Windows Vista editions compared feature by feature

By Ed Bott, Carl Siechert, and Craig Stinson
(Adapted from Windows Vista Inside Out © 2007 Microsoft Corporation. To learn more about this book, visit the Microsoft Learning website.)

Picture of Windows Vista Inside Out cover

THERE ARE FOUR RETAIL EDITIONS (Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Ultimate, and Windows Vista Business) and one corporate edition (Windows Vista Enterprise) of the Windows Vista operating system. This article lists in detail which features and capabilities are found in each edition. (For a brief description of each edition, see the Windows Vista editions overview.)

For your convenience, we’ve divided a potentially long and confusing feature list into the following categories: User experience, security, digital media/entertainment, hardware, backup, business applications, and advanced networking and administration.

User experience

The Windows Aero desktop experience is available only on the four premium editions of Windows Vista with hardware that meets Windows Aero standards. The Windows Aero user experience is not available on Windows Vista Home Basic. With all editions, the Windows Vista Basic interface is both the default choice on systems with underpowered video hardware and a user-selectable option.

Feature	Home Basic	Home Premium	Ultimate	Business	Enterprise
Windows Vista Basic View (with appropriate hardware support)	×
Windows Aero desktop experience (with appropriate hardware support)		×	×	×	×
Windows Vista Basic interface	×	×	×	×	×
Windows Classic and Windows Standard interface options	×	×	×	×	×
Ease of Access Center	×	×	×	×	×
Windows Speech Recognition	×	×	×	×	×
Support for multiple languages using the Multilingual User Interface (MUI)			×		×

Security

The most important security-enhancing features in Windows Vista are available regardless of which edition you install. The Parental Controls feature is found only in consumer-oriented editions, and a few advanced features are included only in business-focused editions.

Feature	Home Basic	Home Premium	Ultimate	Business	Enterprise
Windows User Account Control	×	×	×	×	×
Windows Firewall with advanced security	×	×	×	×	×
Windows Defender	×	×	×	×	×
Protected Mode in Windows Internet Explorer 7	×	×	×	×	×
Phishing Filter (Windows Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Mail)	×	×	×	×	×
Parental Controls	×	×	×
Encrypting File System			×	×	×
Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption			×		×

Digital media/entertainment

The basic tools for playing music and video clips, organizing digital photos, ripping audio CDs to digital files, and creating movie files are found in every Windows Vista edition. Windows Media Center, Windows DVD Maker, and other technologies that are aimed at the living room are reserved for Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate.

Feature	Home Basic	Home Premium	Ultimate	Business	Enterprise
Windows Media Player 11	×	×	×	×	×
Share a media library with other computers and devices	×	×	×	×	×
Windows Photo Gallery	×	×	×	×	×
Windows Movie Maker	×	×	×	×	×
Windows Movie Maker HD		×	×
Windows DVD Maker (with appropriate hardware support)		×	×
Themed slide shows		×	×
Windows Media Center		×	×
Live TV recording and playback (with appropriate hardware support)		×	×
Support for Extenders for Windows Media Center (including Xbox 360)		×	×
Premium games		×	×	optional	optional

Hardware

Most mainstream desktop and notebook systems work identically with every edition of Windows Vista. For more advanced hardware configurations, you’ll want to choose an edition that specifically supports that hardware.

Feature	Home Basic	Home Premium	Ultimate	Business	Enterprise
Tablet PC and touch screen support		×	×	×	×
Windows SideShow		×	×	×	×
Support for two physical CPUs			×	×	×
Maximum RAM supported (32-bit)	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB
Maximum RAM supported (64-bit)	8 GB	16 GB	128+ GB	128+ GB	128+ GB
Network projector		×	×	×	×
Windows Mobility Center (full functionality)		×	×	×	×
Centralized power management through Group Policy			×	×	×

Backup

Every edition of Windows Vista includes the Windows Backup program, but its capabilities vary, depending on the edition. Windows Vista Home Basic users can perform interactive backups of data files to local disks or removable media. Windows Vista Home Premium users add the capability to schedule file-based backups. With Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Business, and Windows Vista Enterprise, you can save an image of your system drive using the Complete PC Backup feature, and then use Shadow Copies to recover versions of deleted or changed files from days or weeks earlier.

Feature	Home Basic	Home Premium	Ultimate	Business	Enterprise
Back up user files to local disk or DVD	×	×	×	×	×
Scheduled backup of user files		×	×	×	×
Back up user files to a network device		×	×	×	×
Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore			×	×	×
Windows Shadow Copy (previous versions)			×	×	×

Business applications

Most of the features in this section are specifically intended for business use. Two exceptions, both found in Windows Vista Home Premium and the business-focused editions, are the Presentation Settings feature (which allows you to disable screen savers, instant messaging clients, and other distracting interface elements while delivering a presentation) and Windows Meeting Space, an application-sharing tool that replaces the now-obsolete NetMeeting program.

Feature	Home Basic	Home Premium	Ultimate	Business	Enterprise
Presentation settings		×	×	×	×
Windows Meeting Space	join meeting only	×	×	×	×
Windows Fax and Scan (with appropriate hardware support)			×	×	×
Small business resources			×	×
Subsystem for UNIX-based applications			×		×
Licensed for use in up to four virtual machines					×

Advanced networking and administration

Most of the tools and features listed in this table are designed to meet the needs of network users and administrators in enterprise settings where one or more Windows domain servers are available.

Feature	Home Basic	Home Premium	Ultimate	Business	Enterprise
Remote desktop (client)	×	×	×	×	×
Remote desktop (host)			×	×	×
Maximum simultaneous Server Message Block (SMB) connections	5	10	10	10	10
Support for joining a Windows domain			×	×	×
Desktop deployment tools for managed networks			×	×	×
Policy-based quality of service for networking			×	×	×
Internet Information Services 7.0 (optional)			×	×	×
Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) client			×	×	×
Control installation of device drivers			×	×	×
Pluggable logon authentication architecture with integrated smart card management			×	×	×
Roaming user profiles			×	×	×
Folder redirection			×	×	×
Group Policy support			×	×	×
Offline files and folder support			×	×	×
Client-side caching			×	×	×

About the authors

Ed Bott is an award-winning journalist and one of the most recognized voices in the computing world. He’s been writing about Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office for more than 15 years and is the author of nearly two dozen books.

Carl Siechert specializes in implementing and documenting operating system technologies. He has coauthored several Windows-related books including the popular Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out, Second Edition with Ed Bott and Craig Stinson.

Craig Stinson is a journalist and author. He has written or coauthored more than 20 books including Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out, Deluxe Edition, and Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Inside Out.

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