Mid Vista Instal - Need Help ASAP

I finally got Vista Home Premium (Upgrade Edition) and after a bunch of fumbling around and a bunch of nonsense my HD was whiped clean of XP and all other files. When I first started up the computer I was met with the message "NTLDR Not Present" or something to that effect so I restarted the computer and pressed F8 to get into the force boot menu where I chose the DVD drive that Vista was in. I decided to follow the steps of going around the upgrade and doing the full install and I didn't enter my product key and I hit next. This is where I got a message box with a message saying something like this:

"If you choose not to enter a product key you may have to reinstall vista later, and may lose programs, files, folders, and may have to purchase another version of Vista."

^ That message worries me and I'm not sure what to do.

There are "Yes" and "No" buttons and an Exit (X) button. Should I hit the yes or the no or should i hit the x and enter the product key? What should I do? I don't want to have to go out and buy another version of Vista.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read and respond!

~Xombic

don't worry about it saying that.

Its basically asking you for your vista key, so it can override the XP CD key.

By doing a clean install, don't worry about it asking for a key. Just install it as normal. Then once its all installed, use the vista disc again to upgrade. THEN you put your vista key code in.

th 1st time you install vista on a clean install, it will put a 30 day trial on your PC. then when you use the disc again, and upgrade, you will have the full version.

this is just a work around, as to not force your XP key to become void. and as we all will agree, a CLEAN install is well...clean. upgrades are not.

UPDATE: I got everything to work, if anyone else is wants detailed instructions on what to do, here's a link:

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp

Great link, I suggest anyone who wants to do a full install with an upgrade version of vista follows that link.

Xombic said:

UPDATE: I got everything to work, if anyone else is wants detailed instructions on what to do, here's a link:

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp

Great link, I suggest anyone who wants to do a full install with an upgrade version of vista follows that link.

Click to expand...

We have our own thread titled "How to do a clean install of Vista using upgrade software"
Right here: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=498314

It was only 3 posts down from yours.

I know, I am a smartass...

Surfrider77 said:

We have our own thread titled "How to do a clean install of Vista using upgrade software"
Right here: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=498314

It was only 3 posts down from yours.

I know, I am a smartass...

Click to expand...

I know, I read that and I found it to be very unclear seeing that I had to look for another source outside of that.

I figured if there was anyone like me that was confused and unclear on what to do by the very simple instructions in that post they would appreciate a more detailed link.



~Xombic