soon.
Thanks for the help.