If you’ve just built a new computer from scratch, or if you’ve replaced your old drive C: with a new hard drive, you won’t be able to upgrade to Windows Vista. In fact, you probably won’t be able to boot the computer at all, because the hard drive won’t contain an operating system from which you can boot the system. You’ll have to do a clean install.

You can also opt to do a clean install even if you already have a version of Windows installed on the hard drive. However, you must realize that doing so is very serious business. When you do a clean install, you wipe out everything on your hard disk. And I do mean everything all programs, documents, settings, Internet account information everything. And there’s no getting any of that stuff back. Just to make sure nobody misses this important fact, let me say it with a big caution icon:

The procedures described in this article are for advanced users only. You should know your hardware, your system’s BIOS setup, all your Internet account information, how to export, back up, and restore messages, contacts, Favorites, and the like, and how to find technical information about your hardware components on your own, before attempting any of the techniques described in this article. Don’t confuse a “clean install” with a “clean boot.”

Gearing Up for a Clean Install

Most experts prefer to do a clean install when they upgrade to a new version of Windows, largely because it gets everything off to a clean start. Besides, it’s a great excuse for upgrading to a bigger and faster hard drive. You can use your original hard drive as a second hard disk, and easily transfer documents from that drive to the new drive after you’ve installed Windows Vista on the new drive. However, you’ll still need to reinstall all of your programs and redo all your settings after you complete the installation.

If you upgrade a significant amount of hardware, especially the motherboard and processor, Windows Activation may prevent you from reinstalling programs that you activated on the old hardware. Contact Microsoft about reactivating Windows via http://support.microsoft.com before you upgrade your hardware.

Back up all your data

If you intend to keep your existing C: as the C: drive after the clean install, it’s important that you understand that you will permanently lose everything on that drive during the clean install. Therefore you should:

- Write down all of your Internet connection data so you can reestablish your account after the clean install.

- Back up or export all your e-mail messages, names and addresses, Favorites, and anything else you’ll want after the clean install, so that you can recover them after the clean install. Remember, whatever you don’t save will be lost forever. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

- Back up all of your documents, because each and every one of them will be wiped out along with Windows and all your programs.

A clean install permanently erases everything on your hard drive, which is basically everything that’s “in your computer.” Users who do not fully understand the ramifications of this should not attempt to do a clean install of Windows Vista or any other operating system. Nobody on the planet can help you get back that which you’ve lost if you fail to heed this advice.

If Windows Vista is currently installed on the C: drive you intend to reuse, you can use the Windows Easy Transfer to back up all your documents and settings as covered in Article 13. Ideally, you want to back up the data to another computer in the network. Windows Easy Transfer allows you to transfer files and folders, e-mail settings, and many other personal items from your existing computer to the new computer or hard drive. You can do this by using a USB Easy Transfer cable, the network, DVDs or CDs, or other external USB devices. Given that hard drives are so inexpensive these days, it almost seems a shame not to start the clean install from a new hard drive. You don’t have to worry about losing any data from the old drive if you clean-install Vista to a new drive.

Make sure that you can boot from your CD or DVD

By far the easiest way to do a clean install on a new drive is to boot from the Windows Vista disc. You’ll want to make sure that you can do this before you do anything inside the computer. Most discs aren’t bootable, so you’ll need to insert the Windows disc into the drive and restart the computer. Watch for the Press any key to boot from CD or DVD countdown, and tap the Spacebar before the countdown runs out. If you see the message Windows is loading files, then you know you can boot from a disc. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to reboot before setup actually starts, and remove the disc from the drive while the system is rebooting. Then, shut down the PC altogether. If you can’t boot the system from the Windows disc, you’ll need to adjust your BIOS settings. Again, this isn’t something I can tell you how to do specifically, because it depends on your system’s BIOS. But the usual scenario is to press F2 or Del as the computer is starting up to get to your BIOS setup. Once you get into the BIOS settings, make sure that booting from the disc drive is enabled, and that the disc drive has a higher priority than the hard drive. After you change the BIOS settings, put the Windows disc back in the disc drive, save your BIOS settings, and exit so that the computer reboots again. If you got it right, you should see the Windows is loading files message again on restart, indicating that you’ve successfully booted from the disc. Cancel that startup as well, by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del, and remove the disc from the drive before the computer gets another chance to boot from the disc.

Installing a new C: drive

If you’re upgrading your C: drive along with your version of Windows, step 1 is to hide existing hard drives from the system altogether so that the new drive appears, to the BIOS, to be the only hard drive in the system. Simply disconnecting the power and interface plugs from the backs of the drives will do the trick.

Never do anything inside your system case while the computer is turned on, or even plugged into a power outlet. Wear an antistatic wrist strap to prevent static discharge from wiping out components and the warranties that go with them!

The next step involves getting the new drive installed to the point where it’s at least recognized by the BIOS. I can’t tell you how to do that because the procedure varies from one drive manufacturer to the next. You must follow the instructions that came with the drive, or the instructions on the drive manufacturer’s Web site, to get to the point where the system recognizes that drive at startup. Chances are the drive manufacturer’s instructions will include steps to partition and format the drive. You should probably do so, even if you intend to repartition and reformat the drive during the Windows Vista clean installation. You still won’t be able to boot from the drive. But at least the drive will be recognized as C: during the Windows installation.

Doing the Clean Install

When you feel confident that you’ll be able to get back everything you want from your hard drive, you’re ready to start the clean install. Put the Windows disc in the disc drive and shut down the computer. Then, restart the computer, and boot from the disc. Your system’s screen will go blank with a progress bar across the bottom of the screen while it copies some setup files. After the copy, the screen will change to a blue and green background, and you’ll be given a mouse pointer. Follow these steps to continue the installation:

1. At the Install Windows dialog box, select the Language, Time, and Currency format and the type of keyboard, and click the Next button.

2. Click the Install now link, and you’ll be prompted for the product key. After entering the product key, click the Next button.

3. If you accept the license terms, check the box I accept the license terms and click the Next button. 4. Select the Custom option to continue.

5. The next dialog box lists all of the drives and partitions that the installation application sees on your system. Select the partition on which you would like to install Windows Vista. If you don’t see your drive, it may be that the controller your hard drive is connected to requires a special driver that the installation application doesn’t know about. You can click the Load Driver link to load the driver provided by the controller’s manufacturer. Clicking the Drive Options link will enable the option to format the drive before installing Vista.

6. Select the partition on which Vista will be installed and click the Format link. The installation application will prompt that the data on the drive will be erased and permanently deleted. Click the OK button as long as you are sure that your database has been saved elsewhere.

7. Once formatted, the Total Size and Free Space columns will be almost identical. Click the Next button to continue. At this point, the installation application will start copying files.

The Rest of the Installation

Copying the files and installing them toyour system takes some time. When the installation continues, follow these steps to continue:

1. You’ll be prompted to create a user name and password and to choose a picture for your account.

2. Next you’ll need to create a name for your computer or use the name that the installation application has chosen for you. You can also choose a background image for your desktop.

3. In the Help protect Windows automatically dialog box, it’s usually best to choose Use recommended settings.

4. Choose your time zone and set the date and time in the Review your time and date settings dialog box, and then click the Next button.

5. Finally, click the Start button, and the Windows Vista installation is complete. The installation will check your system’s performance for a short time and then ask you to log in. At this point, Windows Vista has been installed, and you’re ready to start using it.