reinstalling Vista on Bootcamp/VMWare

Hello everyone,

I have read through many (very helpful) instruction guides on how to install Vista Ultimate onto a bootcamp partition and then load it into VMware Fusion, but I can't figure out for the life of me (probably because of my general unfamiliarity with Windows) how to do a clean reinstall.

I installed a Vista partition on my MacBook Pro (running OS 10.5.7) about a year ago and then successfully linked it to VMware fusion so that I can run it at the same time as my Mac. I chose to do a bootcamp install rather than running it in a purely virtual environment, because when the techy people on the east coast need to remotely log onto my comp and muck around, I figured it would be more straightforward for them if it was installed on an actual partition.

However, I have started having some software conflicts between Outlook and a proprietary company piece of software and they have told me that the only way they can fix it is with a clean reinstall. Everything I need off of Vista is backed up on my Mac and on a network drive, but I'm not sure how to go about reinstalling Vista. Should I boot into Vista or do it through the Bootcamp assistant? Or should I delete the partition?

Any instructions that can be provided would be much appreciated. Also, I am planning on switching to VMware Fusion 2 (I'm using 1), while I'm bothering with all of this, so if anyone has recommendations on the best time within this whole process to make the switch, that would also be very useful. Thank you!

Not sure why you would need a clean reinstall but assuming you do, I would do it this way (again, assuming all data and files are fully backed up):

1. Go into Fusion, and delete the Vista VM.

2. Go into Boot Camp Assistant, select "restore partition." This will return your Mac's HD to one single hard drive, and the Vista install will be completely gone.

3. From Boot Camp Assistant, create a new Vista partition and reinstall Vista.

4. Upgrade Fusion to the latest version.

5. Once upgraded, go ahead and create a VM from the new Vista Boot Camp partition.

You could also upgrade Fusion at any time prior (but you may as well delete the VM before doing so or it will go through a conversion process that will take unnecessary time).

Good luck!

Thanks Sammy, I'll give it a go. The reason I need to do a clean reinstall is simply because my company told me that I need to. They spent 3 very unsuccessful days trying to figure out a particular software conflict between MD Outlook and a Contact Management Database Tool. There next recommendation was doing a clean reinstall.

Have been kicking myself the whole year for even bothering with Vista, should have listened to everyone and just stuck with XP....

You could also try the Windows 7 release candidate instead of Vista - it's free and is much "snappier" than Vista. Just a thought!

Cheers

Sammy,

I have been reading online and apparently deleting a bootcamp machine from VMware is more difficult than deleting an actual virtual machine. My question is, do I even need to delete the reference out of fusion? Can I just leave it there or will it mess things up and create conflicts?

Hasn't the Windows release candidate expired? I thought it expired July 1st. So how would that change the process if I did that?

Deleting the VM is very simple. It used to be that you couldn't delete the reference from the VM library but that's not the case anymore. Even if that's the case with your version of Fusion, just delete the VM and once you upgrade the software all will be well.

I am not following the Win 7 stuff that closely, you may be right. All I know is that I thought my VM based on the Win 7 beta was very fast and efficient, and I didn't bother to install the RC. But I do plan to get Win 7 when it comes out. In any case, it's worth researching.

Cheers

Thanks Sammy for all your help. One last question and I may post this to a new post because it is kind of a topic change, but feel free to answer here. I have read a lot in the past regarding conflicts of product keys between the bootcamp install vs. once you pull it up into Fusion.

Well, I just finished my Vista install. Everything installed correctly (drivers and everything), but of course, the product key says that it has already been used when I try to activate (this is after deleting the original partition I used to have it on and creating a new one). After calling Microsoft and speaking to a man named Daya for about an hour (who was surprisingly polite), they were able to successfully activate Vista by walking me through some sort of automated phone option and then giving me a set of 40 numbers to type in.

So, I am once again successfully activated. Herein lies my question. I am guessing that when I run this through Fusion the first time, it will once more ask me for the activation key (at least from what I have been reading). Should I have any issues with this or am I going to be facing another hour long phone call?

The reason that I ask is that technical support for my company will be remotely logging on to my system today to install our proprietary software. Usually they just login while I am running it in fusion (I bridge the network connection) and I can work on my Mac without them being any wiser (I have 2 screens). But, if I need to go through some long call with MSFT again because activation within Fusion is going to be an issue, I may just forego my ability to work on the computer today and boot straight into Vista for them so that they can at least get my Software installed before I risk trying to load through Fusion.

Any suggestions?

The key is to install the VMWare Tools after installing/reinstalling Fusion. That will help with the activation issues; if you don't do that, you do get activation issues (same with Parallels). The Tools should make it go just fine. Take a look at the Fusion documentation for details.

Cheers