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Chapter 1

Installing Windows Vista Client

Lesson 2: Installing Windows Vista

Although the installation process is straightforward, as an IT pro, you will need to make sev-

eral important decisions that will influence the configuration of the computer. This includes

setting initial disk and volume configuration, security, and network discoverability options.

Depending on the hardware configuration of the computer on which you install Windows

Vista, performing an installation can take some time. You need to understand the ramifica-

tions of each decision. In some cases, if you choose the wrong option, the only remedy will to

be to start over from the beginning. In this lesson, you will learn about the Windows Vista

installation process, a process that is likely to become very familiar to you over the course of

the next few years as an IT pro.

After this lesson, you will be able to:

■ Install Windows Vista Business.

■ Understand how to dual boot Windows Vista with Windows XP.

■ Configure the default operating system in the boot manager.

Estimated lesson time: 75 minutes

Performing the Windows Vista Installation

In this lesson, you will learn the general steps of the Windows Vista installation routine. After

you have covered the general steps in the text, the practices at the end of the lesson will walk

you through actually how to perform the installation. These practices are important. The prac-

tices in all other lessons in this book build on the installation of Windows Vista that you per-

form at the end of this lesson.

Exam Tip

Prior to taking the exam, you should run through the installation procedure more than

once. It will be helpful to be able to differentiate the steps in your mind from those of the Windows

XP installation routine. As a rule of thumb, you should have installed Windows Vista at least 10

times prior to taking the 70-620 exam.

The first step in an average Windows Vista clean installation is inserting the installation DVD

into the computer’s DVD-ROM drive and allowing the computer to boot off the DVD-ROM.

Upgrades, covered in detail in Chapter 2, “Windows Vista Upgrades and Migrations,” require

that you begin the installation from within Windows XP. Some computers will not automati-

cally boot from the DVD-ROM drive. This bypass is often implemented for security reasons

because it is possible to boot into an alternate operating system if you can boot from the DVD-

ROM drive. To change the computer boot order so that the DVD-ROM drive is checked first,

you need to enter the computer’s BIOS. From here it is possible to configure the boot order.