"Setup cannot locate the Windows installation you want to upgrade" error message (242066)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP1
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP1
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
This article was previously published under Q242066 SYMPTOMS When you attempt to perform an upgrade from Microsoft
Windows NT or an in-place upgrade from within Windows 2000, you may receive the
following error message after Setup copies files and restarts the computer:
Windows 2000 Product
Setup
Setup could not locate the Windows installation you want to
upgrade.
Contact your system administrator. CAUSE Windows 2000 Setup performs the checks listed below to
locate the previous installation you are attempting to upgrade. These checks
are performed after the first restart when you run the Upgrade Wizard or
Winnt32.exe to perform the upgrade. If any of these checks does not succeed,
the error message is displayed.
- Setup looks for a valid path to the registry files using
the C:\Boot.ini file.
- Setup loads the System registry hive for each operating
system entry found in the Boot.ini file and extracts the
Setup\UniqueID:REG_SZ:C:WINNT\Unique_ID
value.
- Setup compares the UniqueID entry in the System hive with
the c:\$win_nt$.~bt\winnt.sif file's uniqueID entry under the [data] section.
After a match is found, Setup continues with the next step for that Boot.ini
installation.
- Setup loads the Software registry hive of the installation
found, and checks for a valid ProductID (PID).
- Setup checks for a %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. The
Ntoskrnl.exe and Ntdll.dll files must be present.
- Setup checks for a %SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers
folder.
RESOLUTION You can troubleshoot each of the items listed above by
looking at each requirement and making sure it is met.
- Open the Boot.ini file with Notepad (or boot to Recovery
Console) and make sure a valid ARC path is defined that points to the previous
installation. For additional information, click the following article number
to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
155222
How to determine the ARC path
- Use Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe) to view the unique ID
setting in the following location, and compare it to the UniqueID entry in the
c:\$win_nt$.~bt\winnt.sif file:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Setup\uniqueid
- Use Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe) to view the ProductID
setting in the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
ProductID
- Check the file permissions on the directory structure if
you are using the NTFS file system. Make sure that SYSTEM has full
control.
- Rename $win_nt$.`bt to any different
name, and then rename $winnt_$.`ls to any different name.
- Create a "dummy" directory structure on a separate drive or
partition (for example, D:\Wintest\System32...) and copy the required files to
the new directories. Then, using Ntbackup.exe, create an emergency repair disk
(ERD) and choose the option to also back up the registry files to the repair
folder. Using a copy of the registry files in the current
%SystemRoot%\Repair\Regback folder, populate the "dummy" ...\Config folder with
the system and software files. Finally, create a C:\Boot.ini file entry to
represent the "dummy" directory structure. Restart the computer. If Setup
recognizes the "dummy" structure as a valid installation to continue the
upgrade, you can assume that all the requirements are met, but that you need to
troubleshoot the original directory structure for problems.
| Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 10/13/2004 |
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| Keywords: | kberrmsg kbprb kbsetup KB242066 |
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