Vista ' Select Version to Install '

[jaffacaique]

An interesting thought crossed my mind the other day.

I currently own Vista Ultimate 32bit. The package included the 64bit DVD also, I decided to install the 64bit version having used 32bit for over a year. I'd installed the software on a different HDD no problem ... but my code would not activate the 64bit version because I had used it to activate 32bit already, this was also confirmed on MS helpline too, if I'd decided to start out with 64bit then it would have worked but I still would not be able to try 32bit afterwards.

I will be buying a notebook PC soon, most of which still have XP installed as standard. But it would have been a good idea if having bought Vista Ultimate that I could have the option to install Vista home premium or basic on the notebook since the DVD contains all versions anyway - with MS supplying an activation code to you to allow it. Owning Vista Ultimate already allows you to install on another PC but will not allow you reduce the features to run it on a lower spec machine.

The same principle would also apply to those who bought home premium... they too could choose to install a lower version if needed

But as this is not to my knowledge possible it would at least be good if having installed a specific version of Vista we could uninstall any included software to strip it back to make it run on a more modest PC.

 

[Burnsy2023]

I currently own Vista Ultimate 32bit. The package included the 64bit DVD also, I decided to install the 64bit version having used 32bit for over a year. I'd installed the software on a different HDD no problem ... but my code would not activate the 64bit version because I had used it to activate 32bit already, this was also confirmed on MS helpline too, if I'd decided to start out with 64bit then it would have worked but I still would not be able to try 32bit afterwards.

If you removed the 32bit version and installed 64bit on the same HDD there wouldn't be an issue. You can only run one concurrent install.

I will be buying a notebook PC soon, most of which still have XP installed as standard. But it would have been a good idea if having bought Vista Ultimate that I could have the option to install Vista home premium or basic on the notebook since the DVD contains all versions anyway - with MS supplying an activation code to you to allow it. Owning Vista Ultimate already allows you to install on another PC but will not allow you reduce the features to run it on a lower spec machine.

This makes no sense. You can make Vista Ultimate look and essentially be like Homebasic if you disable some features.

 

[jaffacaique]

I was under the impression that disabling features merely switched them off not uninstalled them, I've tried this before - when you switch the features back on you do not have to re-insert the disk so therefore they are kept on the HDD. What I was getting at was being able to uninstall uneeded features making vista a quicker and lighter version on lower spec machines.

I did speak to the assistant on the phone about only having '1' version installed at any 1 time but I was still told no.

 

[Burnsy2023]

By disabling the features, you're only save disk space not necessarily increasing the RAM footprint of the OS. Depends on the feature mainly.