So this weekend I set aside a block of time (roughly 5 hours) when I wouldn\u2019t need my computer so I could take a stab at trying to upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 (again).<\/p>\n
This time, I moved my Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos (which constitute the bulk of my user profile) into a separate folder on my 2nd hard drive for safe keeping, and then used a 2nd user account to delete the directory junction that linked my user profile to my 2nd hard drive<\/a>. Then, I moved my (now much smaller) user profile back on to the boot drive (C:), and began the upgrade process again.<\/p>\n The last time I tried this<\/a>, I thought that the reason the upgrade failed was because of my use of a directory junction to put my user profile onto my 2nd hard drive. So this time, I thought I\u2019d have better luck, since the link was gone and everything was back where Windows probably expected it to be.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the result of this second attempt was the same as my first attempt: FAILURE<\/strong>. The only difference is that this time the upgrade didn\u2019t take as long (probably because my user profile was so much smaller). However, it still failed in exactly the same way \u2013 it got all the way to the very last step of the installation, and then quit, saying:<\/p>\n \u201cThe upgrade was not successful. Your previous version of Windows is being restored.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It then spent some time rolling back the upgrade, leaving me back where I started. When my desktop came back up, I was greeted by this message:<\/p>\n \u201cThis version of Windows could not be installed. Your previous version of Windows has been restored, and you can continue to use it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n No clue as to the reason<\/em> for the failed upgrade \u2013 that\u2019s my next task.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t want to admit defeat (i.e., do a clean install) \u2013 an upgrade from Vista Ultimate 32-bit to Windows 7 RC 32-bit should work just fine. I guess I\u2019m going to have to spend some time spelunking through arcane log files to see if I can find out the root cause of the failed upgrade \u2013 wish me luck!!<\/p>\n UPDATE: <\/strong>I’m not the only one with this problem – Jeff Atwood (of Coding Horror<\/a>) had a similar problem and asked for help<\/a> over on the website SuperUser.com<\/a> (great place for getting help). Sadly, he did not get any further than me!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My second attempt to upgrade from Vista to the Windows 7 Release Candidate ends in failure – again. The reason for the failure remains a mystery!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[199,201],"tags":[145,62,24],"class_list":["post-2581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-opinion","category-software-technology","tag-computer","tag-microsoft","tag-windows","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pimUj-FD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1873,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2009\/03\/17\/i-upgraded-to-vista-but-for-all-the-wrong-reasons\/","url_meta":{"origin":2581,"position":0},"title":"I Upgraded to Vista – But for all the Wrong Reasons","author":"Keith Survell","date":"March 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Even though I swore I wouldn\u2019t upgrade to Vista, just recently I bit the bullet and did it anyway. But I did it for all the wrong reasons.","rel":"","context":"In "My Life"","block_context":{"text":"My Life","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/my-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"vista","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2009\/03\/vista-thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2549,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2009\/05\/08\/upgrading-from-vista-to-the-windows-7-release-candidate\/","url_meta":{"origin":2581,"position":1},"title":"Upgrading from Vista to the Windows 7 Release Candidate","author":"Keith Survell","date":"May 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"My attempt at upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 RC ends in disappointment - I blame directory junctions for the problem. Guess I have to wait until I make the switch to 64-bit to get Windows 7 goodness on my computer!","rel":"","context":"In "My Opinion"","block_context":{"text":"My Opinion","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/my-opinion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2557,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2009\/05\/18\/how-to-move-your-windows-user-profile-to-another-drive\/","url_meta":{"origin":2581,"position":2},"title":"How to Move your Windows User Profile to another Drive (Updated)","author":"Keith Survell","date":"May 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"How to seamlessly move (or redirect) your entire Windows user profile to a different drive (or location) using NTFS junction points instead of other, less elegant methods.","rel":"","context":"In "Software"","block_context":{"text":"Software","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/technology\/software-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"My \"Videos\" library, located on a different drive","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2009\/05\/libraries.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1108,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2008\/05\/12\/computer-drama\/","url_meta":{"origin":2581,"position":3},"title":"Computer Drama","author":"Keith Survell","date":"May 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"So, my new 500 GB hard drive arrived the other day. Thus began the 3-part geek tragedy that accompanies any computer upgrade. First off, let me say that it's been a while since I've done this. The last time I installed a new hard drive in my computer, Ultra DMA\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "personal"","block_context":{"text":"personal","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hard Drive","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2008\/05\/2282011834_86ab2eaa11_m.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1874,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2009\/03\/21\/computer-recovery-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":2581,"position":4},"title":"Computer Recovery Day","author":"Keith Survell","date":"March 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"An agonizing tale of computer malfunction, data recovery, and pain.","rel":"","context":"In "My Life"","block_context":{"text":"My Life","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/my-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1094,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2008\/05\/01\/a-computer-conundrum\/","url_meta":{"origin":2581,"position":5},"title":"A Computer Conundrum","author":"Keith Survell","date":"May 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Once again, I've filled up my hard drive. It's inevitable, really - I tend to keep everything, and my music, picture, and video collections are quite... extensive. What's sad is that I bought my computer a little over a year ago, and I distinctly remember remaking that its 160 GB\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "personal"","block_context":{"text":"personal","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}