Fresh Installation of Operating System on new custom computer

S

Sage521

New Member
Hello, my name is Tim and I am new both to this forum and to the computer building world. I want to begin here by asking a very general question, and I hope it is in the right section of the forum. I want to buy vista home premium 32/64 and install it on my new custom PC (I have read the "vista sticky" on the top of this section, but since I don't have the actual software, I didn't know how the rules applied to me here). However I was thinking that without an operating system on my PC, how will I have any prompts when I boot it up for the first time? It strikes me as a paradox... I have no OS on the system, but then how do I give instructions to install it. As you can see I am confused. Please can someone shed some light on the subject for me? Thanks.

Tim
 
Hi Tim and welcome

When you first boot, onscreen should show a key to be pressed to enter the BIOS. You must look to ensure the boot sequence is set to CD and not your hard disc or floppy. Once this is set then reboot with your OS inserted and away you go.
 
TFT said:
Hi Tim and welcome

When you first boot, onscreen should show a key to be pressed to enter the BIOS. You must look to ensure the boot sequence is set to CD and not your hard disc or floppy. Once this is set then reboot with your OS inserted and away you go.
Click to expand...

since Tim is new to this, i think we should be a little more specific. when you power the computer on for the first time you will have the option of entering setup or the BIOS, they are the same, it just depends what motherboard you have. you usually need to press F2 or DEL or something like that. enter the setup.

once you are there look through the menus until you find the boot sequence. you want to set it so that the first device is CD, and the second is harddrive. if you have a floppy drive, or need to boot off of a USB flash drive or something like that, let us know bc then things will be a little bit different. but for installing the OS the first time set it to CDROM first, and HDD second.

now save your changes and exit, then reboot the computer. it should not prompt you the press a key to boot from CD. installing windows should be pretty easy from there, just follow the instructions on screen.

dont forget to install your drivers after the OS is installed. good luck.
 
Thank you very much TFT and Cleric7x9 for answering my question... I am going to copy your relpies and follow your advise when I set it up. :)

Tim
 
Cleric7x9

You are absolutely right:o It's so easy to assume everyone knows what your'e talking about.

Tim, shout back if it needs any more explaining. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top