Unable to Install x3

[physioz]

I have previously had x2 loaded on my PC. It worked fine but I had heard good things about x3 so I purchased a FULL not upgrade version of VS x3.

(Stupidly?) I uninstalled X2 before installing X3. I am unable to install X3. Shortly after inputting my user name, product key and accepting the 'terms and conditions and at the point where the product should start installing it 'freezes' with the only message being ..'Please wait while we configure DirectX.......
OS: Windows 7 (64bit); I have downloaded and installed latest DirectX from Microsoft.

I have tried installing 5x with using with almost everything off (disabled Norton, Ad-aware, UAC), disconnected internet, tried running MSCONFIG and disabled all non-Microsoft services but I get the same result everytime. Then in despair, I ran system restore to get back to before I had uninstalled X2 and now that won't even work. Next tried cleaning my machine with a variety of utlities and re-installing VSx2 (that won't even install now). At a loss - any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Dave R

[Ken Berry]

How long did you leave the 'configuring DirectX' go until you presumably aborted. From memory, that took a couple of minutes on my machine...

[physioz]

The first time which was the shortest, I waited about 20 minutes. The last attempt was overnight i.e. many hours

[teknisyan]

Hello Dave,

I sent you a private message, please reply with the requested information.

Thanks

[physioz]

Hi Abiel

Thanks but I can't find it - there's nothing in my User Control Panel under private messages or otherwise. I will keep looking as I don't know the ins and out of this forum at all well and it may be that I haven't looked in the right place. If I *really* can't find it, I'll post another message to that effect.

Thanks. Cheers

Dave

[Clevo]

Try right clicking on the set-up icon and "run as Administrator"

[physioz]

Thanks - in conjunction with everything else that simple step seemed to make the difference - although it still took an hour and a half to load and I almost gave up when it got 'stuck' at 38% installed for about 25 minutes. I haven't yet done anything serious but have downloaded SP2 and it appears to be working.

For those who may have similar issues this is the process I went through.
1.Unplugged modem and disabled all security software - primarily Norton 360 in this instance
2. Ran MSCONFIG (Start menu Run etc) and hid all Microsoft services then disabled the rest ("Services" tab). Then clicked the "Startup" tab and disabled all (interestingly though Norton had to be manually unchecked from "Startup" whilst Ad-Aware didn't)
3. Rebooted machine
4. At this point I had previously attempted to install VS Pro x3 by using the autorun facility. Instead, as suggested in the previous post, I right-clicked the appropriate icon after viewing the folders/files on the disc and "ran as an administrator"
-I could see things happening post the initialisation as I got a variety of messages such as "configuring ..C++ 2005", " ...C++ (2008)" etc which I had not seen previously. In addition, during the installation it appeared to freeze at "..wait while we configure DirectX" at which point I began to despair.
5. Re-ran MSCONFIG and enabled all the services again, enabled Norton, plugged in modem re-booted, ran program, installed updated service pack (SP2) and Voila! (here's hoping for the future)

Much appreciation to everybody who posted in an effort to assist me.

Dave R

[Ken Berry]

That's good news! Now you can also install SP3!!!

[teknisyan]

Thanks for the update and telling me that your OK now.

[physioz]

That's good news! Now you can also install SP3!!!

Yeah with everything else going on it may have been SP3 and not SP2 but I'd better check. Cheers