I decided to install Vista Service Pace 2.  The install was proceeding smoothly until my machine rebooted and came up with a black screen with scrolling information.  It then appeared to get stuck trying do some work on the registry:  0xc01a001d 17532/46599 (\Registry\Machine\Components\DerivedData...).  The install instructions said not to reboot your computer during the upgrade process.  So, I left the machine alone and came back awhile later, figuring the install should be finished by then.  Wrong!  The machine was dead.  Cycled power and the boot process came up with a screen advising me to repair my system.  I ignore it and try to boot up my PC.  It gets stuck on the same black screen described above.

 I reboot again, this time I take the machine’s advice and I begin the Startup Repair process.  About 90 minutes later, the repair process is still running.  Mind you, there is no diagnostic information to let you know how far along you are in the repair process!  After checking the web and reading about the same problem, I decide to cancel the repair.  I then hit the Cancel button in Startup Repair dialog box.  I get the following message: “The current repair operation cannot be cancelled.”  Unbelievable!

I cycle power again, and when rebooting, I press on the F8 key in order to start up Vista in Safe Mode.  I want to boot up in Safe Mode, so I can do a System Restore; however, the machine will not boot up in Safe Mode.  It got stuck on loading drivers.  The last driver loaded was \Windows\system32\drivers\crcdisk.sys.

I cycle power again and press the F8 button.  One of the options the boot screen has is a “Repair Your Computer” option.  I select it and I come to the System Recovery Tools screen.  One of the tools is a System Restore.  Yeah!  I start the restore and select my restore point.  (The Vista Service Pack 2 install was smart enough to create a restore point before proceeding with the install.)  About 60 minutes later the System Restore is stuck on “Finalizing File Restore….”  There is no hard disk drive activity.  Again, absolutely no diagnostic information to let you know how far along you are in the Finalizing File Restore process, or how much longer it will take, or what it is doing.

So let us recap what has transpired:

1)      The Vista Service Pack 2 install failed

2)      The Startup Repair process failed

3)      Trying to boot in Safe Mode failed

4)      The System Restore failed (except for hardware errors, the System Restore should be bullet proof!)

5)      I spent 8 hours trying to fix

Fortunately, after much searching, I came across a fix.  Here is the link: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/itprovistasp/thread/4491fe25-be44-430e-a384-fb58c5da5ad0/  It is a long thread, but towards the end Arun (go to entry Thursday, May 21, 2009, Mike_jane user name) provides the fix.  It is a “manual” restore done by getting to a command prompt and copying files from the C:\windows\system32\config\Regback directory to the C:\windows\system32\config directory.  

I cycle power, press the F8 button, and select the “Repair Your Computer” option.  I select the “Command Prompt” option and the command window appears.

Here are the commands from the article to enter.  They are copied from the SpecialJ entry, Saturday, July 25 2009.

type in;
cd /d C:\Windows\System32 \Config

(enter)
this should now show

Windows\System32\Config:

then type the following, hitting enter after every line

cd windows\system32\config
ren default default.old
ren sam sam.old
ren security security.old
ren software software.old
ren system system.old
cd regback
copy default c:\windows\system32\config
copy sam c:\windows\system32\config
copy security c:\windows\system32\config
copy software c:\windows\system32\config
copy system c:\windows\system32\config

Note: I did the above steps a little differently.  I renamed the files in the c:\windows\system32\config directory to *.old20090804.  I then copied the *.old entries from the Regback directory into the c:\windows\system32\config directory because their timestamps were just before the Service Pack Install was attempted.  I then removed the .old extension from those files in the c:\windows\system32\config directory.

I then exited the command window and shutdown the computer.  I pressed the power button to restart my PC.  The PC tried to install the Service Pack upgrade again, but failed.  I received the message "Service Pack did not install. Reverting the changes."   The PC automatically rebooted again, and tried to install the Service Pack again, but quickly rebooted, and I was finally back to my login prompt.  The whole process took about 30 minutes.  Many thanks to Arun and SpecialJ!

Enough with Vista Service Pack 2!  I will wait for Windows 7.

If you do try to upgrade to Vista Service Pack 2, I recommend taking the following steps beforehand:

1)      Backup your disk drive

2)      If you have a registry cleaner/repair tool, run it.

3)      Turn off your anti-virus software

I WILL look at Apple machines before my next computer purchase!

Recently, I have been seeing an Apple commercial on TV that rags on Vista.   I am starting to think Apple may have a legitimate point.

I go and insert a CD into my DVD/CD drive.  I open my Windows Explorer and I do not see my DVD/CD-ROM drive. Ok, what is going on. I have not installed any new hardware or added or removed any programs recently (other than Vista updates).  I proceed to Control Panel->Hardware and Sound->Device Manger->DVD/CD-ROM drives.  Sure enough, there was an error icon on top of the drive.  I select properties and see the following message:

Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)

OK, there is a button to click on to help solve the problem.  I click on the button--totally useless.   I then resort to Googling on the error message and came up with the following fix: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314060  (use Method Two), which involved deleting two entries from the registry and rebooting my PC.  The fix worked and I was able to see my DVD/CD-ROM drives.

We are now almost half-way through 2008, and I am working with an OS that

1. Does not notify me that a critical hardware device is not working.
2. Provides no immediate help to fix the problem.
3. Requires me to perform an arcane maneuver to fix the problem. 

I believe Vista is a big improvement over XP; however, a basic problem like I described above should not be happening.

I was doing some maintenance on my laptop this week, and one of my tools suggested creating a Password Reset Disk.  I did not know the feature even existed.  Anyway, it seems like a good idea.  It is simple to do, and you can use multiple types of media (SD Disk, Thumb Drive, CD, etc.) to store the file that is created: userkey.psw.  Here are a few links that show you how to create and use the Password Reset Disk.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930381

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/102005-reset-user-account-password.html  (See Method Four)

John

Last week I noticed high processor usage on my laptop.   (I was using Process Explorer http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx to monitor my system.)  The culprit was an application called TrustedInstaller.exe.   I did some research and found a page on Scott Hanselman’s  blog  that described a similar situation: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/MSMPENGEXETrustedInstallerexeSearchIndexerAndSLSVCEXEAt100CPUOnMyVistaMachines.aspx.   It suggested upgrading to Vista Service Pack 1 to fix the problem.

Ok, I go to upgrade: Control Panel->Security->Check for Updates, and I find no SP1 upgrade.  What is the deal?   After doing some more research, it turns out that one of my optional updates that I had not installed was not so optional.   I needed to upgrade my Conexant HD Audio driver.  Here is the link where I found that information:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948343.   I installed the Conexant HD Audio driver, and still no sign of SP1 when I check for updates.  I then install all of the remaining optional Windows Vista updates (not the Windows Ultimate Extras and not the Windows Vista Ultimate Language Packs) and restart my laptop.  I check for updates again and FINALLY the SP1 upgrade appears.  An hour later, Vista Service Pack 1 is successfully installed on my PC.  

I do some more research and find that I need to start the World Wide Web Publishing service.  For some reason, it is not started.  That fixed the debugging problem in the Visual Studio 2008 IDE.   Here is the link where I found that information:  http://forums.asp.net/p/1235884/2302214.aspx#2302214

To date, I have not had any other issues with Vista SP1, and it did seem to fix the problem with the TrustedInstaller.exe application consuming enormous amounts of CPU time. 

John