Trying to install Win 7 Upgrade Advisor on a two-year old Vista machine (DELL XPS 420). Clicking the setup icon to install gets me nothing. No installation screens, no warnings, no errors, nothing. I tried installing on an older XP laptop and the software installs there just fine. I've checked the other related topics and they seem to be related to problems installing on XP, not Vista. Any ideas what I'm missing? I've never encountered an installation that fails before it even starts.

Download and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to your computer. Right-click on the file and select Run as administrator.Carey Frisch

Thanks Carey. Considered and tried. No effect. I get the initial Security Warning dialog box asking if I want to run the file, I say Run, the box disappears, and that's it.

When you go to download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, save it rather than selecting Run.Carey Frisch

That's what I typically do. Saved to both my desktop and another directory just to see where the problem might lie. In both cases, the program refuses to install. On a lark, I tried running several other install programs that I saved to disk in the past (just to see if some system setting was catching me), and they install correctly. So currently, it seems to be just this one program. It's got me stumped.

As I know, you need Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 installed on your computer to run Windows Upgrade Advisor. Moreover, you'd better install the latest updates for yourdevices and software. If you still can't install Windows Upgrade Advisor, I suggest you manually checking your devices and software in Windows Compatibility Center. If you find that any hardware or software isn't listed in this website. Please go to manuafacturer's website to check updates.Best RegardsDale

I am having the exact same problem. I have .NET 2.0 installed. Windows Vista Home Premium works like a charm on my Dell Vostro 1700, but the upgrade advisor won't run. My experience matches, word for word, the post from arcoili. The beta version ran fine. What's going on? I'm getting paranoid about upgrading to Windows 7.

Still no go. I ran the tool at the address below to verify my .net installation, and the report indicates everything passes. As for going through Windows Compatibility Center, that seems like a roundabout and tedious way of solving a problem. I can say that all connected hardware and installed software have worked correctly on my Vista PC for many, many months, else I would have uninstalled or corrected them long before now. I have never had a problem with software not installing before this Upgrade Advisor. http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2009/07/27/9850215.aspx

Isn't there a Windows 7 web site where you can report these kinds of problems to Microsoft directly? I know there was and probably still is for Windows Update problems. What happens if you turn off UAC via msconfig Tools? Will it install and run then? Start / Run type msconfig and press Enter Click on Tools. Click on Change UAC settings and disable it.Rich

See the following:"Just got off the phone with support. I had already clean booted and then we muddled through the rest. Here's what we did- disconnected all external drives, disabled all third party toolbars in IE and lastly (I believe this was the trick) created a new admin account on the computer that had no special characters in it. My old admin account had an "&" in it. Once I created the new account and restarted the upgrade, the compatibility check took much longer than previously and I got a report. The tech agent I was talking said that she read somewhere that special characters in the User Name would prevent the install. It appears she was right." Carey Frisch

I really wish I could find the magic bullet on this. OK, I disabled UAC long ago because it created problems. I am the only user on this PC, as admin. I changed the Admin name long ago to remove special characters, unless the remaining uppercase letters are a problem. I've disconnected all external drives, leaving the internal RAID 1 drives. I disabled or uninstalled extra toolbars in IE. With all of that, the program still won't install. BTW, I also tried to perform the installation in safe mode. No go. I really appreciate everyone's help in this.

I've seen plenty of other concerns/issues matching this elsewhere in technet and in other forums. Please, can someone at Microsoft or an MVP help us out? The beta version ran fine on my computer, and all other signs indicate I can upgrade (e.g., Dell tells me that my machine specs indicate compatability, and if my computer can run Vista without problem, it should run Windows 7). However, Best Practices suggest I run the upgrade advisor, and I can't, so I'm feeling vulnerable in taking the upgrade plunge. Please help...

I suggest you manually checking your devices and software in Windows Compatibility Center. If you find that any hardware or software isn't listed in this website. Please go to manuafacturer's website to check updates.Best RegardsDale

I appreciate your suggestions, but the compatibility center cannot run a check of system requirements and other subtle compatibility issues. I have found it necessary to check BOTH the results of the compatibility advisor (once I finally got it to work) AND the Compatibility Center. E.g., my Samsung ML-1630 printer showed "unknown" with the advisor, but is listed as completely compatible at the Compatibility Center. I suggest you try to work with Microsoft to try to unravel why the advisor is not downloading and installing properly.

Same, same problem.

Thanks. I would like to report this kind of behavior to our related DEV team. But in addition, I would like to suggest you using Windows Installer cleanup utility to fix Windows Installer and reinstall Windows Upgarde Advisor.1. Download and install the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility.2. Then, please run it from "Start" then "All Programs" then "Windows Install Clean Up". 3. Select and remove relevant item with Windows Upgrade Advisor.For more information, please refer to:Description of the Windows Installer CleanUp UtilityBest RegardsDale

Thanks, Dale - I am assuming that you wanted me (us) to use the WICU to cleanup the Win7 Upgrade Advisor installation. Interestingly, WICU found many programs, none of which I want to uninstall (e.g. Adobe 3 Master Collection), but it did not find Win7 UA! It truly does look like the UA installation is failing before it begins, leaving no trace behind, not even trying to install. What are the preconditions that the installation checking for, and failing to find or not find, that is preventing installation (and also not providing and indication of failure)? I'm not very familiar with Event Viewer, but I don't see any indications in the logs of what may be causing the problem.

YES!! That was it!! I had an & in my admin account name. created a new admin account and ran the install under that and it worked!! thanks for posting!!!sad comment on Microsoft's testing however.

Apologies to all with their suggestions, but it did turn out to be an unacceptable character (&) in my login name. But here's the thing - even though I changed the login name months ago, and it shows up everywhere as my current, clean, login name, somewhere WIN thinks the character is still there. I only found out because I ran Belarc Advisor on my system to get an accounting of my current system configuration, and right there at the top of the Belarc report was my old login name. So, taking the suggestions above I created a new login account and the program installed correctly. I was stuck trying to get my current login name to run the install program, and it just wasn't going to happen. Thanks for the help of all, and thanks MS for an interesting lesson.

If you rename an account, that doesn't change the directory it's installed to. Perhaps that is what was happening? For instance, if I had an account called Me&You it would be in C:\Users\Me&You If I renamed the account via User Accounts to Me-You the directory it resided in would still be C:\Users\Me&YouRich

Hi all, I know the above posts are old and done but I was going over them trying to find an answer for this same problem. I tried everything I could find and nothing worked. When going to 'safe mode with network' I could not get onto the network. I directly connected to my internet without the wireless and waaalaa. It works! Just thought i would share. Kathy

Hi, same problem but it's simply due to the fact that once downloaded it has no extension, simply rename it and add .exe at the end. Al http://athome42.com