Anytime Upgrade crashes, upgrading from Vista Business to Ultimate

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Guest

Hi, gang:

I'm seriously frustrated at this Windows Anytime Upgrade software, because
it can't upgrade Windows Vista from Business to Ultimate without crashing. I
do have to applaud the programmers for including a rollback option, however,
because I've used it several times.

I obtained Windows Vista Business through the MSDN Academic Alliance, and
I've never had a problem with it. My computer was custom-built. I can give
you hardware specifications if you like, but I'm not sure how they'd be
relevant, since Windows Vista Business runs perfectly.

I went to Microsoft's website and purchased the upgrade to Vista Ultimate.
It downloaded a file onto my computer. The computer asked me to insert my
Windows Anytime Upgrade DVD. Because my copy of Windows was from MSDNAA, I
didn't have one for my computer, so I used the one from my mother's computer
(she has Windows Vista Home Premium). I've read that the Anytime Upgrade DVD
has every version of Windows on it and uses the file I downloaded to detect
which version of Windows Vista I can upgrade to. Correct me if I'm wrong.

After inserting the Upgrade DVD, I get to a point where it asks me if I want
an Upgrade or Clean Install. I choose the former, because I don't want to
lose my programs and files. After about an hour, it reaches its first reboot.
If I leave the DVD in, I get to Windows Setup, which asks me for my serial
number and again takes me to the place where I must choose whether or not I
want to Upgrade or have a clean installation. Unfortunately, the Upgrade
option is grayed out.

However, when I eject the DVD and reboot, I get back into Windows Setup as
expected, and it continues until it's ready to complete the installation, at
which point it reboots. It gives me a screen that asks me to wait while
Windows starts up for the first time. Then it goes back to setup and finishes
upgrading Windows.

At one last reboot, the boot menu appears, asking me whether I want Windows
Vista, Setup Rollback, Windows Vista, Windows Vista, or Windows Vista. I
choose the first Windows Vista. I get the traditional progress bar with the
Microsoft copyright, but then I suddenly get a Blue Screen of Death for such
a short amount of time that I can't read it. Then my computer reboots itself.

I've tried choosing Windows Vista in Safe Mode from my boot menu, but it
still won't oblige. The only option that works is the option to rollback my
installation to Business again. I'm thankful the rollback works, but I paid
for the Vista Ultimate upgrade and I'm frustrated that I paid all that money
and it won't install.

Can anyone help me out? It may be a simple question or it could be very
complicated. I'd appreciate any advice and would be willing to answer any
questions in order to get it to work. Thanks in advance!
 
Hi Jonathon,

A simple question, but have you disabled, or better yet uninstalled, your
antivirus software before beginning? Also, if boot time protection is
enabled in the system BIOS, this can also interfere with setup completing as
it will be unable to write to the boot sector.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
 
Unfortunately, uninstalling my antivirus software didn't work, and I do not
have the BIOS option you specified.

However, I had a breakthrough once I set Windows to not automatically reboot
upon system failure, since I could read the BSOD I had, which told me that
there was a problem with %systemroot%/System32/sptd.sys. I Googled the
filename, and the first website I saw said all I had to do was delete or
rename the file, either by using a live Linux CD or rolling back the
installation again and starting it over. I ended up doing the latter because
I couldn't seem to get any of the Linux distros I tried to recognize my hard
drive and I didn't want to mess anything up. Once the file was renamed, the
problem went away and now Ultimate works like a charm. Thanks for your help
anyway!
 
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