Windows Anytime Upgrade Fails

prb44t · 04 May 2011

Hi all

I have a brand new laptop with Home Premium x64 on it. I have purchased a Windows Anytime Upgrade to Pro. When I go to perform the upgrade, it validates the key fine. I accept the EULA, and then click upgrade. After a minute I get a generic message saying the installation failed try again. No error messages etc.

I did some research and made sure system restore was on, disabled AV software, uninstalled diskburner software (nero), etc. I performed windows updates (though I am still not on SP1 since I am also having issues getting past a certain KB, another thread
issue with kb2487426

the folks there suggested starting this thread to just go straight to pro and avoid the update issues... Any help would be appreciated. BTW -- I don't have a CD drive on this laptop so if I need to boot from a disk...

Hopalong X · 04 May 2011

If you don't get help soon I'll see if I can find someone.

Good luck.
Mike

pebbly · 04 May 2011

hi prb44t, have a look at these tutorials Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool and USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create do you have the win7 dvd installation disc supplied with the laptop ? you will need this to create the bootable usb drive :)

also have a look at this tut Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

prb44t · 04 May 2011

thanks. I can create a bootable USB using these. But, I don't have the Pro on DVD. It was just a download for the WAUquickstart.exe so I don't have a PRO .iso or anything

pebbly · 04 May 2011

prb44t said:

thanks. I can create a bootable USB using these. But, I don't have the Pro on DVD. It was just a download for the WAUquickstart.exe so I don't have a PRO .iso or anything

You could download the ISO from here Download - Home page use the key you bought to activate ,you will have to create an account

Hopalong X · 04 May 2011

Thanks Pebbly.

I wan't sure what he needed for the install and if we might need Niemiro's Update experience or not.

Mike

Disk installs I'm okay with. Clueless on the How To Do with this upgrade.

prb44t · 04 May 2011

well I don't have an MSDN subscription, and I can probably get a disk and use my key. Is there no way to troubleshoot the WAU?

pebbly · 04 May 2011

prb44t said:

well I don't have an MSDN subscription, and I can probably get a disk and use my key. Is there no way to troubleshoot the WAU?

wait and see if niemiro posts a possible solution for you

Jacee · 04 May 2011

Do you have, or did you have either Norton or McAfee installed on this computer?

gregrocker · 04 May 2011

Type "Panther" is Start Search box to find the setup logs to see what was the last listing before stall.
C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\setuperr.log
C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\setupact.log
C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\miglog.xml
C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\setupapi\setupapi.dev.log
C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\setupapi\setupapi.app.log
C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\PreGatherPnPList.log
C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\PostGatherPnPList.log

If the cause isn't logged I would start yanking out the problematic bloatware like Nero, Norton, MucAfee, etc.

If you can find a Win7 retail installer of any version we can help you unlock all versions to clean install Pro, or do an in-place Upgrade to Pro using a workaround.