Windows Vista Home Premium Student

hibeesmad · 25 Jan 2009 at 20:11

I have came across a Vista Home Premium upgrade for around £50.

I will be building a new PC soon, will this upgrade DVD allow me to install it on a new hard drive without any other operating systems previously installed?

If not, is there any student full licenses I can buy?

Thanks.

TheVoice · 25 Jan 2009 at 20:15

I've got that version. Installing it on a clean HDD takes a bit of fiddling; basically you install it as you normally would, but you don't enter a product key. Then once it's finished installing, run the installation again, this time with the key. The installer will recognise that you're on an upgrade version (which requires a version of Windows to already be installed), then detect the existing Vista installation, and allow you to do a new install. It'll create a Windows.OLD folder with the old installation inside (which can be deleted), but aside from that it's a completely new installation.

hibeesmad · 25 Jan 2009 at 20:21

Thanks for replying.

I have a copy of Windows XP here, but it is installed on my other PC.

Can I used that, then use the Vista Home Premium DVD on top of that? Do you get a new key with Vista?

Thanks,

Johnny.

TheVoice · 25 Jan 2009 at 20:25

Can do, but it's just as easy to use the Vista disc twice. Vista does indeed come with its own product key, hence how it knows it's an upgrade version and won't allow a normal clean install.

hibeesmad · 25 Jan 2009 at 20:30

Thanks for the help.

I am building a new PC soon, but being a student I need to keep the costs down.

I might go for Vista Ultimate, will using the same DVD twice still work with that?

TheVoice · 25 Jan 2009 at 20:34

If it's an upgrade version, yes it should do. Would only go with Ultimate if you need the extra stuff though, otherwise it's not really worth the money. Vista Ultimate is available through www.theultimatesteal.co.uk however, and it's quite cheap too.

hibeesmad · 25 Jan 2009 at 20:42

Thanks mate.

The reason I am thinking about Vista Ultimate is that it's not much more expensive than Home Premium.

How do you buy from that site, I can't open the Vista Ultimate page to add it to cart?

theheyes · 25 Jan 2009 at 20:53

You need to click "Buy Now" and then enter your college/uni email address.

hibeesmad · 25 Jan 2009 at 21:01

Do you have to purchase the Office Ultimate to buy Vista Ultimate?

suarve · 25 Jan 2009 at 21:05

If your trying to keep costs down and are a student why do you need vista ultimate?

hibeesmad · 25 Jan 2009 at 21:06

suarve said:
If your trying to keep costs down and are a student why do you need vista ultimate?

I need to buy an operating system, and both Home Premium and Ultimate are about the same price.

TheVoice · 25 Jan 2009 at 21:16

hibeesmad said:
Do you have to purchase the Office Ultimate to buy Vista Ultimate?

I don't believe so, apparently it gives you the option to just buy Vista later. Can't check myself because I'm no longer a student and so don't have access to my uni webmail.