# [SOLVED] Vista won't boot from CD



## Figgis Fiddis (Jan 19, 2009)

I just built a new computer and installed XP Professional on it. I recently acquired a Vista Ultimate 64-bit disk and tried installing it in XP, but a message popped up saying that Setup won't run with my OS. So I try to boot from the Vista disk, but when it says to press any key to boot from CD, I mash the keyboard but nothing happens. It just boots XP from the hard drive.

CD-ROM is the first boot priority in the BIOS. In fact, the only; hard drive and floppy are disabled. I don't need to save any files from XP, and I don't want to go through the hassle of formatting a 1TB drive again, so how can I either get Vista to boot or wipe XP off of my hard drive?


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*

hi iss the disc your using a full install or upgrade


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## Figgis Fiddis (Jan 19, 2009)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*



joeten said:


> hi iss the disc your using a full install or upgrade


Upgrade.

EDIT: Although the manual says I should be able to do a clean install.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*

yeah it may say it but it does not want to do it i think you need to go the upgrade route iam not happy saying it but you have tried the other


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*

You can choose the quick format when you do the clean install . . it will take only a inute or so


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## Figgis Fiddis (Jan 19, 2009)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*



simpswr said:


> You can choose the quick format when you do the clean install . . it will take only a inute or so


How do I wipe XP off first?


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## Nexxtech (Nov 29, 2008)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*

I believe you have to Reformat your hard drive deleting your XP partition. If you have an upgrade Vista disk your out of luck. An original version of Vista is required for a successful clean reboot installation.


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*



Figgis Fiddis said:


> How do I wipe XP off first?


You delete the partition and then create a nerw one . . format and install


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## Figgis Fiddis (Jan 19, 2009)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*



Nexxtech said:


> I believe you have to Reformat your hard drive deleting your XP partition. If you have an upgrade Vista disk your out of luck. An original version of Vista is required for a successful clean reboot installation.


I went into Disk Management and the option to format the volume isn't present... it's grayed out. My computer refuses to boot from the XP or Vista install disks. I don't see any way to format this damned thing.


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## Nexxtech (Nov 29, 2008)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*

In the past when I reformatted a hard drive, I always set cd device as first boot which you have indicated, second to hard drive and third to floppy. You mention your hard drive and floppy are disabled. Try enabling them in the BIOS and or pressing enter under user setting under system configuration so your drive is read. Might work for you. Good luck.


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*



Figgis Fiddis said:


> I went into Disk Management and the option to format the volume isn't present... it's grayed out. My computer refuses to boot from the XP or Vista install disks. I don't see any way to format this damned thing.


You cannot format the system drive using Windows . . You have to boot from the INstall CD/DVD. You may have to replace the DVD drive . .


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## Figgis Fiddis (Jan 19, 2009)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*



simpswr said:


> You cannot format the system drive using Windows . . You have to boot from the INstall CD/DVD. You may have to replace the DVD drive . .


I can't boot from CD or DVD. That's what is causing my problem.

First priority is CD-ROM, second is hard drive, third is floppy. When I try to run setup.exe within XP, it gives a message saying that "setup.exe is not a valid Win32 application".

EDIT: I have tried this with 2 DVD drives.


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## Nexxtech (Nov 29, 2008)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*

OK FF, Let's try this again. When you say within XP are you referring to a BIOS environment or Windows XP environment?


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*



Figgis Fiddis said:


> I can't boot from CD or DVD. That's what is causing my problem.
> 
> First priority is CD-ROM, second is hard drive, third is floppy. When I try to run setup.exe within XP, it gives a message saying that "setup.exe is not a valid Win32 application".
> 
> EDIT: I have tried this with 2 DVD drives.


What happens when you start the pc with the Vista DVD in the drive? . . Which drive is the master? . . it will only boot from a drive that is set as master so you may have to swap the cable around so that the DVD drive is the Master


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## Nexxtech (Nov 29, 2008)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*

At any time did you turn over cables on your Motherboard? Double check.


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## Figgis Fiddis (Jan 19, 2009)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*



simpswr said:


> What happens when you start the pc with the Vista DVD in the drive? . . Which drive is the master? . . it will only boot from a drive that is set as master so you may have to swap the cable around so that the DVD drive is the Master


The DVD drive is master... the hard drive is SATA set to emulate IDE. It's set to master on a channel. Do I need to set the hard drive to slave? Changing the SATA port only changes the channel, so I'm not sure how I would set it to slave.



Nexxtech said:


> OK FF, Let's try this again. When you say within XP are you referring to a BIOS environment or Windows XP environment?


When I try installing Vista 64-bit in a Windows XP 32-bit environment, it doesn't work... but I finally realized that that's because you can't install 64 bit software on a 32-bit OS. The 32-bit Vista works fine.

EDIT:


Nexxtech said:


> At any time did you turn over cables on your Motherboard? Double check.


By "turn over", do you just mean misplace? Booting from CD worked fine until I installed XP, and I haven't made any major cable adjustments.


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*



> The DVD drive is master... the hard drive is SATA set to emulate IDE. It's set to master on a channel. Do I need to set the hard drive to slave? Changing the SATA port only changes the channel, so I'm not sure how I would set it to slave.


No need to change the hard drive, my comments were about the DVD drive.

What exactly happens when you try to boot from the DVD? Do you get a prompt to "Press any key"


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## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*

Hi - 

Please be sure to follow the advice and suggestions made by *simpswr* - he is the hardware expert, not I.

Just to pass on some MS KBs re: XP --> Vista upgrades.

Was XP Pro x86 or x64? You cannot upgrade from XP x64 to Vista x64:


> You can only upgrade an x86-based version of Windows XP to Windows Vista.
> 
> Upgrading from an x64-based version of Windows XP to Windows Vista is not supported.
> 
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951019





> When you try to upgrade a computer’s operating system from the 64-bit version of Windows XP Professional (x64) to a 64-bit version of Windows Vista, the upgrade is disabled.
> 
> If you have a 32-bit version of Windows XP and want to install a 64-bit version of Windows Vista, you must boot the computer from the 64-bit Windows Vista DVD and then perform a custom installation of Windows Vista. Back up data before you start the custom installation.
> 
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930891






> NoteYou cannot install an upgrade copy of Windows Vista on a partition unless a copy of Windows 2000 or Windows XP is already installed on that partition. Depending on which version if Windows you are upgrading to and from, you might have to perform a clean installation.
> 
> * if you have an upgrade copy of a 64-bit version of Windows Vista and do not have a version of Windows that can be upgraded, the installation cannot continue. You will need to install a copy of Windows 2000 or Windows XP to proceed with this installation method.*
> 
> ...





> Important
> Do not remove the previous operating system before you start the Windows Vista installation. This is because Windows Vista Setup has to verify that your current operating system license supports the installation of a 64-bit upgrade version.
> 
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932795/


Also - you must have at least XP SP2 installed.

Additional KBs - 
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918884

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/windows/en-US/Help/51ff932f-a9b4-4015-a847-09bfac51a18f1033.mspx

A listing of 12+ MS KBs on XP --> Vista Upgrades -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930743/

You said that you "acquired a Vista Ultimate x64" DVD - did you obtain it from Microsoft?

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

.


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## Figgis Fiddis (Jan 19, 2009)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*



simpswr said:


> No need to change the hard drive, my comments were about the DVD drive.
> 
> What exactly happens when you try to boot from the DVD? Do you get a prompt to "Press any key"


I get a prompt that says "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD" when the install disk is in the DVD drive. The opportunity only lasts about three seconds, and although I am furiously mashing the keyboard, it ignores me and boots Windows XP from the hard drive.

EDIT: What I was trying to do before was install Vista Ult. x64 in XP Pro x86... I understand that this is impossible. But I can install Vista Ult. x86 in XP Pro x86. 

All I am trying to do is boot from Vista Ult. x64, but it's just not letting me.


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## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*

Do you have more than 1 DVD drive?


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## Figgis Fiddis (Jan 19, 2009)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*



jcgriff2 said:


> Do you have more than 1 DVD drive?


I have two, tried both. One is brand new.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*

If you have a USB keyboard make sure you have Legacy USB devices set to enabled in the Bios. Or try using a PS/2 keyboard.


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*

Are you using a USB keyboard? . . most PC's will not recognize a usb keyboard at that stage of booting.

You can install any version once you boot from the install disc and delete tha existing partitions


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## Figgis Fiddis (Jan 19, 2009)

*Re: Vista won't boot from CD*



wrench97 said:


> If you have a USB keyboard make sure you have Legacy USB devices set to enabled in the Bios. Or try using a PS/2 keyboard.


Yep, that was the problem... enabled it, and it's booting perfectly.

Thanks guys. The mods may close this thread.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Good to hear you have it resolved.


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