Cannot Upgrade from XP Pro SP2 to Vista Ultimate

[Guest]

Installation Message when attempting upgrade from XP Pro SP2 to Vista
Ultimate RTM:

"Upgrade has been disabled

- Your Windows configuration cannot be upgraded."

Only a clean install is enabled.

Vista Upgrade Advisor reported minor software compatibility issues but
reported that the system was otherwise OK.

Machine has 3 partitions:
C: for Operating System Files
D: for Third Party Programs
E: for users' Data - Includes "Documents and Settings" folders.

Is there a way to find out what aspect of my configuration the installation
objects to?

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi RockRaider,

In order to upgrade, you must start within the existing OS. I suspect you
are trying to do so by booting the system with the Vista DVD, which only
allows for a clean install.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Are you booting from the DVD to begin the upgrade, or from within the legacy
OS? Upgrade option isn't available if you boot from the media. Also Vista
can only be installed to NTFS partition, so if your using FAT you'll have to
run convert.exe. You could try checking the setupact.log too to see if it
gave you any additional info. If you press shift + f10 anytime during the
install it will give you a command prompt and you can dir /s for the log file.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the suggestion Rick, but I am trying to install by running
Setup.exe from within the current XP operating system.

 

[Guest]

One other thing I thought of was moving Documens and settings back to the
system partition, Documents and settings, Windows, and Program Files are the
three folders that vista looks for during upgrade.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Here is a knowledge base article that may address this issue:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927688/en-us

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

Are you trying to go from x86 (32-bit) to x64? That won't work, it'd have to
be a clean install.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all your advice.

I think that Andy's suggestion that I examine the SetupAct.log file (only
available in a temporary folder "c:\$windows.~bt\sources\panther" whilst the
installation was still active).
I found some entries in there:

AllMigrateableProfilePathsUnderProfilesDir: profile path E:\Documents and
Settings\etc...... outside C:\Documents and Settings

CheckUnsupportedConfig: at least one user profile is in a non-standard
location

DoComplianceChecks: CheckUnsupportedConfig not satisfied (- Your Windows
configuration cannot be upgraded.)


I will move the profiles back to the c: drive and have another go.

Thanks again!

 

[AJR]

Nothing "wrong" with your computer- Your RTM Vista as stated "Upgrade has
been disabled" - referring to the install media itself.
Also Vista can be installed on FAT32 machine. - NTFS preferred but not
mandatory.

 

[Guest]

NTFS is mandatory, vista cannot be installed on FAT. If doing a clean
install it will automatically upgrade to NTFS, but if your upgrading the
partition must be NFTS.

 

[AJR]

Boy - here we go again - the minimum requirements regarding the HD to run
basic Vista are " HD - 20 gig and free space 15 gig"
(www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/systemrequirements.mspx).
One quote from Windows Vista, Administrator's Pocket Consultant, Microsoft
Press:
"For all computers running Windows Vista, two factors control your file
security and sharing options, disk format and computer settings....Local
disks can be formatted as file allocation (FAT: FAT16/FAT32) or NT file
system (NTFS)...."

In fact the requirements for vista listed on the various Microsoft sites,
e.g Vista Home. TechNet. etc. do not indicate any file system, only
recommended HD capacity.
Once again - NTFS is not mandatory (preferred, yes)

 

[Guest]

Please refer to KB 918884 for installing Vista, if you look under the heading
"the upgrade is unavailable..." it clearly states that if legacy OS is on a
FAT32 upgrade otion will be grayed out, and you will need to convert it to
FAT32. So theres a specific citation from a Microsoft document.

 

[John Barnes]

Not exactly - here is a paste

• The operating system is installed to a partition that uses the FAT32 file
system. To resolve this issue, convert the file system on the partition to
use the NTFS file system. For more information about how to resolve this
issue, click the following article number to view the article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:

You need to convert to NTFS. Ever wonder why when logging into KB you get a
this site has a problem with its security certificate, recommend that you
don't use.

 

[Guest]

Well, i tried installing both upgrade and clean on a FAT32 last night,
upgrade converted automatically, clean no go, if anyone is actually able to
get it installed on a FAT, please let me know, otherwise I'm going with whats
in the KB and also here,
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/8e56385e-e25d-4beb-8de5-eaac404a01b01033.mspx under will my programs work with Vista.

 

[Guest]

I attempted install on FAT last night both upgrade and clean, results are
upgrade automatically converted to NTFS, clean was a no go, if anyone is able
to different results and get it installed on FAT please let me know how you
did it.

 

[Guest]

go on http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/upgradeinfo.mspx to see
if win xp pro can upgrade to vista and it says that win xp pro cant upgrade
to vista Ultimate! you can do only a clean install but a clean install is
better than a upgrade!

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Here are a couple of kb articles.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927688/en-us
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927297/en-us

 

[Richard G. Harper]

I think you're reading the chart backwards. The chart clearly says that
Windows XP Pro will not upgrade to either Home Basic or Home Premium (yellow
ball) but will upgrade to either Business or Ultimate (green ball).

And no, with Vista, there is no advantage to "clean install" versus upgrade
on most systems. Vista does not upgrade in the same way prior versions of
Windows did.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

XP Pro SP2 will upgrade to Ultimate x86. It is XP Pro x64 that requires a
clean installation. Were you reading in the wrong line?

 

[Guest]

I purchased the Home Premium UPGRADE verison of Vista, and didnt realize you
cannot upgrade from XP Professional. Does this mean I will have to purchase
the full version, or will it let me do the complete installation?

Thanks for your help!