That is good info....and I followed those steps to the T. However, when I
get to the end of the second install of Vista (the upgrade) - it fails and
tells me I have to roll back to my previous version of Windows - which is
the clean install of Windows Vista.

Chris....


"JP" wrote in message
...
FYI.. here is an article from the latest Windows Secrets Newsletter about
the [ridiculous] Vista over Vista install. Follow these steps and see if
it makes
any difference...


Use Vista's 'upgrade' version to clean-install

The secret is that the setup program in Vista's upgrade version will
accept an installed copy of XP, W2K, or an unactivated copy of Vista
itself as evidence of a previous installation.

This enables you to "clean install" an upgrade version of Vista to any
formatted or unformatted hard drive, which is usually the preferred method
when installing any new operating system. You must, in essence, install
Vista twice to take advantage of this trick. But Vista installs much
faster than XP, so it's quicker than installing XP followed by Vista to
get the upgrade price.

Before you install Vista on a machine that you don't know is 100%
compatible, you should run Microsoft's free Upgrade Advisor. This
program - which operates only on 32-bit versions of XP and Vista (plus
Vista Enterprise) - reports to you on any hardware or software it finds
that may be incompatible with Vista. See Microsoft's Upgrade Advisor page.

Also, to see which flavors of XP Home, XP Pro, and 2000 officially support
in-place installs and clean installs of the different Vista editions, see
Microsoft's upgrade paths page.

Here's a simplified overview of the steps that are required to
clean-install the upgrade version of Vista:

Step 1. Boot the PC from the Vista DVD.

Step 2. Select "Install Now," but do not enter the Product Key from the
Vista packaging. Leave the input box blank. Also, turn off the option
Automatically activate Windows when I'm online. In the next dialog box
that appears, confirm that you really do want to install Vista without
entering a Product Key.

Step 3. Correctly indicate the version of Vista that you're installing:
Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate.

Step 4. Select the "Custom (Advanced)" install, not the "Upgrade" install.

Step 5. Vista copies files at length and reboots itself one or more times.
Wait for the install to complete. At this point, you might think that you
could "activate" Vista, but you can't. That's because you haven't
installed the Vista upgrade yet. To do that, run the DVD's setup.exe
program again, but this time from the Vista desktop. The easiest way to
start setup again is to eject and then reinsert the DVD.

Step 6. Click "Install Now." Select Do not get the latest updates for
installation. (You can check for these updates later.)

Step 7. This time, do enter the Product Key from the Vista packaging. Once
again, turn off the option Automatically activate Windows when I'm online.

Step 8. On this second install, make sure to select "Upgrade," not "Custom
(Advanced)." You're not doing a clean install now, you're upgrading to
Vista.

Step 9. Wait while Vista copies files and reboots itself. No user
interaction is required. Do not boot from the DVD when asked if you'd like
to do so. Instead, wait a few seconds and the setup process will continue
on its way. Some DOS-like, character-mode menus will appear, but don't
interact with them. After a few seconds, the correct choice will run for
you automatically.

Step 10. After you click a button labeled Start in the Thank You dialog
box, Vista's login screen will eventually appear. Enter the username and
password that you selected during the first install. You're done upgrading
to Vista.

Step 11. Within 30 days, you must "activate" your copy of Vista or it'll
lose functionality. To activate Vista, click Show more details in the
Welcome Center that automatically displays upon each boot-up, then click
Activate Windows now. If you've dismissed the Welcome Center, access the
correct dialog box by clicking Start, Control Panel, System & Maintenance,
System. If you purchased a legitimate copy of Vista, it should quickly
activate over the Internet. (You can instead activate by calling Microsoft
on the phone, which avoids your PC exchanging information with Microsoft's
server.)

I'm not going into detail today on the merits of buying Vista at retail
instead of buying a cheaper OEM copy. (The OEM offerings don't entitle you
to call Microsoft for support, while the retail packages do.) Also, I'm
not touching here on the least-expensive way to buy Vista, which is to
take advantage of Microsoft's "educational" rate. I'll describe both of
these topics in next week's newsletter.

Why does Vista's secret setup exist?

It's reasonable for us to ask ourselves whether buying an upgrade version
of Vista, and then installing it to an empty hard disk that contains no
previous version of Windows, is ethical.

I believe it is. Microsoft itself created the upgrade process. The company
designed Vista to support upgrading it over a previously installed copy of
XP, W2K Pro, or Vista itself. This isn't a black-hat hacker exploit. It's
something that's been deliberately programmed into the approved setup
routine.

Microsoft spent years developing and testing Vista. This upgrade trick
must have been known to many, many people within the development team.
Either Microsoft planned this upgrade path all along, knowing that
computer magazines and newsletters (like this one) would widely publicize
a way to "save money buying Vista." Or else some highly placed coders
within the Vista development team decided that Vista's "full" price was
too high and that no one should ever have to pay it. In either case,
Vista's setup.exe is Microsoft's official install routine, and I see no
problem with using it exactly as it was designed.

We should also think about whether instances of Vista that were installed
using the clean-install method will continue to operate. I believe that
this method will continue to be present in Vista DVDs at least until
Microsoft begins distributing the Service Pack 1 edition of Vista around
fall 2007. Changing the routine in the millions of DVDs that are now in
circulation would simply be too wrenching. And trying to remotely disable
instances of Vista that were clean-installed - even if it were technically
possible to distinguish them - would generate too many tech-support calls
and too much ill will to make it worthwhile.

Installing the upgrade version of Vista, but not installing over an
existing instance of XP or W2K, probably violates the Vista EULA (end-user
license agreement). If you're a business executive, I wouldn't recommend
that you flout any Windows license provisions just to save money.

If you're strictly a home user, contributing editor Susan Bradley points
out that Microsoft's so-called Vista Family Discount (VFD) is an
economical package that avoids any license issues. If you buy a retail
copy of Vista Ultimate, MS lets you upgrade up to two additional PCs to
Vista Home Premium for $50 each. For example, if you buy the upgrade
version of Ultimate for $225, the grand total after you add two Home
Premiums is $335. That's about $133 less than buying three upgrade
versions of Home Premium. Details are at Microsoft's VFD page.

Microsoft did revise a Knowledge Base article, number 930985, on Jan. 31
that obliquely refers to the upgrade situation. It simply states that an
upgrade version of Vista can't perform a clean install when a PC is booted
from the Vista DVD. A clean install will only work, the document says,
when the Vista setup is run from within an older version of Windows (or if
a full version of Vista is being used).

This article doesn't at all deal with the fact that the Vista upgrade
version will in fact clean-install using the steps described above. It'll
be interesting to see whether MS ever explains why these steps were
programmed in.

Personally, I consider Vista's ability to upgrade over itself to be
Digital Rights Management that actually benefits consumers. It's almost
cosmic justice.

I invite my readers to test Vista's undocumented clean-install method for
themselves. There certainly must be aspects of this setup routine that I
haven't yet discovered. I'll print the best findings from those sent in
via our contact page. You'll receive a gift certificate for a book, CD, or
DVD of your choice if you're the first to send in a tip that I print.

I'd like to thank my co-author of Windows Vista Secrets, Paul Thurrott,
for his research help in bringing the clean-install method to light.




"JP" wrote in message
...
You really should buy a MAC...

For another story along these lines see this ZDNet article about
how the MAC OS needs to catch up to Vista, yet in the same
article, it mentions that it took the entire weekend for someone to
install Vista ... Ahhh!

Too funny... http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=421




"Chris Hagler" wrote in message
...
I had Windows Media Center 2005 on my Sony Vaio VGC-RB38G machine. Tried
to upgrade with a Home Premium Upgrade Key that I purchased with my
Upgrade Version of Windows Vista Ultimate upgrade. The installation
failed and tried to roll back to my previous version of XP. When the
computer restarted - Windows XP would not boot and hung - the rollback
was unsuccessful. Now I have a computer that will not boot to anything
except the CD drive.

I then decided to just FORMAT my HD using the Windows VISTA CD and do a
CLEAN install. This installation got to about 99% then failed. I
formatted the HD again, and did a CLEAN install of VISTA on my PC. It
worked. Great - I now have a computer that was working again. However,
I needed to ACTIVATE windows, and since I had an UPGRADE KEY, that meant
I had to reinstall VISTA again from within VISTA (which a lot of people
are doing) so I can enter my product key (which I verified with
Microsoft was valid) and activate windows.

I have tried to reinstall Vista over Vista at least 7 times.....and it
gets to the COMPLETING UPGRADE portion and fails at about 75% every
time. Says I have a component that will not register and I must restart
Windows and rollback to my previous version of Windows.

I have spent at least 8 hours on the phone with Microsoft and they are
stumped as well. If it installed once OK on my PC, why is it having
troubles now?? We have unplugged all devices except mouse and keyboard.
Uninstalled printer, started Vista in SELECTIVE STARTUP mode etc...

Any other IDEAS on how to proceed??

The only device I have trouble with according to DEVICE MANAGER is a
Multimedia Video Controller listed under Other Devices - which I have
disabled - and does not appear to affect my computer at all. This
device is NOT my video card, as my video card is listed as a X300 ATI
display adapter - with updated drivers from ATI's website.

Windows Upgrade Advisor said I should have no conflicts with any devices
for upgrading to Vista. Only one program was listed as potential
conflict, and that was something called Sony Corporation
Utilities...which I did download the one file that Sony had on their
website for a Vista upgrade ( a tuner card program I believe).

Ideally, if Microsoft would just allow my purchased upgrade key to
ACTIVATE using the clean install - I would be done. As of right now, I
have 28 days left to fix the problem.

Maybe it was a FLUKE that allowed Vista to install one out of 7
times....but it did, and it works just fine. Have spent at least 12
total hours working on this.....maybe I should just go buy a Full
Install Key and be done with it...but I really intended for this to be
an UPGRADE from my legitimate copy of Windows XP until Vista corrupted
that version and couldn't roll back.

Open to suggestions....

And no...I will not buy a MAC.

Thanks...

Chris Hagler