Solved Ultimate Upgrade won't upgrade--only Clean Install option given

I recently obtained an upgrade for Vista Ultimate (I'm currently running Vista Home Premium), dated 2007. According to the upgrade chart, it's supposed to be perfectly fine to upgrade from Home Premium to Ultimate. However, I get past the product key dialog and the next one indicates that my system is not capable of taking an upgrade, but can perform a clean install. Strange.

I went on-line and ran into a blitz of different answers to this problem, but finally found something that might look like the reason:

Q. Could this problem be occuring because I have Vista Home Premium SP2 applied, and my Ultimate Anytime Upgrade only includes SP1?
A. Yes. you would need to uninstall the Windows Vista SP2 and then upgrade to Windows Vista Ultimate.
Note: An upgrade always begins at the desktop. After uninstalling Windows Vista SP2, boot to the Windows Vista Home Premium desktop, then insert the Windows Vista Ultimate upgrade DVD disc in the DVD drive.

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Is this right? Do I need to roll back SP2 in order to do the upgrade to Ultimate, then re-apply SP2 once it completes?


Also, side note question: I entered my product key and then the installation type dialog came up next after a few moments. Does this mean my product key passed the validation? I just want to be sure that my product will activate, as I bought this 2nd hand and was assured that it wasn't activated.

I am not going to answer your question, directly, but will say that a clean install is always better. Go with the clean install. You do not save time with an upgrade if you take into account the multitude of problems that may occur.
Back up your stuff, use Windows Easy Transfer and all you need to do is reinstall your software and you have the very best installatio, a clean install.
Enter your key after you have used the system for a few days, your software is all installed and you are satisfied, you have 30 days, which can be extended.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/68767-clean-install-upgrade-vista.html?ltr=C
Would you want your old car after being detailed or a brand new 2012 car, it works the same with the OS.
If you choose not to use my advice, you need to have SP1 with an SP1 install.

richc46 said:

I am not going to answer your question, directly, but will say that a clean install is always better. Go with the clean install. You do not save time with an upgrade if you take into account the multitude of problems that may occur.
Back up your stuff, use Windows Easy Transfer and all you need to do is reinstall your software and you have the very best installatio, a clean install.
Enter your key after you have used the system for a few days, your software is all installed and you are satisfied, you have 30 days, which can be extended.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/68767-clean-install-upgrade-vista.html?ltr=C

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Seems pretty direct to me! Don't upgrade, because it is problematic. Do a clean install, so you get a brand new installation, with fresh clean registry and set of system files.

richc46 said:

If you choose not to use my advice, you need to have SP1 with and SP1 install.

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OK, that's what I figured. But, I'm more in the camp of starting fresh. This will also help shed any excess junk I've accumulated over the last 3 years. Wow... I'm really glad I ran into this blockage, as I would've done an upgrade of my existing system. Close call there.


One last thing: If I perform a clean install on the same hard drive, I will now have a separate Windows folder. When I boot up, will I have a choice between the two versions? Once I've verified that my installation is clean and I'm ready to discard the old one, how do I do it without causing any problems?

If you do the clean install properly, you will get the chance to format, and everything will be gone. Everything, possible virus, old OS, any corruption.
Bottom line, follow the tutorial, format during installation and you have only one Great OS, after you are done.