Statement of Support for Windows Vista

Introduction

Important!
The consumer edition of Microsoft's Vista operating system became available in retail stores in late January 2007. Computing Services continues to examine the impact of Vista on other applications commonly used on campus.

Microsoft offers a variety of editions of Windows Vista. Computing Services will offer support as follows:

Support Details

The following sections outline the details of Computing Services' support for Windows Vista.

Terms Used in this Document
Please see Support Statement Terms for a definition of terms used to describe the level to which we do or do not support a service or technology.

Platforms

Windows Vista Enterprise Edition is supported only on the Intel or AMD platform. The hardware must meet the minimum recommended hardware requirements required by Microsoft. Please see the Hardware and Software Requirements document for additional requirements on campus.

Level of Support

Computing Services does not support specific hardware, peripherals, or the configuration of such devices. In most cases, hardware devices should be "plug-n-play", and/or should have appropriate drivers and support provided by the vendor.

The network services for any edition of Windows Vista should be configured using the instructions provided in the  Connecting to the Campus Network [PDF] document.

Windows Vista  Enterprise: Computing Services supports the installation of the Windows Vista Enterprise Edition operating system and the configuration necessary for the system to function on the Campus Network.

Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate Editions: Computing Services does not support the installation of Windows Vista Home Basic Edition, Home Premium Edition, Ultimate Edition, or Business Edition. These editions of Windows Vista are installed by the vendors from whom computers are purchased and users should contact the vendor for installation or reinstallation support. Computing Services will support the configuration necessary for the system to function on the Campus Network unless the configuration problems are related to the installed edition of Windows Vista.

Application Support

Windows Vista Enterprise Edition: Computing Services will support applications that are defined in the Computing Services Supported Software List and will test new versions of these applications to ensure compatibility with Windows Vista Enterprise Edition.

Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate and Business Editions: Computing Services will support applications that are defined in the Computing Services Supported Software List to the extent that the configuration and behavior is identical to Windows Vista Enterprise Edition. Computing Services will not test new versions of these applications to ensure compatibility with these unsupported editions of Windows Vista.

Multi-user Login
All editions of Windows Vista support mult-user local login access. In troubleshooting, Computing Services may require that users log on with an account that has full administrative access rights.

Printing
Due to the variety of printers available, Computing Services limits support for printing from Windows Vista to Computing Services public printers only. For details, please see the Public Printing Guideline.

Training

The Computing Services Education & Outreach group offers Learning Anytime!, a 24x7 online learning service. Please visit the Education and Outreach pages for information.

Last Updated: 02/01/07