DAMN NETBOOKS

[Moon Rabbits]

So my original Windows XP installation of my Acer Aspire One netbook smurfled up and I reinstalled Windows XP somewhat haphazardly with a 1GB Usb Key. Trouble is, I don't remember HOW :}

Anyway, this WinXP installation is brutally damaged and I want to attempt to upgrade to Windows Vista. I have a Vista ISO ( legally obtained) but I can't just mount it in this Windows XP installation and install it for whatever reason. It gives me some stupid error saying I don't have 500mb of free space on the current partition (despite the fact that I have like 120gb free).

Is there a (relatively) simple way I can use a regular, 2GB Usb stick and my Vista ISO to boot from the USB as though it were a CD????

[Slothy]

I'm not sure how to help you with your problem, but I have to question whether installing Vista on an Aspire One is the best idea. Perhaps you own a newer model than mine and they've made some massive upgrades in terms of RAM and the Graphics chip, but barring that (and possibly even then) I don't think Vista would run very well at all. MAYBE with every graphical effect possible turned off you'd get some decent performance, but I'm not sure even that would make it run as well as XP does.

Maybe someone who knows more about the Aspire One's current specs could weigh in.

[Mirage]

Apparently, Win7 runs pretty well on netbooks.
Also, I'd never even want to install windows from within windows. And you can't boot an ISO file directly from a usb drive something like that, you need to do some fancy shyt to it that I don't remember exactly what is. Search for "Vista USB install" on google or something.

[Moon Rabbits]

I wanted to install Vista so I could (eventually) install Windows 7, which I did. I managed to create a boot drive for the Vista install without many problems, and then install Windows 7 more or less the same way.

@Vivi - my Aspire One is (one of) the newest model(s). Vista ran extremely smoothly for the few hours that I had it installed - even with Aero and all the fun little pretty things.

Windows 7 runs even better. I'm really impressed with it, actually. Start up time is (seemingly) quicker than it was when my XP installation was on (though this was the original installation that came on the machine, with a bunch of Acer crap that also ran at startup). All the graphical enhancements work too~~~

It took me three days, but I have a working netbook again

[Mirage]

Is your netbook a dualcore machine? Win7 can use several cores during the startup procedure, while XP uses just one, and Vista can use several but is set to use only one by default, for compatibilty and stability reasons (that's what they said anyway).

If the special desktop effects work fine it's probably got some sort of low-end 3d card or something in it. Keep in mind that using its power does make the batteries run out faster.

[Moon Rabbits]

Is your netbook a dualcore machine? Win7 can use several cores during the startup procedure, while XP uses just one, and Vista can use several but is set to use only one by default, for compatibilty and stability reasons (that's what they said anyway).

If the special desktop effects work fine it's probably got some sort of low-end 3d card or something in it. Keep in mind that using its power does make the batteries run out faster.

Single core, afaik. Intel Atom or something.

And yeah, my battery life takes a major hit when I have Aero on. There's probably a way to set it to turn off when my netbook isn't plugged in or something.

[Slothy]

@Vivi - my Aspire One is (one of) the newest model(s). Vista ran extremely smoothly for the few hours that I had it installed - even with Aero and all the fun little pretty things.

They've made some changes since I got mine then because I would bet money that mine would barely run Vista with all of the effects on. Glad you figured out how to get Win7 on it and that it's working well.