Vista - My Upgrade Experience

Sadly the upgrade from Beta 2 to RC-1 ended as a minor disaster on several
different occasions. The positive is the option to roll back the upgrade
worked on several different occasions to get me back to a fairly functional
Beta 2.

Now the issues:

First complained it could not do an upgrade from a DVD boot... fine. Went
under Beta 2 and once the space issue was resolved it stopped install cold
on Nero 7 and its need to be removed - with no option to proceed.

OK, went to Ahead's site and got there clean tool - removed Nero, OK. Now
RC-1 finally decided it would install, Great!! Well installation got some
where near (based guessed on progress bar - green ~shutter~ at the bottom)
75% through and this wonderfully informative dialoged box popped up stating
"Disk Not Found" with the option to cancel, retry or continue. What it was
looking for is unknown to date as there was no further info provided. Retry
= no go, continue= no go (unless you click it several times which leads to a
black screen and then a reboot) and cancel I did not try...

On both occasions the system eventually reboots and goes to a wonderfully
informative BSOD every time there after. Of course Safe Mode offers up the
helpful message that setup can not complete in Safe Mode so restart your
un-searchable computer.

Next we try booting from the DVD and choosing to repair the system. Well,
unfortunately that has changed under Vista so there is now a lovely (and
apparently useless in my case) list of options which do not help in any
useful sense. The diagnostic for start-up problems (figured I would give it
a try as my computer at this point would not start) ran forever, or may have
as I let it run for about 45 minutes and it hadn't diagnosed a problem as of
that point so canceled.

I would really like to get the upgrade portion of setup working for my own
peace of mind for the future but will probably have to bite the bullet and
try a clean install. The issue with that is the question about whether even
that will work. It definitely did with Beta 2 but...

It is not really sour grapes that causes this message as I know it is
pre-release code but rather the totally useless dialoged box and the
inability of Vista's start up diagnostics to develop an "automatic repair"
as it states or even say it found nothing to repair. It makes me shudder to
think about upgrading my faithful, to date, XP installation when Vista is
actually ready for prime time. Fortunately I have been able to keep my XP
install completely out of the problem by making it totally invisible to
Vista while it is installing.

I'm going to try re-re-turning the DVD and having a copy in both of my DVD
drives on the next upgrade attempt. Maybe it will find that nebulas
whatever that it can not find on the duplicate DVD?? Who knows...

Enough mild rant - just curious to know if anyone else has had such a time
trying to upgrade their BETA 2 and if they might have some thoughts...

Thanks,
Len

This is propbably a stupid question, since I got Beta @(5384 on a CD, but do
you have to copy the download file to a DVD or can I just put it on another
HD & install from there?
"Len Mattix" <len207@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23%2344J6Q0GHA.1300@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Sadly the upgrade from Beta 2 to RC-1 ended as a minor disaster on several
> different occasions. The positive is the option to roll back the upgrade
> worked on several different occasions to get me back to a fairly
> functional Beta 2.
>
> Now the issues:
>
> First complained it could not do an upgrade from a DVD boot... fine. Went
> under Beta 2 and once the space issue was resolved it stopped install cold
> on Nero 7 and its need to be removed - with no option to proceed.
>
> OK, went to Ahead's site and got there clean tool - removed Nero, OK. Now
> RC-1 finally decided it would install, Great!! Well installation got some
> where near (based guessed on progress bar - green ~shutter~ at the bottom)
> 75% through and this wonderfully informative dialoged box popped up
> stating "Disk Not Found" with the option to cancel, retry or continue.
> What it was looking for is unknown to date as there was no further info
> provided. Retry = no go, continue= no go (unless you click it several
> times which leads to a black screen and then a reboot) and cancel I did
> not try...
>
> On both occasions the system eventually reboots and goes to a wonderfully
> informative BSOD every time there after. Of course Safe Mode offers up
> the helpful message that setup can not complete in Safe Mode so restart
> your un-searchable computer.
>
> Next we try booting from the DVD and choosing to repair the system. Well,
> unfortunately that has changed under Vista so there is now a lovely (and
> apparently useless in my case) list of options which do not help in any
> useful sense. The diagnostic for start-up problems (figured I would give
> it a try as my computer at this point would not start) ran forever, or may
> have as I let it run for about 45 minutes and it hadn't diagnosed a
> problem as of that point so canceled.
>
> I would really like to get the upgrade portion of setup working for my own
> peace of mind for the future but will probably have to bite the bullet and
> try a clean install. The issue with that is the question about whether
> even that will work. It definitely did with Beta 2 but...
>
> It is not really sour grapes that causes this message as I know it is
> pre-release code but rather the totally useless dialoged box and the
> inability of Vista's start up diagnostics to develop an "automatic repair"
> as it states or even say it found nothing to repair. It makes me shudder
> to think about upgrading my faithful, to date, XP installation when Vista
> is actually ready for prime time. Fortunately I have been able to keep my
> XP install completely out of the problem by making it totally invisible to
> Vista while it is installing.
>
> I'm going to try re-re-turning the DVD and having a copy in both of my DVD
> drives on the next upgrade attempt. Maybe it will find that nebulas
> whatever that it can not find on the duplicate DVD?? Who knows...
>
> Enough mild rant - just curious to know if anyone else has had such a time
> trying to upgrade their BETA 2 and if they might have some thoughts...
>
> Thanks,
> Len
>

It needs to be burned to DVD as an .iso file. Make sure to burn at the
slowest speed you can.
"SBC" <jum@cabogaer.net> wrote in message
news:3BE0065A-5995-45C2-AE4D-8D9989428789@microsoft.com...
> This is propbably a stupid question, since I got Beta @(5384 on a CD, but
> do you have to copy the download file to a DVD or can I just put it on
> another HD & install from there?
> "Len Mattix" <len207@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:%23%2344J6Q0GHA.1300@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> Sadly the upgrade from Beta 2 to RC-1 ended as a minor disaster on
>> several different occasions. The positive is the option to roll back the
>> upgrade worked on several different occasions to get me back to a fairly
>> functional Beta 2.
>>
>> Now the issues:
>>
>> First complained it could not do an upgrade from a DVD boot... fine.
>> Went under Beta 2 and once the space issue was resolved it stopped
>> install cold on Nero 7 and its need to be removed - with no option to
>> proceed.
>>
>> OK, went to Ahead's site and got there clean tool - removed Nero, OK.
>> Now RC-1 finally decided it would install, Great!! Well installation got
>> some where near (based guessed on progress bar - green ~shutter~ at the
>> bottom) 75% through and this wonderfully informative dialoged box popped
>> up stating "Disk Not Found" with the option to cancel, retry or continue.
>> What it was looking for is unknown to date as there was no further info
>> provided. Retry = no go, continue= no go (unless you click it several
>> times which leads to a black screen and then a reboot) and cancel I did
>> not try...
>>
>> On both occasions the system eventually reboots and goes to a wonderfully
>> informative BSOD every time there after. Of course Safe Mode offers up
>> the helpful message that setup can not complete in Safe Mode so restart
>> your un-searchable computer.
>>
>> Next we try booting from the DVD and choosing to repair the system.
>> Well, unfortunately that has changed under Vista so there is now a lovely
>> (and apparently useless in my case) list of options which do not help in
>> any useful sense. The diagnostic for start-up problems (figured I would
>> give it a try as my computer at this point would not start) ran forever,
>> or may have as I let it run for about 45 minutes and it hadn't diagnosed
>> a problem as of that point so canceled.
>>
>> I would really like to get the upgrade portion of setup working for my
>> own peace of mind for the future but will probably have to bite the
>> bullet and try a clean install. The issue with that is the question
>> about whether even that will work. It definitely did with Beta 2 but...
>>
>> It is not really sour grapes that causes this message as I know it is
>> pre-release code but rather the totally useless dialoged box and the
>> inability of Vista's start up diagnostics to develop an "automatic
>> repair" as it states or even say it found nothing to repair. It makes me
>> shudder to think about upgrading my faithful, to date, XP installation
>> when Vista is actually ready for prime time. Fortunately I have been
>> able to keep my XP install completely out of the problem by making it
>> totally invisible to Vista while it is installing.
>>
>> I'm going to try re-re-turning the DVD and having a copy in both of my
>> DVD drives on the next upgrade attempt. Maybe it will find that nebulas
>> whatever that it can not find on the duplicate DVD?? Who knows...
>>
>> Enough mild rant - just curious to know if anyone else has had such a
>> time trying to upgrade their BETA 2 and if they might have some
>> thoughts...
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Len
>>
>

For both the beta2 and July builds, I used the microsoft's VCD to mount the
ISO file as a drive letter then copied the contents of the iso file to a
folder on my HD. I then clicked setup in that folder. Worked for me that
way.

Jerry


"SBC" <jum@cabogaer.net> wrote in message
news:3BE0065A-5995-45C2-AE4D-8D9989428789@microsoft.com...
> This is propbably a stupid question, since I got Beta @(5384 on a CD, but
> do you have to copy the download file to a DVD or can I just put it on
> another HD & install from there?
> "Len Mattix" <len207@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:%23%2344J6Q0GHA.1300@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> Sadly the upgrade from Beta 2 to RC-1 ended as a minor disaster on
>> several different occasions. The positive is the option to roll back the
>> upgrade worked on several different occasions to get me back to a fairly
>> functional Beta 2.
>>
>> Now the issues:
>>
>> First complained it could not do an upgrade from a DVD boot... fine.
>> Went under Beta 2 and once the space issue was resolved it stopped
>> install cold on Nero 7 and its need to be removed - with no option to
>> proceed.
>>
>> OK, went to Ahead's site and got there clean tool - removed Nero, OK.
>> Now RC-1 finally decided it would install, Great!! Well installation got
>> some where near (based guessed on progress bar - green ~shutter~ at the
>> bottom) 75% through and this wonderfully informative dialoged box popped
>> up stating "Disk Not Found" with the option to cancel, retry or continue.
>> What it was looking for is unknown to date as there was no further info
>> provided. Retry = no go, continue= no go (unless you click it several
>> times which leads to a black screen and then a reboot) and cancel I did
>> not try...
>>
>> On both occasions the system eventually reboots and goes to a wonderfully
>> informative BSOD every time there after. Of course Safe Mode offers up
>> the helpful message that setup can not complete in Safe Mode so restart
>> your un-searchable computer.
>>
>> Next we try booting from the DVD and choosing to repair the system.
>> Well, unfortunately that has changed under Vista so there is now a lovely
>> (and apparently useless in my case) list of options which do not help in
>> any useful sense. The diagnostic for start-up problems (figured I would
>> give it a try as my computer at this point would not start) ran forever,
>> or may have as I let it run for about 45 minutes and it hadn't diagnosed
>> a problem as of that point so canceled.
>>
>> I would really like to get the upgrade portion of setup working for my
>> own peace of mind for the future but will probably have to bite the
>> bullet and try a clean install. The issue with that is the question
>> about whether even that will work. It definitely did with Beta 2 but...
>>
>> It is not really sour grapes that causes this message as I know it is
>> pre-release code but rather the totally useless dialoged box and the
>> inability of Vista's start up diagnostics to develop an "automatic
>> repair" as it states or even say it found nothing to repair. It makes me
>> shudder to think about upgrading my faithful, to date, XP installation
>> when Vista is actually ready for prime time. Fortunately I have been
>> able to keep my XP install completely out of the problem by making it
>> totally invisible to Vista while it is installing.
>>
>> I'm going to try re-re-turning the DVD and having a copy in both of my
>> DVD drives on the next upgrade attempt. Maybe it will find that nebulas
>> whatever that it can not find on the duplicate DVD?? Who knows...
>>
>> Enough mild rant - just curious to know if anyone else has had such a
>> time trying to upgrade their BETA 2 and if they might have some
>> thoughts...
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Len
>>
>