Hi

OK, I'm going to help you everybody so you can install Vista by booting from DVD without any sighted assistance, since I've done this for lots of times (of course without JAWS or Narrator).
First, when you press a couple of Enters to start the installation, when asked for a product key, you just press Enter and then the letter O for not entering a product key. If you wish to enter a key, type it without dashes and press Enter. If you don't enter a key, you will be prompted to choose an edition of Vista. Just type in "Windows Vista Ultimate" without quotes in rappid succession, press TAB and then Spacebar. Press ALT+N combination for Next Button. To accept the agreement, press the spacebar, then TAB, then spacebar again. If nothing happens, press ALT+N. Now, on the next screen, press ALT+C forCustom or ALT+U for Upgrade. Since I always do a custom install,I don't know what to do while upgrading. When you press ALT+C for Custom, on the next screen, arrow down to a partition on which you wish to install Vista and press ALT+N. If a partition already has Windows installed, press Enter once to delete old copy of Windows and install Vista, or press TAB Enter to activate Cancel and move back to a list of partitions. After three reboots, Vista is waiting to enter your user name. Type it and press ALT+N. Type your computer name, and press ALT+N again. Now, press enter for about 3 or 4 times, and wait for your system to be set-up successfully. You are almost done!

Thanks a lot for those instructions. It will not only help me, but other blind people who try to install Vista in the future.

By the way, after the second stage of setup (username / computer name), you can press windows+u to start utility manager.  Since the second stage already runs a working Windows, it can start applications.

As for Vista launch:

On january 29, 2007, Microsoft (and it's Vista employees) will celebrate the release of Vista and office 2007. This event is called " Wow starts now ", and will be held in New York. Millions of Vista fans / developers will be there. Vista is known as the biggest Windows launch ever. Really.

Hello all.

Today, dec 28, I will begin what I call is the lookback phase of my Vista years.

My hole Vista experience started on may 22, 2005. This was wen I downloaded build 5048 (illegally, of course). This was build 5048. The first build after the reset.

Ever since then, I tested build 5112, build 5270, build 5308, build 5381, build 5600, and now build 6000. I will now reinstall all of these builds (except beta 2, which was so bad that I gave it back to my cousin). I will use each build for about 3 days, and analyse it. (how was performance? What features existed that don't exist today? ) And wen wow starts now begins, (jan 29, 2007), I will post a " windows Vista reevaluation " topic, where I tell my results, give a little mini review of the build in question, and give my full opinions on Vista and it's developement.

So, stay tuned for that. It's time to install build 5048!

If booting from CD, you cannot use Narrator during the installation, since sound card is not installed at this point, and also, the first part of the installation runs in DOS mode. However, if you install XP from any other Windows version, you can use JAWS during the installation until the first restart, and you can configure to have Narrator speaking during the installation (of course if the sound card is detected immediately).
HTH
Hrvoje

Hi,
I have Windows XP installed al ready, but I want to install it again to make some changes to the install. So will narrator work if i press windows U?
Thanks.

I won't post on this off topic again after this:
If you only want to change installed components you can do it through the add/remove programs box. Otherwise you're looking at a full install, but I can't think of any reason the average user would want to reinstall unless their system screwed up.

Sound recorder had already been made nigh on useless in another version, can't remember whether it was ME or XP. It had a limit on the size of the sound you could use, which was smaller than most wav files.

Yes, but you failed to mention which version of Windows this was. I'm sure either ME or XP had this issue, and I don't recall which. I was simply stating that Microsoft jiggering up sound recorder on purpose is nothing new.

yes, the time limit in sndrec32 is bad, but y can always restart recording (press record button again) and you get another 2 minutes. As for loading files, sound recorder can load files that are as big as you're free ram (if you have 320 mb free, then you can load about 320 mb of sound).

Vista's sound recorder only saves in wma, (with no time limit), you can't playback what you recorded (you have to play it with wmp), you can't mix, and you can't edit the file. How stupid.

yo

Well, XP's sound recorder is much more accessible then Vista's. And, when we talk about Vista things we hate, I also hate some of the changes found in Vista. Here's a list of them:
1. Where's volume control? It's no longer in system tray. It's now too complicated and too hard to change device volume, microphone volume, stereo mix, line in, and microphone boost. Nothing is the same like in XP when we talk about volume control dialog in XP, and volume control dialog in Vista.
2. Changing wallpaper, theme, screen saver etc. was much easier in XP. I just press CTRL+TAB to move through controls in Display dialog, and use up-down arrow to switch between wallpapers. Now I must TAB for hundreds of times to choose wallpaper in a list. But, one good thing is that now in Vista I can change desktop background by pointing to a picture in Windows Explorer, and choose that option from context menu.
3. Power options - also much easier to operate in XP, and really complicated in Vista.
4. Windows Explorer - 100-times to press TAB until you find a list view (May be I should turn off some tool bars).
5. An ugly bootscreen.
6. In Vista, Shutdown is back! But Turn Off dialog in XP was much better for me, since in XP are buttons, and no radio buttons, so I don't need to choose "turn off" followed by Enter. I just press U and it turns off, R and it restarts, etc. In vista, I need to press S once or twice to choose "shutdown" and then Enter. To make it easier, I choose "shutdown", press the end key, and press Enter.
7. I can't share my Vista files on a Network with an XP computer. When I try to access my Vista computer from XP on a Network, my XP machine gives me a nice error message.
8. My sound card is not supported, so I need to install an XP driver, and it's really hard to install.
9. DVD Maker not working with video cards that are XDDM. I don't see a reason why it cannot work! And, this is the only bundled Vista application not working at me.
10. Too big hardware requirements.
Well, these are 10 things I don't like in Vista, but I can live with it, however! However, I like new version of Narrator in Vista. Now I can change SAPI voices, while in XP's Narrator, I can use only MS Sam, really bad quality voice for me.
Regards
Hrvoje