hello,
thanks for reading and helping.
in all the former version there were hidden possibilities to install without the recomended ram.
Is there one in vista?
its important for me even if You think it makes no sense.
for me its definitely sense because of several personel reason to use vista on an older machine.
2 question:
if i only install the memory for the setup process,
will it boot with for example 256 mb after?
i dont need all the advice why and what for because i have definetly a good reason for it and dont need the ram.
thanks everyone for the advice and help and idea
arne

i dont know about know, but i used the beta RC1 on 512 megs of ram, i assume it would be the same now
"Arne Haarhaus"

The OP is talking about LESS than 512 MB. 512 MB is supported in RTM and was for many of the Beta builds.
Jupiter Jones [MVP] www3.telus.net/dandemar dts-l.org
"sharpz"

Arne; AFAIK, there is no switch.
Try installing with 512 MB and then remove 256 MB to see what happens. Let us know.
Jupiter Jones [MVP] www3.telus.net/dandemar dts-l.org
"Arne Haarhaus"

ah my mistake, didnt read the less than "Jupiter Jones [MVP]"

I actually did that already, it works... ehm... it just works going under 512 mb its just the same as going 128 with xp: be sure not to burn your hard disk with the page faults :-)
slow is the word to describe it... though it was, however, surprisingly usable after 3 days or so, with the only condition of not opening more than 1 "<100 mb" app at same time (no, photoshop does not count, neither firefox, those need more memory thus run pretty slow), heck even word 2007 was tested and run surprisingly almost without writing lag

"Arne Haarhaus"

Running any flavor of Vista in 256MB RAM sounds masochistic. To the max...
Lang