Cannot boot from Upgrade Disc

[Paul]

Hi,

Following previous advice not to upgrade from XP Pro, but to do a clean
install of Vista, I am having a problem.

I obviously have the 'upgrade disk', and am trying to do a 'clran install'
as advised.

However, my upgrade disk will not boot!

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Paul.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Paul,

There's no reason you should not be able to boot the upgrade disk, you may
need to change the boot priority in the system BIOS so that the DVD drive is
loaded before the hard drive.

However, there is another issue. An upgrade Product Key cannot be used to
clean install from a booted disk. It has to be used from within a running
installation of a qualifying product. Boot to XP, insert the disk and begin
the upgrade process, choose the custom install to create a new, clean
installation.

By the by, I don't agree with the "clean install only" bunch. I generally
always do upgrades, and rarely encounter issues. The ones I do see are
generally the result of malware on the system, faulty hardware, or
incompatible programs that were not removed prior to upgrading. The horror
stories come from those that do not prepare a system for upgrade, but rather
slap the disk in and let her rip - consequences be damned, then blame the
process for their own lack of preparation.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Paul]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for your response.

I would prefer to do the upgrade, but as I posted here earlier in the
week I am having this problem: "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."

Your advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Paul.

 

[Dominic Payer]

1. Make sure you have at least one, and preferably more, verified current
backups of all your data including emails and any program settings stored in
unusual places.

2. Set the boot order in your BIOS so that the system boots from CD/DVD
before any OS installed on a hard disk.

3. Boot from your Ultimate DVD - remember to hit a key when prompted - and
install a trial version of Ultimate. Do not use your product key and choose
Ultimate as the version to try. Presumably you will be formatting your hard
disk, so you will lose any data on it. If you are offered the option to
upgrade you could see if it worked successfully this way.

4. Once you have a trial version of Ultimate installed, run the upgrade
again and this time load your product key. You will need to re-install your
applications and load your data to your new User account.

 

[AJR]

Have you tried to upgrade via running Vista installtion from with XP?

 

[Paul]

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

 

[Mick Murphy]

Uninstall your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs.

Also, disconnect all peripherals except for mouse, monitor and keyboard.