Clean installation using Vista Business Upgrade

[Dave]

Hi Guys,

I'm trying to install a fresh copy of Windows Vista Business Upgrade on my
machine which currently has Windows XP Pro on it.

The problem I have is that I want to do a complete fresh install including a
reformat of the current partition where XP Pro currently resides, however
the Vista installation wont allow me to do this.

When I start the installation from the boot up DVD, is says that I have to
start the installation from within Windows, and when I try to start the
installation from within Windows, it says that if I want to reformat and
reconfigure partitions - I have to start the installation from boot up using
the Vista installation DVD ?!?!

How on earth can I install Vista and reformat the hard drive at the same
time ??

Many thanks,
Dave

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

You'll need to perform a clean install of Windows XP,
then upgrade to Windows Vista. The Vista upgrade
process is much different than previous Windows O/S's.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

You can't. As you have observed, you cannot format a system partition while
the system is running so you cannot both start Setup from the desktop and
also format the system drive.

But remember that Vista is now installed by laying down an image and not by
the old file copy method so you always get a clean install of the OS no
matter if you use the custom or upgrade option.

You do a Vista x86 style clean install by using the custom option. That
will do a clean install of Vista and roll up the old files into windows.old
which you can later delete.