When I try to upgrade an earlier version of Windows to Windows Vista, I receive an error message: "Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration"

When you try to upgrade an earlier version of a Microsoft Windows operating system to Windows Vista, you receive the following error message: Windows Vista creates a file that is named drive:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\setupact.log. If you examine the contents of the file, you notice the following information: In this log entry, GLE error code 50 corresponds to the following error message: Note Generally, drive is drive C on the computer. However, Windows Vista creates the temporary installation folder, depending on many factors. Therefore, this drive may be any supported drive that Windows Vista detects.

This article helps you fix this problem.

To have us fix this problem for you, go to the "Fix it for me" section. If you’d rather fix this problem yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section.

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard.

Fix this problem
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Note This wizard may be in English only; however, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.

Note If you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or a CD so that you can run it on the computer that has the problem.

Now go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.

To fix this problem, you must change the registry. To do this, go to the "To change the registry" section. If for some reason you cannot change the registry, go to the "To work around the problem" section.

To change the registry

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
This problem may occur if the UpperFilters registry entry has become corrupted or if it is set to a blank value. Certain programs that may be installed on the computer may have changed this registry entry.

This registry entry is located in the following location: This registry entry has the following values: To resolve this problem, restore the default value for the UpperFilters registry entry, and then restart the computer. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start
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   , click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
3. In the details pane, right-click UpperFilters, and then click Modify.
4. In the Value data box, type PartMgr, and then click OK.
5. Close Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.
6. Insert the Windows Vista DVD, and then upgrade the computer to Windows Vista.

To work around the problem

To work around this problem, use the Windows Vista DVD to start the computer, and then perform a new installation of Windows Vista.

Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this article. If the problem is not fixed, you can contact support (http://support.microsoft.com/contactus) .