Vista SP2 Fails to Install on PCs with Cloned Disks or Partitions

so typical of MS...
for once....is this legal? i mean , they "force" you to install service packs and refuse to intall components if u dont have those SP's, because of SP3 in xp my graphic card get an directx version that its not compatible with...the installer didnt even checked it.
we use, what they want, when they want, in the way they want ?...

thank god for crackers, hackers, and similar people. i still own MY pc,and buying MS products doesnt give them the right to tell what to use.

Yet another Vista great. When I get asked, "Why not Vista?" , I take a deep breath and begin my 20 min explanation. Well, it just got longer.

This is just useless, I've seen reports that it wont work with GRUB. I mean come on! Lots of us techies out there run multiple OSes on a single machine, many of those are Linux with a falvour or another of Windows...

Now I'm going to have to go an reinstall the Windows MBR just to get this installed, then install GRUB again or mess about with the Windows Boot Loader to get it to boot Debian?? This is crazy and MS really do need to get this sorted out... even the makers of Grub make it easy to boot Windows OR Linux... it even goes off and finds your Windows partitions!

Another unfortunate problem for Vista that may stop even more people from upgrading... come on MS...

Just wondering; would fdisk /mbr resolve the issue?

HP computers. The Recovery partition, and the Tattoo also causes this issue. The Image ID in the ZBios also will prevent a clean install. HP is Zero help. SNZERO.EXE for HP/Compact will not work with my6237c.
So cant even install windows 7 beta.
Time to buy another new computer, again. But not HP

I had the same problem with SP1. I recovered a C500 from the recovery partition and all of the MANY updates went well until SP1. I was able to install it from the standalone installer. I am now running scores of additional updates but now, after wasting a day, will go directly to a standalone SP2 before returning to Windows Update.

i had to do math to post this. crazy but cool. anyway, im glad i finally found this article. ive been searching and installing updates i didnt know i needed and scanning for virii via clamav on linux, scanning spywarez. finally i see something that makes some sense out of a senseless company. so i guess until they fix it, i will be forced to continue to eventually remove windows from my pc and use cedega for games. dammit bill, youre a conman not a computer guru.

Whats up with MS????
i have a dual boot with linux and my DEP settings are locked and i cant change them.
Now i cant install SP2 on vista just because i have partitions???
ARGHHHHH!!!
What the Hell!!!
I paid for VISTA.

I am moving to linux or Mac even.

This has got to be one of the most idiotic annoying nusances the Microsoft "Thwart the competition" scheme that they apparently still are incorporating into their Windows OS'. I also paid for my versions of Vista on my laptops. I had to upgrade my hard drive to 500GB so of course used the Hard drive clone utilities to get my data transferred and up and running. Now MS comes up with this trick to mess all of their customers up by not allowing you to update any longer if you cloned your hard drive (legitimiately) to get a larger hard drive. What a #$@! pain. I am seriously thinking of just moving over to open source free Linux (Debian or Ubuntu). They run great and everything is free and open source. Does 99% of what I do with my Windows OS systems so I won't miss any functionality moving over to Linux. MS better wake up, the day is coming when you will fall if you keep doing these sneaky annoying antics. Sorry I had to say what I said but you annoyed me after frustrating hours and hours why my Windows Vista Home Premium laptop PC kept failing the SP2 install and reverting back to SP1. Remove the test for the boot block or whatever and let us install it!

sp~~

it also takes me hours to upgrade the damm Vista with only failing and reverting...

what the hell it is!

well, im interested in this:
if i bought a pc with vista, and they make the sp2 in such a way that i cant install it on an unchanged system, isnt someone liable here? i mean i didnt change anything , my system is still like i bought it. now MS issues a sp that doesnt work, but we need it in order to keep the pc safe...isnt hp selling something that doesnt properly work then? im really pissed off at ms for first botching the sp1, and now this. i guess it stands for Money Stealing, right?

I had the save problem. From some months ago I tryed different ways to install Vista Home premium in my HP Pavilion (OEM). For douzens of times I saw the "reverting changes message".
Finally yesterday I MADE IT!!.
The problem was with the recovery partition of the HP Pavilion. It seems it confused the SP2 installing proc. when writing the boot information.
So, what I did was, installing Acronis Disk Director on the pc. I hide the recovery partition and then installed SP2, that went ok. Finally I unhide back the partition.

I have an HP system with factory installed Vista Home Premium. I installed SP1 without many issues but now SP2 will not install. I have a partition on my drive besides the recovery partition. Will removing the unused partition allow SP2 to install? Windows disk manager was used to create the second partition.

Could you provide a little more info on how to use Acronis Disk Director to Hide these partitions.

I have become increasingly angry with Microsoft. Not only have I paid tens of thousands of dollars for their software over the years, but also wasted more than $100,000 in man hours fixing their crap. They continue to punish the honest consumer.

I am buyin MAC next time. I have had it. I have several notebooks sitting around that now won't update. And they will not install Win 7 either.

I am done.

Beautifully stated!

I'll take those non-working laptops off your hand, if you don't mind!