Windows NT Upgrade Saga Part 2 - Can We Make It to Windows 7?

[@mjdxp5688]

Alternate title: Windows Vista Setup Annoys Micheal

[@blainepalmerza]

True

[@williamg209two]

Michael*

[@AmaroqStarwind]

Hey, small world

[@clementpoon120]

Why vista suck.

[@arteonyx]

@@williamg209two Mikey

[@simonmpoulton]

Having seen issues like this before theres only one way I got it to work in the past. For one the Vista SP2 Installer is the one to use - the RTM is full of bugs on the upgrade process. The other thing to do when using the SP2 install disc is to ensure you are connected to the internet and let the installer get updates from Microsoft.

[@medes24]

Even though this was a failure, it was super interesting. I got in the habit from my Linux days of just always doing a clean install. OS gives a weird error? Clean install. Bored on a Saturday night? Clean install. This video series showed some good reasons why doing a clean install when you upgrade OS versions can save you headaches.

[@Christobanistan]

Good idea. He should just try to continue with a clean install and declare victory. ;)

[@MaskedGEEK]

Michael: "Imma bout to finally update XP to Vista." Microsoft: "Tee hee hee."

[@sonicfon]

"wasususususususu heeey"

[@evancrazyerror]

The system root variable is in the folder HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion itself, if you scroll down you’ll see it, and at least for Windows 10 it’s not read only And you should probably back up the entire hard drive using some imaging software before you make any big changes

[@Saghetti]

when adding the envionment variable, try naming it SystemRoot, and not %systemroot% (no percent signs)

[@vlOd_yt]

Yeah corrext and adding it in the System Variables

[@PolarasX]

@@vlOd_yt I was basicly yelling at my screen because he didn't put it in the system variables area, edit: I just tested it in a windows xp sp3 vm and it does work without the percent signs and in system variables for anyone reading this haveing the same issues

[@tvguy725]

6:50 Maybe letting the installer go online and update itself would help.. I did an upgrade from XP to Vista about 6 months ago and that function still worked.

[@DavidWonn]

As I mentioned in a comment on your previous video, NT 3.1 installs fine if you initially install DOS and then from there, copy the CD contents to the hard drive and install from there. Additionally, I should warn that if you dual boot the original NT 3.1 with anything newer, it’ll mangle the file system, destroying all long file names on FAT16 partitions when you go back to the newer OS. Thankfully I was already planning on wiping Win98 in this case, so I just wanted to see what would happen if I added NT 3.1 to it.

[@Jaguarek62]

Please try Windows Vista sp2 image. It is really more stable and reliable.

[@carteranonymous5680]

Yeah, once you figure it out and get sp2...at least with my experience on home premium, its better and deserves more credit than it gets. I'm still running vista on a core 2 duo to this day and its flawless.

[@pronounjow]

@@carteranonymous5680 Is that an internet-connected machine? Are you still running Vista? I'm not implying it's bad as I've also used it and it's pretty okay.

[@kuruyia]

I've tried to do your upgrade path in a VM more or less faithfully (NT4 -> 2k -> XP -> XP SP2 -> Vista) with success, Vista doesn't mind that the Windows folder is C:\WINNT and that the users folder is C:\WINNT\Profiles (in fact, Setup migrated those folders to their modern C:\Windows and C:\Users equivalent during Vista installation). So maybe there's something from NT 3.5 preventing the upgrade that I didn't have, or maybe (probably?) the problem lays in a difference between my hardware and yours, but those folders doesn't seem to be a problem for Vista (moreover, I think the installer has been designed not to use hardcoded paths to prevent this kind of problem). Some are saying that you should verify the C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\ directory for any log file. I guess that the problem is happening while Setup is in its Preinstallation Environment so it might be worth to take a look at X:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\ (note the different drive letter) as well, while being in this environment (you can open a cmd by pressing Shift+F10 on the Setup screen). Anyway, good luck getting this upgrade to work :D

[@fgaudreaultcomp7276]

Great way to spend my Friday evening.

[@ShadowEO]

When using junction with directories, you should use the switch that forces it to create a "Directory Junction", as opposed to a normal NTFS symbolic link. NTFS stores these differently, and it may make all the difference. But that wasn't the reason Vista yelled at you, it yelled at you because the registry said your Windows folder was WINNT, and Vista was likely going to move your Windows folder into the modern location. Since it saw you have a Windows folder already, it was unsure what game you were playing lol. Hint: your Windows installation directory settings aren't only stored as System Environment Variables, they're stored in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion, and also some references in HKLM\System. Also, you aren't looking for a key under CurrentVersion, it's a string on the key CurrentVersion, just click CurrentVersion and look to the right.... You forgot to change your user's ProfileImagePath under your SID in ProfileList. That's why. Your user account was still pointed to the old directory. Windows natively allows for users to change their home profile directory (for roaming profiles, etc) and that information is stored under the user's SID in the ProfileList registry key you changed the base image path.

[@LKComputes]

Still waiting for NT Server Upgrade Saga

[@LKComputes]

@@MailDeliverySystem-xw6hh :)

[@Plaston_]

He is still waiting for that NT Server Upgrade Saga

[@sillysagiri]

still waiting

[@fmefw9892]

You are not alone ahah

[@LKComputes]

I’m still waiting.

[@alexanrsousa]

Changing the user profile folder isn't that simple. Not only you need to change that key you did, you also need to load each user registry hive offline and change that specific user profile folder as well. A big search for "\Profile" whith all the hives loaded should help you find everything.

[@alexanrsousa]

Btw if you want to, it should be possible to install NT 3.1 on that hardware. Google "bearwindows" for a website filled with nice information and even SVGA drivers for NT 3.51+, and info on how to install NT 3.1 on newer processors. Also, there is a post on BetaArchive called "Driver offer for NT 3.1 users: ATAPI for 1992/1993 builds", in which you can get a floppy image with a driver for CD-ROM drives that can be loaded in the text-mode part of the setup

[@boneske]

@@alexanrsousa I posted that link on the previous video. Glad to see I'm not the only one that knew about that driver.

[@xan1242]

btw you can edit those system variables by editing the registry from outside the running image (so run another windows from another drive like that mini xp and edit the registry by importing the hive)

[@realGamebreaker]

To edit the registry Boot into the Windows Vista installer and File->Load Hive for C:/WINNT/system32/config/SYSTEM and SOFTWARE.Then you can Export the registry hives (Right Click -> Export) then Open them in notepad and replace every mention of %systemroot% with C:/Windows and then re-Import them.

[@ClonkAndre]

Try to install windows from the beginning in the C:\Windows folder not in C:\WINNT that should work?

[@boneske]

Windows Setup doesn't care what the folder is named, it only cares if it can detect there is a version of Windows installed.

[@ClonkAndre]

@@boneske Yes but in the Windows 3.5 Setup he could choose in what folder windows will be installed in. And Windows will register that foldername as the read-only %SystemRoot% variable.

[@boneske]

@The2 kingsparty LMAO, I said it with confidence because I’ve done it before. If you like I’ll do a video on it not a problem. In fact give me a name you want the Windows folder to be and I’ll upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. I’ve upgraded a system with the Windows folder named WinXP before with no problem.

[@Mtik333]

As I tweeted you few days ago (not sure if you have noticed that), would be cool to see some Ubuntu update or other Linux distros marathon too on this machine. At least, it shouldn't be as painful (to watch and do I guess?) as going with Windows upgrade paths

[@sugargliderdude]

i miss using windows XP, was a good operating system, but never got a virus since not using windows XP, got quite a few while using windows XP.

[@David-fm6go]

I love xp to death (and beyond) but same. I have never had a virus or trojan on Windows Seven.

[@truefatesshtposts3628]

I Like Your $5 Windows 98/95 PC Series Keep Up The Great Work

[@EneaX6]

Congrats on 70k subscribers :D

[@MichaelMJD]

Thank you so much!

[@kristiantodorov5080]

I think you should start this again, but when installing NT 3.5, rename the install directory to C:\WINDOWS

[@lightyagami3492]

Literally this 😂

[@lightyagami3492]

Although if you install DOS before getting NT 3.1 you can start from 3.1 and go through all of the NT versions first.

[@AmaroqStarwind]

You should get an expansion card that adds USB 2.0 ports. ------- The Hard/Symbolic Link and Junction thing was actually going to be one of my suggestions, initially. "C:\WinNT" -> "C:\Windows" "C:\WinNT\Profiles" -> "C:\Documents and Settings" Windows Vista then changes "C:\Documents and Settings" to "C:\Users"

[@NJRoadfan]

At least you made it that far. Something about Windows NT 3.1 breaks the Windows 2000 to XP upgrade if you start with NT 3.1. I did the upgrade chain starting with 3.5 as a base and got up to Windows 7 without a problem.

[@boneske]

He started with NT 3.5, without drivers Windows NT 3.1 cannot install with an ATAPI IDE CD-ROM drive..

[@hugosimoes5119]

Could you get a SCSI controller old enough and an HDD and retry again from Windows NT 3.1?

[@hugosimoes5119]

Just an SCSI CDROM i mean.

[@LKComputes]

Hugo Simões you would still, afaik, need a scsi controller

[@BurnedPinguin8630]

yet again, thank you so much for this content. Also, what's up with the microphone?

[@bradtoddler3765]

Seems the software (aka Audacity that he uses) doesn't recognize the microphone or he forgot something when editing this video.

[@MaxMacZone]

I always feel liek your channel is just Druaga1 but your ideas actually work. (great stuff tho)

[@ashisharky]

wow thats kind of accurate

[@Leonard_MT]

Hi I have a video request You can dual boot up (xp as far as I know) by installing the OSes on the same NTFS partition can you try to see how NT OSes you can multi-boot.

[@hugosimoes5119]

that can't be done. windows nt 3.x/4.0 requires version of ntfs which some service pack will upgrade, same for windows 2000

[@markcentral]

Perhaps try running XP's System File Checker Tool (sfc) to scan for any errors detected in the installation.

[@rogehmarbi]

Heh, the one tool for all problems

[@MATAM29]

Fun Fact: If you move system directories to another drive or partition, you need to create symbolic links too using the mklink command. You need to create symbolic links because you need Windows to think it's located on the C: drive. An IT KZbinr from Germany called SemperVideo copied the user directory in Windows XP and 7 to another partition, deleted the old user directory and made a symbolic link linking to the user directory from C:.

[@chocolateimage]

28:45 you successfully broken windows!

[@evoelias6035]

omg MJD... i don't know if I should laugh or be sorry for you thinking that moving the contents from the WINNT directory to another folder will ever work xD xD xD ... There are some system data linked to hard disk sectors wich you would compleetly scramble by doing so... that is part of what the windows installer does - it literaly "installs" windows on your HARD DRIVE... in conclusion: system files cannot be moved around on the hard drive without scrambling the system... even if you then copy them back it wouldn't work anymore... ... anyway.. since 2020 alot of time has passed and I am sure that you now gathered alot more experience... this video series is definitely enjoyable ♥

[@JimConner]

Laptops fail at that spot often. Go into bios and disable everything not needed. Network, wifi, USB, sound, etc... once you get past the install, enable the hardware in the bios.

[@nickbiss39]

Hi Michael, love the videos! The SystemRoot variable is stored as a string value in the key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion; it's not a subkey itself. You should be able to change this with a registry editor offline, I.e. by loading the \WINNT\System32\config\SOFTWARE hive in Registry Editor PE in MiniXP and making the changes when you move the WINNT directory. Hope this helps!

[@liliwinnt6]

23:35 press Shift+F10 to call cmd use that to delete the folder

[@real2w10]

Shift-F10 only works if you are booted into setup or a Windows Recovery Environment.

[@austinthedvdking9817]

7:46 Would be a more accurate time to do that.

[@WindowsOnWindows]

I'm still trying to comprehend why Vista setup has a problem with upgrading a C:\Windows directory...

[@billgiannakopoulos3366]

I think the problem is that the setup detects that the windows folder on C:\ isn't the directory that the windows installation is stored in

[@darthslayer98]

mklink is a great tool. I use it to make my own "cloud saves" for games that don't have them already. I just make a junction on my OneDrive that points to the save location and then I do the same on my laptop (where I want the "cloud saves" to sync).

[@Niosus]

Actually, I think it may be the direction of the symlinks that is causing issues. Symlinks are afaik a special kind of file on the filesystem that points to somewhere else. When the Windows installer is checking for the Windows or profiles folder, it finds a file (the symlink) instead of a folder. So I do think that you actually need to have a Windows folder and D&S folder. But like, a real folder. To solve the environment variable issue, you can see if you can get away with copying over the files from the old folder to the new folder, and replacing the old folder with a symlink to the new folder. So when the environment variable is used, you still end up in the right place. Not sure if this is the real issue, but it could solve the "moving the windows folder" issue.

[@winelectronic101]

You may have to restart the entire upgrade process over, but instead of a folder called winnt with Windows NT 3.5, the folder may need to be called Windows. It might sound crazy, but in theory, it may give different results. If that doesn't work, it's possible that Windows NT versions prior to 2000 are not meant to be upgraded beyond XP. Either that, or Vista SP1 or SP2 had fixed this problem.

[@superJK92]

I'm going to try this in a VM

[@winelectronic101]

​@@superJK92 It's also possible that he forgot to convert the filesystem to NTFS.

[@lightyagami3492]

This video represents a good reason why many businesses decided to stay on Windows xp as long as possible... Of course other than not being able to run certain legacy programs on Windows 7 and beyond.

[@athrunzala75]

What if you wanted to go to heaven but god said Windows installation encountered an error and cannot continue. Your computer will now restart, and your previous version of Windows will be restored.

[@PotatoMan23]

In case you didn`t already know, you can run cmd during the setup by pressing shift+F10 and from there on you can try installing it manually.

[@ShadowEO]

Yup, you can install manually by applying install.wim with dism to the hard disk. Learned that when working on some bay trail tablets :)

[@slashtiger1]

This should not have been so difficult to begin with! There must be something wrong with your Windows Vista DVD (image), because I had numerous systems that ran Windows NT4 Workstation at the start of their life and then were upgraded to Vista during their lifetime. By the way: the %systemroot% variable is located at: *HKLM\Software\Microsoft\CurrentVersion.* There is NO _Key_ (folder) called Systemroot. Instead, it's a DWORD-value located at the point specified before. You _could_ try and change it, but it will most likely bork your system if you do so... EDIT: I guess the RTM Vista build must've been the problem. We purposefully used to ignore RTM builds within our organisation because of too many issues... Burn yourself an SP2 build and try again, because the RTM build will leave you stranded here.

[@JimConner]

you set the variables with a sif file during install. I use to separate Windows, Program Files, and Documents and settings to their own hard drive. Made XP/vista extra fast.

[@awesomereview2358]

There should be a windows error roll back log located under the $windows.~bt\Sources\Rollback Directory Also you might want to delete the windows Vista temp files it produces during setup

[@Nabeelco]

You need to look at the install logs to see why it's failing. I'd also try booting off the install CD/USB and trying to upgrade from there (I can't remember if that's possible back then or not)

[@ikemkrueger]

I think you can replace "junction" with "mklink". And about Regedit and "Search and replace", "Registry Finder" can do that.

[@Radkeyboard7984]

14:12 that actually because the windows folder is not in the correct format. You need to use dism to force an installation to the winnt folder

[@deniz_ildir]

What struck my attentions was that when the video started, winxp reported "27 days left for activation". After trying to install vista (and failing), for example at 18:30 it reports "30 days left for activation"....So, an even an attempt to install vista resets the activation period?

[@turqoiseketchup4414]

Could you try to skip as many versions as possible in an upgrade and update straight from to ? Sorry, don't really know the names or order of WIndows versions, I'm a Linux user ;)

[@gamethecupdog]

16:15 I use symlinks to store certain games saves directly on my raspberry pi via SSHFS, and because it's directly saved and loaded on it I can quit out on my PC and load the game up from my laptop and it's as if I just restarted the game

[@AdriaOliSal]

I really enjoyed this video and I would love to see a third part trying other things!

[@kentaishiowa]

Try the junction tool and make the windows folder again. Then try an in-place upgrade with Windows XP and once installed again see if it works with the vista installer. Just a guess but it could work

[@andre19707]

Feren os in 2020 is leaving a lot of distro for the lightness and stability are its strong points, one thing that always discouraged me in a linux distro is the printer driver compatibility feren os is very well in that aspect installed in just one click. Feren os for me is the best linux distro, the first version in 2017 really had a lot of bugs it was horrible but this distro now in 2020 very fast, you can download and install that you will not regret. The feren OS team is to be congratulated.

[@boneske]

14:03 and 23:07 Because of the symbolic links Windows Vista setup thinks there is two versions of Windows installed on the hard drive and it doesn't know which OS to upgrade from it only knows you have booted into the version that is in the WINNT folder. The Windows setup doesn't care what folder Windows is installed in, it only cares it can detect that Windows is installed. My recommendation was to upgrade to Windows Vista by booting from the disc but as you mentioned in the end of the video you already tried this. Without me recreating what you have done, I'm at a loss on why Vista won't upgrade.

[@ShadowEO]

I don't believe you can upgrade when booting from the install media. I believe the upgrade button tells you to reboot the PC and run setup from Windows to upgrade.

[@f1ggyc]

I don't think the SystemRoot registry is a folder, its a string just inside the currentversion folder

[@CrabHead501]

I think it's just Windows Vista being Windows Vista. You could get a SP2 Installation ISO, because from what i've seen you still had the RTM one.

[@windowsfan95]

You could also try to upgrade to Windows server 2003(seen that you have an iso) then to Windows Vista.

[@yjk_ch]

24:30 You should not add % to environment variable name. %SystemRoot% is syntax that points to "SystemRoot", not "%SystemRoot%". I don't beileve it would fix the main problem though...

[@distinctdipole]

I know this is way old but when you set Env Vars you don't use the %%. The %% is only used when referencing the contents of the Env Vars.

[@ryuchao008]

Would be interesting to see junction used for other things like moving the "Program Files" folders to other drives, same with the user home folders. I remember trying it on the early Windows 8 days and bricking the install, never tried it on Windows 10

[@PrinceKufreAkai]

Skip Vista and go straight to 8.0? Or have you tried a Vista SP2 iso?

[@Christobanistan]

Even if you changed the env variable, the system programs mostly doesn't use that, only programs do. And you'd need to kill Explorer.exe (I forget the name of the shell) and restart it, since the setup.exe would inherit its current environment, which doesn't change until that process restarts.

[@Neoge-]

Try to edit the read only stuff in the registry by mounting the registry into a different windows installation. In regedit go to File > Load Hive...

[@whizzsfe]

env variables should be able to be changed from command prompt using SET (if you just type set it lists them all inc. the ones in question.

[@pizzalord3n]

Thanks for another video Michael 😁👌

[@Oleksz-xk1wm]

Love Your Vids Michael

[@bartlomiejm0]

I think that you can import registry hive (files SYSTEM, SOFTWARE, etc somewhere in %windir%) into regedit from Hiren's MiniXP, edit all "C:\WINNT" entries, and unload the hive.

[@VincentParisien]

How about using regmon and filemon to monitor what the installation is failing at?

[@hulksmash8159]

Yeh, I'll be damned if I watch any more Windows installation videos. Pure lunacy.

[@Reziac]

Not to be excessively obvious, but you are using a 32bit edition of Vista, right? Cuz x64 has a 32bit installer, and I've seen it run far enough to semi-install on an x86 CPU. (Ooops.)

[@dogpro1019]

To change the SystemRoot variable in an elevated command prompt type ”set SystemRoot C:\WINDOWS”

[@billgiannakopoulos3366]

You didn't notice that the copy of vista you used in the last video was service pack 1,if you upgrade from xp to vista you should use that instead of the rtm copy

[@f3liscatus]

I find that many Windows update problems can be fixed by running chkdsk /f c: first. It is Windows after all and it mostly doesn't care about filesystem errors on NTFS partitions in day to day operation, but as soon as you try to update or install anything it gets scared and refuses to do anything... But it has been two years since this video, so I'm probably a bit late... ;-)

[@awesomereview2358]

I also remember you saying in a previous video that the DVD drive in the 5 dollar windows 98 pc has issues try downloading a rtm copy on a USB and running it from the pc its self without the DVD

[@MichaelMJD]

I actually tried that in the first part of this project. I just did it off camera along with the CD copy of Vista I have but both gave the same error message.

[@awesomereview2358]

@@MichaelMJD ok then like I said in my previous comment look at this directory for the roll back error log $windows.~bt\Sources\Rollback It should tell you what happened

[@danielgartin6993]

Try to slpstream service pack 2 into your Windows XP installation CD and make a new installation CD and use that to reinstall Windows XP then upgrade to Vista

[@hugosimoes5119]

Ok... We *can* apparently install Windows NT 3.1 onto PC using... an hdd image from a VM. We need to install first on a vm, using a floppy disk image and a cd iso image, install the first portion, then when it reboots, edit c:\winnt\system32\initial.inf file... Where it says: [ProcessorVar] STF_PROCESSOR = "" ? $(!LIBHANDLE) GetProcessor Change to: [ProcessorVar] STF_PROCESSOR = "" ? $(ProcessorID_I586) Save and continue the installation. Then if you have acces to norton ghost or such other tool that supports networking, create an img of the vm's hdd image and restore it to the pc and it should work.

[@Jake1702]

Maybe you should manually make a Vista SP2 disk?

[@David-fm6go]

8:10 it was very unlikely that SP 3 would fix this as that came out in 2008 iirc almost two years after Vista.

[@aanjaneyamehrotra2100]

Best content ever seen I have a pentium 4 computer (now duo core) running windows 10 latest version very smoothly

[@oneup117gaming4]

If you are gonna do all the pro versions of Windows, if it works then get it to run Windows 8, or even Windows 10

[@kadette]

remember that there were provably hidden files in the profiles folder that would provably need to come over as well

[@btsoundclash]

Love the videos, keep these upgrade videos coming

[@Locutus]

Good video. But your audio quality isn't as good as it usually is. Will you do a livestream one day?

[@Deinonychus666]

Next... Windows NT 3.1 -> Windows NT 3.5 -> Windows NT 3.51 -> Windows NT 4.0 -> Windows 2000 -> Windows Server 2003 -> Windows Server 2008 With All The Drivers... Chipset... VGA... Sound... Pnpisa... etc...

[@bunix12]

Hey bud, I think you may need to activate windows XP fully before upgrades will work. Most of the video I was seeing the activation hadn't been completed yet.

[@parandersson6541]

when you upgraded from win 2000 to XP and didnt change WINNT to windows maybe that''s the problem? Or was in from NT4 to 2000?

[@OrdosAlpha]

XP's recovery console should allow you designate another folder of your choosing as the new system root.

[@RodrigoBadin]

I wonder, if Windows 10 is designed to upgrade from Windows 7, could you try to upgrade the 98PC to Windows 10? If so you could continue the upgrade saga from Windows 7 to Windows 10 1507 -> 1511 -> 1607 -> 1703 -> 1709 -> 1803 -> 1809 -> 1903 -> 1909. Tip: You can use the software Rufus to download older Windows 10 isos.

[@MichaelMJD]

This PC's CPU does not support Windows 8 or Windows 10 unfortunately

[@jhastings53]

I wonder if you would have changed the install folder back when you first installed NT 3.5 to C:\Windows if it would have worked.

[@athe52]

You should try upgrading builds of 95 to RTM. Just like post-reset longhorn though, it may have some errors.

[@danielberrett2179]

Very interested in what games/mods you mentioned that you had to use symbolic links for.

[@justanenderman9668]

The cause might be from the amount of memory or it running out of virtual memory at that point.

[@jmsmirko]

Give the documents and settings folder the right owner permissions and then delete the profile photo and see if it will let you begin again without making another profile in the winNT folder

[@philstuf]

Try changing the path in the boot.ini and renaming Winnt to Windows via Hirens. Completely reversible (do not copy the files, though, just rename the folder)

[@TheHeroicManYT]

I'm pretty sure the registry key called "SystemRoot" at *HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion* stores the path for %systemroot%. By default, on a fresh windows install it is C:\Windows. Although, that path isn't where the windows folder is located in Windows NT. Maybe changing the path in the key might fix the problem?

[@Joss_The_VCat]

Whole premise of this video in one phrase would be;"Microsoft, Making Technicians and Hobbyists Suffer Since 1993"

[@azmifarhan1257]

What about trying to redo the upgrade from the beginning, starting with NT 3.1/3.5/3.51 but with the directory set to WINDOWS instead of WINNT?

[@kiecash3286]

Try Upgrading to a Longhorn Build (Any Build) and Then Try Upgrading To The RC1 of Vista And Then To The RTM of Vista

[@UAVXP]

When you've created a "WINDOWS" and "Documents and Settings" folders - they are using your user permissions, not the SYSTEM ones. So that's the problem I suppose. And yes, as mentioned in the comments - try to repeat all the process of upgrading, but you should name the first OS folder the C:\WINDOWS folder, not the C:\WINNT one. Also, you should make the SYSTEMROOT envvar not in your User envvars, but in the System ones. And name it not "%systemroot%", but just "systemroot" at least