Vista - In place upgrade help

Um i have an Action Pack Subscription From Microsoft and when i try to upgrade it is greyed out. It also says something about recent i forgot sorry. This is upgrade from xp to vista. I also used a different retail key for this since it was an upgrade and i didn't know it was xp to vista.

when ever I open some programs it opens cmd for 1 millisecond then closes it. It asks me for permission and under advanced it would say:
"cmd.exe" /c takedown /f
"C:\windows\system32\sdclt.exe" && icacls
"C:\Windows\system32\sdclt.exe" /grant
administrator :F

the sdclt.exe is replacable with many programs that also do a similar thing

Were you upgrading xp 32 or 64-bit? Which programs are causing problems?

I didn't upgrade from xp I had no os on my computer to begin with. I believe problems started to happen when i changed system files and reg files from askvg.com. I wanted my computer to be more like win7. Transform Windows Vista into Windows 7 without using Customization Pack - Tweaking with Vishal
The programs that started to have problems include firefox which i have to run as admin to make it install updates. Please help me I really don't want to clean install

If you don't have an OS than the upgrade won't work. You'll need a Full verison of Vista. Back up your files, then get a new copy of Vista. You'll get a voucher with it, most likely, for Windows 7. So if you get Home Premium, then you will eligible for 7 Home Premium. Same with Ultimate and Business.

I installed vista business and I wanted to do an repair install (inplace upgrade) since i was getting sfc problems and they weren't being fixed. So it thought instead of clean install why not a repair install. The only problem is it's greyed out when i try to upgrade to bussiness repair install. I belive one of the mods Brink I think posted the tutorial up.

Try the anytime upgrade to vista ultimate.

i m straped for cash I was wondering about this post by Brink Repair Install For Vista Will my Action Pack Subscription From Microsoft includes vista business 32 bit upgrade will it be able to do reapir install?

Try it and see. Install it over your current install. You'll be installing an upgrade then using the upgrade to upgrade to a full install. Don't activate and don't put in a product key.

I tried to but the problem is that the upgrade option is greyed out

What version of vista do you have the disk for? is it upgrade, full retail, and ultimate, pro, etc

Ken