Vista - Unable to Upgrade from XP Pro SP2

Hi,

I have been trying unsuccessfully to upgrade my XP Pro SP2 to Vista
Ultimate, but at 32% of 'Gathering Files' it stop and jest tells me there
has been an error, and I end up back with XP!

I would prefer to upgrade rather than a clean install - my XP works
perfectly with all my programs etc, and I have many documents.

Can someone please advise me here?

Thanks in advance.

"Paul" <p4psb@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns9A09B6C085171p4psb@xxxxxx
If your XP is working perfectly...then why in the world would you want to
change things?

Hi, Paul.

You are not trying to "upgrade" from 32-bit to 64-bit, are you? That can't
be done because of differences in the hardware and drivers. Any change from
32-bit to 64-bit - or vice versa - has to be a clean install, not an
upgrade.

The upgrade license should work, but the actual migration to 64-bit will
require a clean install, not an upgrade installation.

If you give us more details of what you have and what you are trying to do,
we probably can help you get there.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@xxxxxx
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)

"Paul" <p4psb@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns9A09B6C085171p4psb@xxxxxx

Hi RC,

I have the 32bit version, so that is not the problem.

My PC is an Intel Dual Core 3.2Ghz, with 2Gig of RAM.
I have plenty of space on my drive(s), and my XP Pro is fully up to
date, and has been working perfectly for a good while now.

The error does not give any reference so I cannot help there.

What other information would you need.

Thanks
Paul.

"R. C. White" <rc@xxxxxx> wrote in
news:2B4E3607-9FAE-4AF6-A749-3430075955F3@xxxxxx:
Any

Hi, Paul.

OK, there should be no roadblocks to upgrade from WinXP Pro to Vista x86.
But you might want to clean install anyhow.

Next question is HOW to do the upgrade. You can boot from the Vista DVD, or
you can boot into WinXP, then insert the Vista DVD and run Setup from there.
In either case, Setup should find the existing WinXP to satisfy the
licensing requirement.

I've never been able to successfully UPGRADE to Vista. Usually it was
because of the 32-to-64-bit issue, but sometimes Upgrade was disabled
because there wasn't enough space on my boot volume, even if there was
plenty in other drives - and Microsoft's inconsistent use of the terms
"system drive" and "boot drive" didn't help.

Your first post said, "I would prefer to upgrade rather than a clean
install - my XP works perfectly with all my programs etc, and I have many
documents." Your documents should survive the move to Vista, no matter
which method you use. Of course, you must back them up if you will be
reformatting the volume where they are, but they should work just as well
after a clean install as after an upgrade. Your programs may or may not
migrate successfully; we've had reports of both successes and failures.

My advice is to make sure you have installation media for all your
applications, then backup your data and do a clean install, either as a
dual-boot into a new volume (just to keep WinXP as a safety net until you
have Vista tweaked to your satisfaction), or by reformatting and using your
WinXP volume. Then reinstall your apps and restore your data. You will
invest a day in reinstalling, rather than weeks of tweaking and fighting
unexpected incompatibilities. My impression from having read thousands of
posts in these newsgroups is that most users who successfully upgrade end up
reinstalling, anyhow.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@xxxxxx
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)

"Paul" <p4psb@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns9A0AB1A0ECD2Cp4psb@xxxxxx