Can't upgrade from business to ultimate

I have a retail disc which I got a while ago after I already had Vista
Business installed on my machine. I tried upgrading a while back, but the
installation would go through the entire process and then fail to boot into
windows at the very end.

I gave up, and then just tried again hoping SP1 fixed the problem. Now, when
I try to install, it does not even give me the option to upgrade, only to do
a clean install with a message to the effect that the disk version is older
than the one I have and so the upgrade option is disabled. Is there anything
I can do, short of uninstalling SP1 and hoping that it works this time?

Thanks

On Sat, 25 Oct 2008 21:15:00 -0700, santiclaws
<santiclaws@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>I have a retail disc which I got a while ago after I already had Vista
>Business installed on my machine. I tried upgrading a while back, but the
>installation would go through the entire process and then fail to boot into
>windows at the very end.
>
>I gave up, and then just tried again hoping SP1 fixed the problem. Now, when
>I try to install, it does not even give me the option to upgrade, only to do
>a clean install with a message to the effect that the disk version is older
>than the one I have and so the upgrade option is disabled. Is there anything
>I can do, short of uninstalling SP1 and hoping that it works this time?

I'm afraid not.

--
Norman
If people concentrated on the really
important things of life, there'd
be a shortage of fishing poles.
Doug Larson

Hi,

Nope, you'd have to uninstall SP1 first to use it for an upgrade. The
service pack level of the disk has to be at the same or higher level than
the target installation.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"santiclaws" <santiclaws@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6A97EFBE-1CF1-4A0D-B8E7-4E7BD8B6577F@microsoft.com...
>I have a retail disc which I got a while ago after I already had Vista
> Business installed on my machine. I tried upgrading a while back, but the
> installation would go through the entire process and then fail to boot
> into
> windows at the very end.
>
> I gave up, and then just tried again hoping SP1 fixed the problem. Now,
> when
> I try to install, it does not even give me the option to upgrade, only to
> do
> a clean install with a message to the effect that the disk version is
> older
> than the one I have and so the upgrade option is disabled. Is there
> anything
> I can do, short of uninstalling SP1 and hoping that it works this time?
>
> Thanks

"santiclaws" <santiclaws@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6A97EFBE-1CF1-4A0D-B8E7-4E7BD8B6577F@microsoft.com...
>I have a retail disc which I got a while ago after I already had Vista
> Business installed on my machine. I tried upgrading a while back, but the
> installation would go through the entire process and then fail to boot
> into
> windows at the very end.
>
> I gave up, and then just tried again hoping SP1 fixed the problem. Now,
> when
> I try to install, it does not even give me the option to upgrade, only to
> do
> a clean install with a message to the effect that the disk version is
> older
> than the one I have and so the upgrade option is disabled. Is there
> anything
> I can do, short of uninstalling SP1 and hoping that it works this time?
>
> Thanks


Is this a Toshiba laptop that came with Vista Business? I've seen this
problem. It was caused by the non-standard Toshiba boot sector used for the
Toshiba factory restore procedure. I had to replace the Toshiba boot sector
with a standard Vista boot sector. This won't fix the service pack issue.
You would have to uninstall SP1 before you could upgrade from your pre-SP1
DVD. Replacing the boot sector also breaks the factory restore process. Make
sure you have an image of the whole drive including the boot sector and the
factory restore partition before you do this.

--
Kerry Brown
MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience: Systems Administration
http://www.vistahelp.ca/phpBB2/
http://vistahelpca.blogspot.com/