Windows 8 installer: Something Happened

Question

My school provides Windows 8 through MSDN. My system specs seem to fit the minimum system requirements for Windows 8. I ran the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant, and it seems to indicate that my computer is compatible with Windows 8 (Screenshots).

When I run the Windows 8 installer, it says:

What can I do? I tried running the installer by booting from the Windows 8 installation DVD, but it just says to upgrade by booting Windows normally and then using the Setup program on disc.

I tried booting into Windows 7 Safe Mode and running the Windows 8 installer from there, but it shows the same error: Something happened. We can't tell if your PC is ready to continue installing Windows 8. Try restarting Setup.

Specs:

systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"
OS Name:                   Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
OS Version:                6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601

systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"System Manufacturer" /C:"System Model"
System Manufacturer:       Apple Inc.
System Model:              MacBookPro5,5

Error log from compmgmt.msc:

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
  <Provider Name="Windows Error Reporting" /> 
  <EventID Qualifiers="0">1001</EventID> 
  <Level>4</Level> 
  <Task>0</Task> 
  <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> 
  <TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-10-28T23:20:20.000000000Z" /> 
  <EventRecordID>29707</EventRecordID> 
  <Channel>Application</Channel> 
  <Computer>Frootmig</Computer> 
  <Security /> 
  </System>
- <EventData>
  <Data /> 
  <Data>0</Data> 
  <Data>WindowsUpdateFailure</Data> 
  <Data>Not available</Data> 
  <Data>0</Data> 
  <Data>7.6.7600.256</Data> 
  <Data>80246008</Data> 
  <Data>07A0AFFA-CAC8-4D8B-B916-95289BEF9AC5</Data> 
  <Data>Download</Data> 
  <Data>101</Data> 
  <Data>Unmanaged</Data> 
  <Data /> 
  <Data /> 
  <Data /> 
  <Data /> 
  <Data /> 
  <Data /> 
  <Data /> 
  <Data>0</Data> 
  <Data>0a38d140-2156-11e2-85ed-a3ac06a57d49</Data> 
  <Data>0</Data> 
  </EventData>
  </Event>

I used sha1sum to verify the ISO. Yep, it matches:

1ce53ad5f60419cf04a715cf3233f247e48beec4

Also posted in Microsoft Community.

Solution 1

I burned the ISO again, using Mac's Disk Utility.app and verifying the data before ejecting. If you don't have Mac OS X, you can use an ISO burning program in Linux. For some reason, Windows is not good at burning ISOs correctly.

Solution 2

Run Microsoft windows Update Assistant. Check the non compatiable applications and devices. Try fixing the problems till you get all the applications are compatiable

Comments

[tr4656]

Try disabling any security software before installing.

[mcandre]

No security software is running. Same problem.

[mcandre]

AntiVirus is not running. I am electing to restart from the beginning each time.

[mcandre]

I booted in Safe Mode and started upgrading from the beginning. Same error.

[slhck]

Seems somebody was on a downvoting spree. Have a +1. I mean, this is the solution to your problem, so it should be useful to others as well.