Format

[Ken]

I am getting on in years and need help. I have a load of stuff on my hard
disk that I want to get rid of and I want to reformat my hard disk and
re-install Windows XP and update it with a Vista upgrade which my good lady
brought back from London. Is it possible to use the XP disk or the Vista
upgrade disk to re-format my hard disk, if not how can I do it?
Thanks
Ken

 

[David B.]

Both will give you the option to format during the setup process when
booting from the installation media.

 

[Ken]

If I use the Vista upgrade to format the hard disk would I get all ofVista?

 

[bojimbo26one]

I am getting on in years and need help. I have a load of stuff on my hard
disk that I want to get rid of and I want to reformat my hard disk and
re-install Windows XP and update it with a Vista upgrade which my good lady
brought back from London. Is it possible to use the XP disk or the Vista
upgrade disk to re-format my hard disk, if not how can I do it?
Thanks
Ken

After you upgrade , will your peripherals be compatible ? ( printer ,
etc ).

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

If I use the Vista upgrade to format the hard disk would I get all ofVista?

It's not a question of "all." You can't do what you suggest (at least
not without an unofficial, unrecommended workaround). You will have to
have Windows XP installed to use your Vista upgrade.

Reinstall XP cleanly by booting from the XP CD and following the
prompts. You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

or here
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_install_windows_xp.htm

or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

or here http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

Then install the Vista upgrade.

One more point: Before you install Vista, are you sure your computer
is adequate for it? What is your hardware configuration? In
particular, how much RAM do you have? You may not be aware that, for
decent performance, Vista needs a much more powerful machine than XP
does. If you don't have at least 2GB of RAM, you will likely be
unhappy with Vista performance.