I’ve just bought an official copy of Windows Vista Beta 2 on DVD. I could have downloaded it for free, but I don’t own a DVD burner and so getting it posted to me is probably easier.
I’m not installing it yet though. I’ve got it for my next laptop which will probably be a Macbook and will probably be bought around September-time, depending on my financial situation. By then, I’m hoping that Boot Camp will run Windows Vista.
If I was to buy a Macbook, to be able to run Windows would require purchasing a Windows XP license (since I tend to do things buy the book and actually pay for software). If Vista is going to be out in the next 12 months then there’s little point in buying a license for XP as it’ll be of no use once Vista is available. So in the time between me buying a Macbook and Windows Vista (the real one) being released, I can pursue the cheap option of using a beta of Vista.
As to why I’ve bought it today: apparently the number of users allowed to try Vista is limited, so if I don’t get in now I may not be able to get it in future. It’s perhaps a bit selfish, as someone else could have got in there who would be testing it now and not later, but nevermind.
Windows Vista Beta 2
June 8, 2006
This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
June 8, 2006 at 21:45
I just read today that Microsoft has succeeded in installing Vista in BootCamp. Unfortunatly, I can’t remember where I saw the story now. But the link pointed to an MSDN webpage.
June 9, 2006 at 08:32
Hopefully, just after September, Mac OS X v10.5 (Leopard) will be out, and there is rumours about running Windows side-by-side without the need for BootCamp, if so, I’ll definitely chuck Windows on, though not decided on Vista or XP.
Need to see what benchmarks Vista gets on a MacBookPro…
June 14, 2006 at 00:28
I think this is the link Dave M was talking about.
June 14, 2006 at 00:41
That didn’t look familiar, but it works for me. What I saw may have been a post discussing this post. You know how most blogs are.
June 15, 2006 at 04:30
here is the link if you want to install windows vista (5384) on a MacBook
http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/Bootcamp/Operatingsystems
June 23, 2006 at 10:05
Sorry im a bit of a noob with Windows Vista™ at the moment and I just wonderd is it an operating system or an addon to XP™?
June 23, 2006 at 10:18
Jack: It’s a new operating system which replaces Windows XP. XP will be phased out in place of Vista in the coming months.
June 24, 2006 at 12:45
Did you get the cd yet? I still can’t get mine installed on the pc
June 24, 2006 at 13:26
I might have got it… I’m in York at the moment and I think I had it sent to my address in Bradford. I’ll be back there in a week’s time so I’ll see if it has arrived.
June 24, 2006 at 16:05
Andy, what’s the problem? I was able to install with only one odd message about a SCSI driver that I ignored since I don’t have any SCSI HD’s.
June 27, 2006 at 01:33
If anyone here figures out how to install Vista on a MacBook, please let me know. I haven’t been able to get it to go. I start the install from within WinXP in Parallels, it gets just minutes in, and states something about the computer not being capable of running it.
I’m sure the MacBook is more than capable. It’s just not flying.
July 7, 2006 at 01:41
your macbook will run it, but parallels won’t. They say that support for the type of bios that vista requires should come by the end of the year. You will have to run it through boot camp to be able to install vista, at least right now.
July 7, 2006 at 15:26
Oh well, then I’ll have to wait until I get my Mac Pro (Intel based PowerMac). I don’t want to use up too much of my hard drive space on the MacBook for it. If I could find a 100-120GB drive for it that isn’t too expensive, then I might upgrade the HD and do it. However, I haven’t found one that makes me happy yet.
July 14, 2006 at 05:43
Where did you buy that windows vista beta 2 dvd. and how much was it?
July 14, 2006 at 07:43
I got it direct from Microsoft and it was £10. Unfortunately there were only a limited number available and Microsoft has now sold out.
By the way, it has now arrived
July 15, 2006 at 18:10
Is it worth downloading?
July 15, 2006 at 19:34
If you want to check out what MS Vista will look like and work like, then, yes, it’s worth the download.
I would suggest creating a partition to install it on instead of installing over the top of your existing Windows installation.
July 16, 2006 at 02:11
How long does it take to download?
Does it make any major malfunctions on your cpu something that will totally mess up your cpu?
How do you make partition it?
July 16, 2006 at 02:22
If it’s still available, it’s just over 3GB’s. A DVD ISO image.
I haven’t had any “malfunctions” running it. However, it is “BETA” software and could very easily crash or do worse.
I used Partition Magic from Symantec, however there is a free tool called GParted that does the same thing. (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/) It’s the partition software for Linux’s Gnome project. They have a “LiveCD” that will allow you to do the partition work without having to install anything.
July 19, 2006 at 17:37
just downloaded and burned it and now they came out with another build http://blogs.technet.com/windowsvista/default.aspx
i’ll intall the other one anyway tho
July 19, 2006 at 17:41
Nick: It’s not available anymore – it was a restricted beta and they have all the testers they want now.
Nubee: That’s only available to MSDN subscribers (and a few other small groups) – not the general public.
July 20, 2006 at 13:12
Thanks for the reply Neil, I’ll install the first one then as soon as i partition.
Although i may have a msdn account, is that the same thing that allows you to log-in to microsoft and download office 2007?
July 20, 2006 at 16:06
numbee: no. microsoft thats .net acounts!
July 21, 2006 at 12:24
Luckily I was telling someone of my problems and they had an “old vista disk” at the job it was from microsoft so it had the key too, installed it, ran great, restarted it, but now I have to activate it to get to my desktop (key was too old), but errors pop up when I choose the options, I can probably fix this somehow.
-Thanks, nubee
August 6, 2006 at 10:59
I think that Windows Vista is taking too much time in both development and download more than it deseves.
August 22, 2006 at 18:01
Will this “Vista” replace Win 3.11 on my IBM 286?
January 17, 2007 at 11:55
So when will someone get the beta Vista to run past its end date?????
January 17, 2007 at 15:41
Skottyb7, your kidding right? Please say you are kidding.
Mike, remember you are talking about a beta. Even the RC’s are prerelease versions that have tons of bugs in it. It’s bad enough that Vista will be buggy as a release product.
January 29, 2007 at 23:53
can u tell me how to get the cd for windows vista beta 2
January 30, 2007 at 01:49
Samar: Wow, the Beta program is well past now. The only way to get Vista at this point is to go out and buy it tomorrow.
February 18, 2007 at 10:16
can u tell me how to get the cd for windows vista beta 2
I think samar you have to search on microsoft websites for beta i have Vista but not beta. Greetings
February 23, 2007 at 09:18
It works under Win98se?
June 29, 2007 at 17:40
@samar: Vista beta is not available anymore for download, try the next version of windows
October 2, 2007 at 05:29
Vista is out for everybody now, enjoy ultimate version with 2 GBs of RAM now
June 25, 2008 at 16:33
If you want to check out what MS Vista will look like and work like, then, yes, it’s worth the download.
I would suggest creating a partition to install it on instead of installing over the top of your existing Windows installation.