- 1). Place the Vista CD in the computer's disc drive. Go to the "Start" menu, hover over the arrow next to the lock icon and choose "Restart" from the menu that comes up. Your computer will boot back up.
- 2). Watch the screen for a message that reads "Press (key) to enter BIOS" or "Press (key) to enter setup," which appears before the Windows logo during the boot process. In the place of "(key)" in the message, a key on your computer's keyboard will be listed. Press this key to open the BIOS setup on your Vista computer.
- 3). Press the down arrow to get to the "Boot Order" entry that appears on the main BIOS setup screen, and press "Enter." Change the boot order for your Vista computer by setting the "CD Drive" entry as "1" in the boot list and the "Hard Drive" entry as "2" in the boot list. The keys you need to press to do this vary from computer to computer, but the instructions on how to change the boot order appear in the instruction pane on the BIOS screen.
- 4). Restart the computer by clicking the "Start" orb, hovering over the arrow next to the lock again and choosing "Restart." When the computer reboots this time, a message appears on the screen during the booting process that reads "Press any key to boot to CD."
- 5). Press any key on your computer's keyboard. Vista boots from the installation disc in the drive.
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