Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...

—a major release of the

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for se ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

—was available in six different product editions: Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate. On September 5, 2006, Microsoft announced the

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

pricing for editions available through retail channels; the operating system was later made available to retail on January 30, 2007. Microsoft also made Windows Vista available for purchase and download from

Windows Marketplace Windows Marketplace was a Microsoft platform for the delivery of software electronically that was secured by use of Windows Live ID (now Microsoft account). The digital locker platform was composed of four major components: #Windows Marketplac ...

; it is the first version of Windows to be distributed through a

digital distribution platform Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content such as audio, video, e-books, video games, and other s ...

. Editions sold at retail were available in both Full and Upgrade versions and later included Service Pack 1 (SP1). Microsoft characterized the retail packaging for Windows Vista as "designed to be user-friendly, a small, hard, plastic container designed to protect the software inside for life-long use"; it opens sideways to reveal the Windows Vista DVD suspended in a clear plastic case. Windows Vista optical media use a holographic design with vibrant colors. With the exception of Windows Vista Starter, all editions support both

IA-32 IA-32 (short for "Intel Architecture, 32-bit", commonly called i386) is the 32-bit version of the x86 instruction set architecture, designed by Intel and first implemented in the 80386 microprocessor in 1985. IA-32 is the first incarnatio ...

(32-bit) and

x64 x86-64 (also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64) is a 64-bit version of the x86 instruction set, first released in 1999. It introduced two new modes of operation, 64-bit mode and compatibility mode, along with a new 4-level paging mod ...

(64-bit) processor architectures. Microsoft ceased distribution of retail copies of Windows Vista in October 2010; OEM distribution of Windows Vista ended in October 2011.

Editions for personal computers

; : Much like its predecessor,

Windows XP Starter Edition Windows XP, which is the next version of Windows NT after Windows 2000 and the successor to the consumer-oriented Windows Me, has been released in several editions since its original release in 2001. Windows XP is available in many languages. In ...

, Windows Vista Starter was available in

emerging markets An emerging market (or an emerging country or an emerging economy) is a market that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not fully meet its standards. This includes markets that may become developed markets in the future or wer ...

; it was sold across 139

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

in 70 different languages. Microsoft did not make it available in developed technology markets such as the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, or other high income markets as defined by the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

. Windows Vista Starter has significant limitations; it disallows the concurrent operation of more than three programs (although an unlimited number of windows can be opened for each program unlike in Windows XP Starter); disallows users from sharing files or printers over a home network (or sharing a connection with other computers); does not support

Windows Media Player Windows Media Player (WMP) is the first media player and media library application that was developed by Microsoft for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as ...

media streaming or sharing; displays a permanent watermark in the bottom right corner of the screen, and imposes a

physical memory Computer data storage is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media that are used to retain digital data. It is a core function and fundamental component of computers. The central processing unit (CPU) of a compute ...

limit of 1 GB and a maximum amount of 120 GB

hard disk A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magn ...

space.

Peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network. They are said to form a peer-to-peer ...

networking is also disabled, and there is no support for simultaneous SMB connections. :Consumer-oriented features such as

Games Explorer Games for Windows is a discontinued brand owned by Microsoft and introduced in 2006 to coincide with the release of the Windows Vista operating system. The brand itself represents a standardized technical certification program and online service ...

Parental Controls Parental controls are features which may be included in digital television services, computers and video games, mobile devices and software that allow parents to restrict the access of content to their children. These controls were created to ...

Windows Calendar Calendar is a personal calendar application made by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows. It offers synchronization of calendars using Microsoft Exchange Server, Outlook.com Apple's iCloud calendar service, and Google Calendar. It supports the popula ...

Windows Mail Mail (formerly Windows Mail) is an email client developed by Microsoft and included in Windows Vista and later versions of Windows. The main function of Mail is sending and receiving email. It is available as the successor to Outlook Express, wh ...

Windows Movie Maker Windows Movie Maker (known as Windows Live Movie Maker for the 2009 and 2011 releases) is a discontinued video editing software program by Microsoft. It was first included in Windows Me on September 14, 2000 and in Windows XP on October 25, 2001 ...

(without support for

high-definition video High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines ...

Windows Photo Gallery Windows Photo Gallery (formerly known as Windows Live Photo Gallery) is a discontinued image organizer, photo editor and photo sharing program. It is a part of Microsoft's Windows Essentials software suite. The product has been unavailable f ...

(without support for sharing photos or themed slideshows),

Windows Speech Recognition Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) is speech recognition developed by Microsoft for Windows Vista that enables hands-free computing, voice commands to control the desktop metaphor, desktop user interface; transcription (linguistics), dictate text i ...

, and

Windows Sidebar Windows Desktop Gadgets (called Windows Sidebar in Windows Vista) is a discontinued widget engine for Microsoft Gadgets. Desktop Gadgets have been replaced by Windows 10 Taskbar Widgets. It was introduced with Windows Vista, in which it features ...

are included. :Windows Vista Starter is licensed to run only on

PCs A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or techn ...

with AMD's

Athlon XP Athlon is the brand name applied to a series of x86-compatible microprocessors designed and manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The original Athlon (now called Athlon Classic) was the first seventh-generation x86 processor and the fi ...

Duron Duron is a line of budget x86-compatible microprocessors manufactured by AMD. Released on June 19, 2000 as a lower-cost offering to complement AMD's then mainstream performance Athlon processor line, it also competed with rival chipmaker In ...

, Sempron and Geode processors, Intel's

Celeron Celeron is Intel's brand name for low-end IA-32 and x86-64 computer microprocessor models targeted at low-cost personal computers. Celeron processors are compatible with IA-32 software. They typically offer less performance per clock speed co ...

Pentium III The Pentium III (marketed as Intel Pentium III Processor, informally PIII or P3) brand refers to Intel's 32-bit x86 desktop and mobile CPUs based on the sixth-generation P6 microarchitecture introduced on February 28, 1999. The brand's initia ...

processors, and certain models of

Pentium 4 Pentium 4 is a series of single-core CPUs for desktops, laptops and entry-level servers manufactured by Intel. The processors were shipped from November 20, 2000 until August 8, 2008. The production of Netburst processors was active from 2000 ...

. Windows Vista Starter can be installed from optical media including those belonging to other editions of the operating system. :Windows Vista Starter includes a different set of desktop

wallpapers Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so ...

not found in other editions. ; : Similar to

Windows XP Home Edition Windows XP, which is the next version of Windows NT after Windows 2000 and the successor to the consumer-oriented Windows Me, has been released in several editions since its original release in 2001. Windows XP is available in many languages. In ...

, the Home Basic edition targets budget-conscious users not requiring advanced multimedia support for home use. The

Windows Aero Windows Aero (a backronym for ''Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open'') is a design language introduced in the Windows Vista operating system. The changes made in the Aero interface affected many elements of the Windows interface, includi ...

graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, ins ...

with translucent glass and lighting effects is absent from this edition; however, desktop composition—albeit without Flip 3D or Live Thumbnails—is supported. Home Basic does not include

Windows DVD Maker Windows DVD Maker is a discontinued DVD authoring application developed by Microsoft introduced in Windows Vista, available in the Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista for users to create slideshows and videos for playback on media ...

Windows Media Center Windows Media Center (WMC) is a defunct digital video recorder and media player created by Microsoft. Media Center was first introduced to Windows in 2002 on Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE). It was included in Home Premium and Ultimate ...

(or support for Extenders). Premium games including

Chess Titans ''Chess Titans'' is a chess video game with 3D graphics developed by Oberon Games and included in Windows Vista and Windows 7 Home Premium, Business/Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. It is a fully animated, photorealistic interactive ches ...

Inkball InkBall is a computer game that is included with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 and Windows Vista except the Starter and Home Basic editions. It employs the use of a stylus or mouse to draw lines to direct balls into holes of corresponding c ...

Mahjong Titans ''Microsoft Mahjong'' (formerly ''Mahjong Titans'', ''Shanghai Solitaire'' and ''Taipei'') is a computer game version of mahjong solitaire published by Microsoft. The version titled ''Mahjong Titans'' was developed by Oberon Games and included i ...

are not included. Windows HotStart is also available. :Home Basic supports one physical CPU, but with multiple cores, and the 64-bit version supports up to 8 GB of RAM. ; : Containing all features from Home Basic and similar to

Windows XP Media Center Edition Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) is a version of the Windows XP operating system which was the first version of Windows to include Windows Media Center, designed to serve as a home-entertainment hub. The last version, Windows XP Media Cen ...

, Windows Vista Home Premium includes additional features dedicated to the home

market segment In marketing, market segmentation is the process of dividing a broad consumer or business market, normally consisting of existing and potential customers, into sub-groups of consumers (known as ''segments'') based on some type of shared charact ...

. Full Windows Aero and desktop composition is available. Multimedia features include DVD burning with Windows DVD Maker, and

HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

support with Windows Media Center. Premium games (Chess Titans, InkBall, and Mahjong Titans) are available. Enhanced networking features include

ad hoc Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning literally 'to this'. In English, it typically signifies a solution for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances. (Compare with ''a priori''.) Com ...

support, projectors, and up to 10 simultaneous SMB connections (compared to 5 in Home Basic);

Windows Meeting Space Windows Meeting Space (codenamed Windows Shared View and formerly Windows Collaboration) was a peer-to-peer collaboration program developed by Microsoft for Windows Vista as a replacement for Windows NetMeeting and it enables application sharing, ...

, while included in Home Basic, only allowed users to join meetings—in Home Premium, users may either create new meetings or join existing ones. Home Premium also introduces

Windows Mobility Center Windows Mobility Center is a component of Microsoft Windows, introduced in Windows Vista, that centralizes information and settings most relevant to mobile computing. History A mobility center that displayed device settings pertinent to mobile de ...

, Windows SideShow, and Windows

Tablet PC A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being comput ...

and

Touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch ( haptic perception), as well as temperature ( thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It ...

features such as support for

capacitive touchscreen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is ofte ...

flick Flick of Flicks may refer to: Arts * Flick, slang term for film or movie **Chick flick, slang, sometimes derogatory, term for films aimed at a female audience * ''Flick'' (2000 film), Irish film * ''Flick'' (2008 film), a campy British horror ...

gesture A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or ...

s, Snipping Tool, and Tablet PC Input Panel (which has been updated since Windows XP to include

AutoComplete Autocomplete, or word completion, is a feature in which an application predicts the rest of a word a user is typing. In Android and iOS smartphones, this is called predictive text. In graphical user interfaces, users can typically press the ta ...

, as well as handwriting personalization and training features).

Backup and Restore Backup and Restore (formerly Backup and Restore Center) is the primary backup component of Windows Vista and Windows 7. It can create file and folder backups, as well as system images backups, to be used for recovery in the event of data corrupt ...

additionally supports backup schedules, backup to network devices, and incremental backups. :Windows Vista Home Premium—like Home Basic—supports only one physical CPU, but it additionally supports multiple cores. The 64-bit version supports up to 16 GB of RAM. ; : Comparable to Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista Business Edition targets the

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separ ...

market. It includes all the features of Home Basic with the exception of Parental Controls and can join a

Windows Server domain A Windows domain is a form of a computer network in which all user accounts, computers, printers and other security principals, are registered with a central database located on one or more clusters of central computers known as domain controll ...

. It includes

Encrypting File System The Encrypting File System (EFS) on Microsoft Windows is a feature introduced in version 3.0 of NTFS that provides filesystem-level encryption. The technology enables files to be transparently encrypted to protect confidential data from attackers ...

Internet Information Services Internet Information Services (IIS-pronounced 2S, formerly Internet Information Server) is an extensible web server software created by Microsoft for use with the Windows NT family. IIS supports HTTP, HTTP/2, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, SMTP and NN ...

Offline Files Windows Vista introduced a number of new I/O functions to the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. They are intended to shorten the time taken to boot the system, improve the responsiveness of the system, and improve the reliability of dat ...

Remote Desktop In computing, the term remote desktop refers to a software- or operating system feature that allows a personal computer's desktop environment to be run remotely off of one system (usually a PC, but the concept applies equally to a server or a ...

, Rights Management Services,

Shadow Copy Shadow Copy (also known as Volume Snapshot Service, Volume Shadow Copy Service or VSS) is a technology included in Microsoft Windows that can create backup copies or snapshots of computer files or volumes, even when they are in use. It is imple ...

, and

Windows Fax and Scan Windows Fax and Scan is an integrated faxing and scanning application introduced in Windows Vista and included in the Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate Windows Vista editions as the replacement for the Fax Console of Windows XP; it is available i ...

. Backup and Restore also allows users to create disk images of operating system installations. :Windows Vista Business supports up to two physical CPUs, and the 64-bit version supports 128 GB of RAM. ; : This edition targets the

enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterprise ...

segment of the market: it comprises a superset of the Vista Business edition. Additional features include

BitLocker BitLocker is a full volume encryption feature included with Microsoft Windows versions starting with Windows Vista. It is designed to protect data by providing encryption for entire volumes. By default, it uses the AES encryption algorithm i ...

Multilingual User Interface Multilingual User Interface (MUI) enables the localization of the user interface of an application. MUI is provided by Microsoft as an integrated feature of its operating system Windows 11 down to Windows 2000 with some limitations in older ...

(MUI), and

UNIX Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, ...

application support. Windows Vista Enterprise was not available through retail or OEM channels, but was instead distributed through

Microsoft Software Assurance Microsoft Software Assurance (SA) is a Microsoft maintenance program aimed at business users who use Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, and other server and desktop applications. The core premise behind SA is to give users the ability to sp ...

(SA), with license terms that conferred the right to operate up to four

virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/ emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized h ...

s with various Windows Vista editions installed, access to Virtual PC Express, and activation via

volume licensing In software licensing, a volume licensing is the practice of selling a license authorizing one computer program to be used on a large number of computers or by a large number of users. Customers of such licensing schemes are typically business, ...

. :Windows Vista Enterprise supports up to two physical CPUs, and the 64-bit version supports up to 128 GB of RAM. ; : Windows Vista Ultimate includes all features of the Home Premium and Business editions, as well as BitLocker and MUI; it also provides access to optional " Ultimate Extras." Windows Vista Ultimate supports up to two physical CPUs, and the 64-bit version supports up to 128 GB of RAM. : Microsoft released two special edition variants of Windows Vista Ultimate: Windows Vista Ultimate Signature Edition featured a unique production number alongside the signature of

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

on the front of the packaging; the edition was limited to 25,000 copies. Windows Vista Product Red was produced as part of the

Product Red Product Red, stylized as (PRODUCT) or (PRODUCT)RED, is a licensed brand by the company Red, stylized as (RED), that seeks to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds to help eliminate HIV/AIDS in eight African countries, namely E ...

program, with a portion of sales supporting

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (or simply the Global Fund) is an international financing and partnership organization that aims to "attract, leverage and invest additional resources to end the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, ...

. The edition was originally distributed as pre-loaded software on a line of Product Red-branded

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

PCs, but was later released at retail. Besides including an additional desktop theme with wallpapers and other content, it is otherwise identical to the main Windows Vista Ultimate SKU. : Internally, Microsoft released a Windows Vista Handcrafted variant of the Windows Vista Ultimate SKU for employees involved with the development of Windows Vista; it features a custom box alongside a note to employees, but is otherwise identical to the Ultimate SKU.

Distribution

Users could purchase and download Windows Vista directly from Microsoft through the Windows Marketplace before the service's discontinuation. Optical media distributed through retail or through OEMs for Windows Vista are identical; Microsoft refers to this as "CD unification." Before Windows Vista, versions of Windows for OEMs and retail were maintained separately. All editions of Windows Vista—excluding Enterprise—are stored on the same optical media; a license key for the edition purchased determines which version on the disc is eligible for installation. To upgrade to a higher edition from a lower edition (such as from Home Basic to Ultimate) Windows Vista includes

Windows Anytime Upgrade Windows Anytime Upgrade (Add Features to Windows) is a discontinued service by Microsoft introduced in Windows Vista that facilitated upgrades across successive editions of Windows Vista. Prices for upgrades purchased through Windows Anytime Upg ...

to facilitate an upgrade. For computers with

optical disc drive In computing, an optical disc drive is a disc drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves within or near the visible light spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs. Some drives can only r ...

s that supported CDs but not DVDs, Microsoft offered CDs for Windows Vista that could be purchased from its website. The company would later release alternative media for Windows Vista SP1. A Windows Vista Family Discount program enabled

and

customers who purchased the Ultimate edition before June 30, 2007 to purchase additional licenses for Windows Vista Home Premium at a cost of $49.99 each. Microsoft sold these licenses online through its website. In addition, Eligible students in qualifying regions had the option to purchase the upgrade version of the Home Premium edition at a reduced price. A similar offer was later available for Windows Vista Ultimate.

64-bit versions

To support

platforms such as Intel

Xeon Xeon ( ) is a brand of x86 microprocessors designed, manufactured, and marketed by Intel, targeted at the non-consumer workstation, server, and embedded system markets. It was introduced in June 1998. Xeon processors are based on the same ar ...

Intel Core 2 Intel Core 2 is the processor family encompassing a range of Intel's consumer 64-bit x86-64 single-, dual-, and quad-core microprocessors based on the Core microarchitecture. The single- and dual-core models are single-die, whereas the quad-cor ...

, AMD

Opteron Opteron is AMD's x86 former server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture (known generically as x86-64 or AMD64). It was released on April 22, 2003, with the ''Sledg ...

and AMD

Athlon 64 The Athlon 64 is a ninth-generation, AMD64-architecture microprocessor produced by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), released on September 23, 2003. It is the third processor to bear the name ''Athlon'', and the immediate successor to the Athlon XP. T ...

, Microsoft released x64 versions of every edition of Windows Vista except for the Starter edition. These editions can run

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calculati ...

programs within the

WOW64 In computing on Microsoft platforms, WoW64 (Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit) is a subsystem of the Windows operating system capable of running 32-bit applications on 64-bit Windows. It is included in all 64-bit versions of Windows—includi ...

subsystem. Most 32-bit programs can run natively, though applications that rely on device drivers will not run unless those device drivers have been written for x64 platforms. Reviewers have reported that the x64 editions of Windows Vista outperform their IA-32 counterparts in benchmarks such as PassMark. All 32-bit editions of Windows Vista, excluding Starter, support up to 4 GB of RAM. The 64-bit edition of Home Basic supports 8 GB of RAM, Home Premium supports 16 GB, and Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate support 128 GB of RAM. All 64-bit versions of Microsoft operating systems impose a 16 TB limit on address space. Processes created on the 64-bit editions of Windows Vista can have 8 TB in virtual memory for user processes and 8 TB for kernel processes to create a virtual memory of 16 TB.

Editions for specific markets

In March 2004, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

fined Microsoft for €497 million (about US$603 million) and ordered the company to provide a version of Windows without Windows Media Player. The Commission concluded that Microsoft "broke European Union competition law by leveraging its near

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

in the market for PC operating systems onto the markets for work group

server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...

operating systems and for media players." Microsoft reached an agreement with the Commission where it would release a court-compliant version, Windows XP Edition N, that does not include the company's Windows Media Player but instead encourages users to download and install their preferred media player. Similarly, in December 2005, the Korean Fair Trade Commission ordered Microsoft to make available editions of Windows XP and

Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2003 is the sixth version of Windows Server operating system produced by Microsoft. It is part of the Windows NT family of operating systems and was released to manufacturing on March 28, 2003 and generally available on April 24, 2 ...

that do not contain Windows Media Player or Windows Messenger. Similar to the European Commission, this decision was based on the grounds that Microsoft had abused its dominant position in the market to push other products onto consumers. Unlike that decision, however, Microsoft was also forced to withdraw the non-compliant versions of Windows from the South Korean market. This decision resulted in Microsoft's releasing "K" and "KN" variants of the Home and Professional editions of Windows XP in August 2006. As a continuance of these requirements, Microsoft released "N" and "KN" variants of some editions of Windows Vista that exclude Windows Media Player, as well as "K" and "KN" editions that include links to third-party media player and instant messaging software. "N" editions of Windows Vista require third-party software (or a separate installation of Windows Media Player) to play audio CDs and other media formats such as

MPEG-4 MPEG-4 is a group of international standards for the compression of digital audio and visual data, multimedia systems, and file storage formats. It was originally introduced in late 1998 as a group of audio and video coding formats and related t ...

Editions for embedded systems

Two additional editions of Windows Vista have been released for use by developers of embedded devices. These are binary identical editions to those available in retail, but licensed exclusively for use in embedded devices. ; Windows Vista Business for Embedded Systems: This edition mirrors the feature set of the Business edition of Windows Vista. ; Windows Vista Ultimate for Embedded Systems:This edition mirrors the feature set of the Ultimate edition of Windows Vista. Accordingly, it includes capabilities not found in Vista Business for Embedded Systems such as BitLocker Drive Encryption, the Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications, and Virtual PC Express.

Upgrading

Unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows Vista does not support compliance checking during installation; compliance checking previously allowed users to insert a disc as evidence that the operating system was being upgraded over a previous version, which would allow users to enter an upgrade license to perform a clean install. As a result, Upgrade versions of Windows Vista will not install unless a previous version of Windows is already installed on the machine to be upgraded. A workaround for this limitation was reported by Paul Thurrott, who stated that users should be able to perform a full installation of Windows Vista through Upgrade media by bypassing the prompt to enter a license during setup, and then, once installed, reinstall the operating system over the previous installation—this essentially allows users who purchased the Upgrade version to perform a full retail installation. While the workaround is indeed possible, Microsoft has cautioned that users who perform a full installation of the operating system through this method without a genuine license for a previous version would be in violation of the Windows Vista

end-user license agreement An end-user license agreement or EULA () is a legal contract between a software supplier and a customer or end-user, generally made available to the customer via a retailer acting as an intermediary. A EULA specifies in detail the rights and rest ...

. Users can upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista, or upgrade from one edition of Windows Vista to another. However, upgrading from a 32-bit edition to a 64-bit edition or downgrading from 64-bit edition to a 32-bit edition requires a clean install. In addition, not all potential upgrade combinations are supported. The following chart indicates the possible upgrade paths: Notes: * Only Windows XP can be upgraded to Windows Vista; a clean install is required for PCs running

Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It was the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was released to manufacturing on December 15, 1999, and was offici ...

or earlier versions. * While it is possible to upgrade from Windows XP Media Center Edition to Windows Vista Home Premium if the computer was joined to an

Active Directory Active Directory (AD) is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems as a set of processes and services. Initially, Active Directory was used only for centralize ...

Domain at the time of upgrade, the computer will remain joined to the domain but no users will be able to log into the computer through the domain controller. Windows Vista Home Premium does not support joining an Active Directory Domain.

Comparison chart

Notes: # Home Basic, Business and Enterprise editions are available in the South Korean and European markets as "KN" and "N" editions, respectively, which exclude Windows Media Player and HD components of Windows Movie Maker. # All editions except Starter are available in the Korean market as "K" editions, which are sold in place of the standard editions of Windows Vista. Unlike the "KN" editions, the "K" editions do include Windows Media Player and its related components, and also include links to web sites which list third-party media player and instant messaging software. # Windows Vista Business N is available in the European market. By default, it does not include Windows Media Player and its related components, or Windows Movie Maker. # Windows Movie Maker is not available in Windows Vista Business KN. # Windows Mobility Center is available on mobile PCs (notebook PCs, Tablet PCs, and Ultra-mobile PCs) but not on desktop PCs. ''The rotate screen'' functionality is offered only on Tablet PCs with an appropriate driver. # Presentation settings on Windows Mobility Center are not available on Home Basic. # Premium Windows Vista games, including Chess Titans, InkBall, and Mahjong Titans, are available in Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate. Windows Vista games are also available as optional components in the Business and Enterprise editions, but are not installed by default.

References

{{Good article Editions and pricing