I just recently built a system and went to install VISTA-32 bit. Brand new hard drive.
1. I stopped install, since it wouldn't let me format drive. Unsure why.
2. Since I stopped, I was unable to restart or enter the VISTA program.
ERROR MSG: BOOTMGR IS MISSING.
Thx for the help and suggestion for formatting; this was necessary as VISTA wouldn't format my drive. The other problems I created: I had incorrect BIOS settings, given that I was trying to RAID1 with a MSI board at startup. I corrected the BIOS settings and apart from the "manual" format, I got the system up and running.
-MSI 875X PUE
-4 GB RAM, 2.4 GHz Intel CONROE
-4 SATA drives, 2 in a RAID1
-VISTA-Ultimate.

Thx for the help.

Scott