Installing Windows Vista

Installing Windows Vista Help Desk Walk-in Service Documentation Information Technology Services – Help Desk The University of Texas at Austin http://www.utexas.edu/its/helpdesk/ © August 2007 Information Technology Services Revised December 2007 •Copyright Alayna Wadleigh and Blaine Hensley 2008. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author

Introduction The following instructions will teach you how to do a “clean” install of Microsoft Windows Vista on your personal computer. In general, you will be following these steps for one of the following reasons: •

Your computer had a problem or some form of corruption of the operating system which would require an inordinate amount of time and effort to resolve by normal means; or

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Your computer has been infected by a virus, spyware, or some other form of malware.

Please note: It is the opinion of the Information Security Office (ISO) that the only dependable way to secure a compromised system is to tear it down and rebuild it, that is, format and reinstall from trusted media. Once a system has been compromised, nothing on the system can be trusted. System binaries, data, passwords, logs, and processes are all assumed to be untrustworthy and should be eliminated. - ISO Consensus Papers: Cleaning Compromised Systems Minimum Requirements Although Microsoft has published specifications for Windows Vista Capable PCs, ITS has found that computers should meet the following specifications to perform adequately with Windows Vista: • • • •

2.0 GHz Pentium 4 or higher 1 GB of RAM or higher 60 GB hard disk or higher 64 MB video RAM or higher

When running Windows Vista, it is important to note that the more RAM that is available, the better the experience will be. Also, a better video card and more video RAM means that you will be able to run Windows Vista Aero and other user interface enhancements. Things to Consider • Loss of data: This procedure will result in the deletion of all the files on the C: drive. Unless you properly back up your data, you will lose it. •

Loss of programs: You will need to reinstall any programs such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, etc. that you previously had installed. Make sure you have the original installation discs for these programs.

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Peripheral Devices: You will need to reinstall the software/drivers for any devices attached to your computer such as printers, scanners, digital cameras, web cams, and digital music players. Make sure you have the original installation discs.

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The University of Texas at Austin

Installing Windows XP Professional Pre-Installation Make sure that you have backed up your data to a secondary drive (e.g. a second hard drive in your computer) or an external location (e.g. an external hard drive, CD/DVDs, USB thumb drives). Installing from a Recovery Partition or Recovery CD Many computer manufacturers will ship their computers with a CD or make available a recovery partition on the computer. To install using one of these options, please refer to your manufacturer’s documentation which will either have been provided with your computer or will be available on the manufacturer’s web site. Installing from a Windows Vista CD 1. Place the installation CD in your computer’s optical drive and restart the computer. You may be prompted to press a key to start from the CD. If you see no option for starting your computer using the CD, please consult your manufacturer’s documentation. 2.

You will see a message that Windows is loading files… Depending on your computer, you may find that it takes a few minutes to load the Windows Vista files onto your computer.

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The Install Windows window will appear and you will be asked to set your language options. In general, the default settings are sufficient. Installation Language: English, Time and currency format: English (United States), Keyboard or input method: US

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Click Next.

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At the Install screen, click the Install Now button.

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Enter your Product Key that came with your computer or Windows Vista CD to proceed with the installation and click Next.

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Read the End User License Agreement (EULA) and, if you agree, check off the box next to I accept the license terms and click on the Next button.

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On the Which type of installation do you want? screen, choose Customer (advanced).

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On the Where do you want to install Windows screen, click on the Drive options (Advanced) option.

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In this windows, choose your primary partition (usually the C: drive) and click the Format option link.

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A message appears warning you that all data will be destroyed. Click OK to proceed.

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Microsoft Vista will now start to install. You computer may restart a number times during this process.

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After Vista has finished most of the installation process, you will see the Choose a user name and picture screen. Enter a user name and a password (you may also choose a use picture) and click Next.

Installing Windows Vista

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The University of Texas at Austin

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On the Type a computer name and choose a desktop background window, you will be prompted to choose a computer name. Unless you have a specific need for having particular computer name (based on requirements of your Technical Support Coordinator or Network Domain Administrator) you should leave this as the default. Choose a desktop and click Next.

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On the Help protect Windows automatically screen choose Use recommended settings.

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On the Review your time and date settings screen, verify that your time zone, date, and time are correct and click Next.

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On the Thank You screen, click the Start button.

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Vista will now check your computer’s performance abilities (to determine what visual effects it will be able to use).

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Vista will start and you will be taken to the Login Screen where you will need to choose a user to log in as and provide the password you set up earlier.

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Vista will prepare your desktop and that completes your installation of Microsoft Windows Vista.

Post-Installation Steps 1. Set passwords on user accounts – Go to Start > Control Panel > User Accounts and add a password to each user account on the computer. 2.

Install a Network Driver – You will need a working network connection to download and install security software and updates to Windows. Drivers for your network adapter may have been installed automatically during the Windows setup or may need to be installed separately using discs provided by your manufacturer.

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Install Security Software – You will need to install Anti-Virus software of your choice. If you are a current student, faculty, or staff member of the UT Austin community, you may download the Symantec Anti-Virus Client free of charge from the Bevoware web site at: http://www.utexas.edu/its/bevoware/

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Update Windows – Go to Start > All Programs > Windows Update. In the left pane, click Check for Updates. If any updates are found, click View Available Updates. Select all of the optional updates and then click Install.

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Install other hardware drivers – Go to Start > Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Device Manager. Any device in the list with a yellow question mark on it is missing a driver. Hardware drivers can be obtained from discs provided by the manufacturer or on the manufacturer’s web site.

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Install other software – If you have other software installation CDs, such as Microsoft Office, you may install those now.

Installation Support and Assistance If you have questions or concerns regarding any part of this procedure, please contact the ITS Help Desk at 512-475-9400.

Installing Windows Vista

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