Vista - Vista Home Premium to Ultimate Upgrade

Seems that a number of individuals have had issues with upgrading legitimate
copies of Vista Home Premium to Vista Ultimate. Using the upgrade media
provided, the upgrade seems to fail during the last few steps by indicating
rather cryptically that a component could not be configured. There is no
indiation as to which component didn't get configured.



Now, I do not understand why this should happen. I used the upgrade advisor
which indicated to me that the recommended version of Vista was Ultimate and
there were no hardware/software/driver issues identified.

Why can't I just upgrade then? Why do I have to disable all drivers except
for the video, keyboard, and mouse to get a good upgrade? All drivers are
Vista certified - I have no hardware whatsoever that isn't certified with
Vista and am assuming that this certified hardware comes with certified
drivers.

I have been unsuccessful so far in updating my system. I would really love
to see Microsoft take ownership here and supply us with an upgrade disk that
does what it indicates on the box. I should not have this much difficulty
upgrading my system. After all, Microsoft developed the upgrade system and is
selling it to the general public. Just insert the disk, add the key, and
click install. What could be easier?

Does anyone have any suggestions? I do not really want to go through the
hassle of disabling all drivers - if that is required, then instructions
should have been included with the update disk on how to do this. Will
Microsoft change this and provide a cleaner install DVD. If not, can I get my
money back? Should I upgrade to something else?
--
Dr. Don

I am having the same problem. It seems as though I wasted $159 for the ultimate upgrade using the anytime disc.
I am tempted to try buying a regular ultimate upgrade disc to see if that works. Perhaps the anytime disc is the problem.
Like you stated, if the computer is reported to be compatible, why won't ultimate install? Premium is already running on it - what more does ultimate need?

I am having a similar problem upgrading from Home Premium 32 to Ultimate 64. When I purchased the Vista Ultimate Upgrade package (32 and 64 included) I had the Fry's salesman verify that I had the correct version. I want to do a non-destructive upgrade so I do not have to re-install a ton of programs and back up and restore over 600GB of files. I am willing to take the chance to save several days of repetitive work.

When I try to install from the 64 DVD the error message tells me I must perform the install from Windows. When I try installing from Vista 32 (with or without the RC1 beta) to 64 it tells me that the upgrade function has been disabled and I have to do a clean install.

I have used the upgrade advisor and I am 100% ready. There is also an installation related message on the back of the case, near the bottom that leads me, and everyone else I have shown it to, that it should work.

Can anyone help me out?

You know, I don't think I ever had a problem with XP. I like Vista, but it perplexes me as to why Premium would work fine, but Ultimate has a hard time installing.
Like I said, is Ultimate that much different from Premium? Are the drivers which work in Premium not good enough for Ultimate?
I think MS has to do something about this, or I will not only be thinking about Macs, I will be using a Mac.

Oh, BTW, I looked over the suggestions which MS has been giving folks who have this problem and it ain't fun.
Come on...disconnect all the hardware except the mouse and keyboard...uninstall the virus software...disable the drivers and some Windows processes...etc.
Is this anyway to do an upgrade?

Savino, thanks for the info on the MS suggestions. Did they happen to mention how the programmers disconnected their brains while they were writing code? Maybe if I could do that then I could install Ultimate 64 without all the garbage you have to go through.

My first compter was a Ti-99, anyone remember that far back, so I am not exactly a novice. Once I made the move to MS operating systems and software there has always been that old adage about MS products ... "wait for v.2" (now known as SP1, SP2, SP47,etc.) I never seem to remember that when a new product is releasedand I have always regretted it as I struggled until MS fixed the bugs.

You're welcome. Just remember though, that is just one set of tips I have gotten my hands on. I do think it's ridiculous to have to go through all of that just to do an upgrade, especially just from one Vista to another Vista.
I've been using computers since the Commodore 64 days with the cassette tape drive instead of a hard drive.
I remember when my Amiga produced a human voice. Now, we have hi-def videos over the internet.
We've come a long way, but not far enough. MS is still making billions with faulty programming.

akers wrote:To the best of my knowledge all Vista 64 versions require a
clean install and always have. It would seem that the sales
person you dealt with may not have been aware of that or he
misunderstood what you were asking.

Hobo

I'm having the same issue as Dr. Don.

I have the 32-bit version of Vista, so would assume that i don't need to do
a full install. I just reloaded Vista premium and then updated drivers, so
this system is clean. I won't go in to why i had to reinstall and why i
think Vista is ... (sorry, this deserves a post of it's own.)

I ran the Vista Advisor and get the 3 green checks, then checked for any
needed windows updates (nothing needed...). No firewall, no anti-virus on
system to blame installation issues on.

When i do the upgrade, i have to go into the digital locker and get the key.
I do the install and it goes out and gets the most updated installation
programs and then starts the installation. An hour and a half later the
screen shows the installation is in the last step and in the final actions of
finishing the upgrade, then i get the worthless message that something was
wrong and can't complete the upgrade. it fails to give you any indication of
what that might be.

I do a full shutdown, restart the computer and begin the process again.
Same exact outcome. I've been at this 5-6 hours with nothing to show for the
time.

Any suggestions on what may be causing the issue and how i can resolve?

Thanks,
Steve

Hello Don G.
I had the same problem some weeks ago, and posted the solution in this forum, but it might be hard to find now, So, here again is the way to upgrade Vista Home Premium to Vista Ultimate, 32 bit, when the upgrade goes on and on, but then quits right at the end. This I got from Microsoft support. The solution is easy and not obvious. For this Anytime Upgrade from Home Premium to Ultimate -- Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features.
On the left side, if I remember correctly, click on "Turn Windows features on and off." Turn off these three things:
Microsoft.NET Framework 3.0
Remote Differential Compression
Windows DFS Replication Service
That is probably enough, but Microsoft also said to be on the cautious side, from msconfig, uncheck "load startup items" and check "Hide all Microsoft services." (You can turn all this stuff back on, if need be, once Vista Ultimate is installed.)
Now you are all set to upgrade to Vista Ultimate. Make sure that you have downloaded to your computer the small file from Digitallocker. Then put your Vista DVD into your DVD drive and follow the simple instructions. This should work and after one and one-half hours or so, you will will Vista Ultimate installed. It is very nice, especially DreamScene.
The above took me a good 10 hours of phone call after phone call, going in circles, until a Microsoft engineer in India took pity on me and said she would stick with me until my problem was solved. As you can see, the solution is very easy, but who would figure it out by them selves? Or know why it works. But it works, and that is enough.
This problem must be widespread; I am making a hardcopy of what I have just typed so to be quickly ready with a reply to others here with this problem. Perhaps you be a on the lookout too and give some one a hand with this exasperating situation.
Rory