peds wrote:
its like im not here lol
Hi, peds. First, let me explain why I think the problem occurred:
1. You had NIS 2011. You upgraded to the trial version of NIS 2012. You liked the trial version of NIS 2012, so you went out and bought a CD with NIS 2012 on it.
2. You came home, and tried to install from that CD. And things went all sideways. The reason they went all sideways is because the version of NIS on your machine - from the trial - had ALREADY been updated to a version which was newer than what was on the CD. That just doesn't work - because the installer on the CD is not expecting what's on the machine to be newer than what's on the CD.
3. As noted by Huylum, when you buy a CD and you already have a valid copy of NIS for that year running on your machine, all you need to use from the CD is your product key. Once you input the new product key, your NIS subscription info is automatically updated - and the number of days for your subscription is entered into the Symantec Subscription Database. Nothing else is required. Activation completely unlocks all the same features on the Downloaded Version that are present on the CD.
4. Your problem is caused by a three-way-interaction between NIS 2011, the NIS 2012 download, and the subsequent installation of the older copy of NIS 2011 from the CD. When you upgraded from NIS 2011 to NIS 2012 from the download, one of the options there is to migrate your existing 2011 configuration to 2012. Most of the time, this works well. Sometimes, the migration process leaves behind "stuff" in the Windows Registry that causes problems with subsequent removals/reinstalls and/or upgrades of NIS. This is the reason the NRT has the option to completely remove configuration info as well as completely remove the program - because Symantec know the migration process doesn't always work correctly.
5. So, what is necessary in your case is to completely remove your existing fouled-up NIS 2012 installation using the NRT, ensuring you erase all its existing (and corrupt) configuration data as well. Then you need to reinstall your NIS 2011 - so that if there are "mortal remains" of the old Registry info for your 2011 installation - the reinstallation of NIS 2011 can "link up" with those "mortal remains" and establish a working installation of NIS 2011. Then you need to completely uninstall the working copy of NIS 2011 using the NRT - again ensuring you erase all the existing configuration data.
Note: Whether your NIS 2011 configuration info is good or not is irrelevant. You have problems when using NIS 2012 with corrupt configuration info from your current NIS 2012 or with pre-existing configuration info from NIS 2011. So, you're going to have to abandon your existing configuration and rebuild it from scratch - to ensure you have a "clean" installation of NIS 2012 that doesn't get corrupted by any wonky "mortal remains" from your old NIS 2011 installation.
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Removal/Reinstall procedure is as follows:
1. You will need a fresh copy of the NRT. Go to the following website to get it: http://www.norton.com/nrt
2. You will also need a fresh copy of NIS 2011. Go to the following website to get it: http://www.norton.com/nis11
Save both files to your desktop.
Uninstall your existing corrupt installation of NIS 2012 as follows:
1. Completely uninstall NIS from Add/Remove Programs first. Reboot once you have done so.
2. Confirm that the Windows firewall is operational
3. Click on the NRT file on your desktop. Follow the instructions. Be sure to select a complete uninstall - do not save your existing configuration data. Allow the NRT to complete its operations. Reboot.
4. Run the NRT again. Follow the instructions. Select a complete uninstall. This time, the NRT should not automatically ask for a reboot. Reboot anyways.
5. Run the NRT again. Follow the instructions. Select a complete uninstall. Again, the NRT should not automatically ask for a reboot. Reboot anyways.
6. You need to have two successive runs of the NRT - in complete uninstall mode - where the NRT does not ask for a reboot. You keep running the NRT until you get those two runs. At the end of the two runs, reboot again to ensure that all pending operations have completed before you move to the next step.
7. Since we already know that removal/reinstall of the 2012 version isn't going to work for you, we are going to go back to the 2011 version and see what happens. Double-Click on the NIS 2011 file. Allow it to unpack itself, suitable for installation. Install the program when prompted.
8. Once the 2011 version is installed, if it asks you for a product key, use the one from your 2012 disk. Do not use your 2012 product key unless NIS 2011 demands it.
Note: Your NIS 2012 product key is automatically valid for older versions. All you want to do here is establish whether or not the 2011 version is running properly for you. If so, you've at least got something working again. If not, that tells us something as well.
9. IF the 2011 version is working properly, run Live Update over and over again, rebooting as directed, until Live Update tells you that NIS is completely up-to-date. Test and confirm that the completely-updated version of NIS 2011 is working normally.
Once you have confirmed a stable installation of NIS 2011, you have two options. You can stay with 2011 - or you can upgrade to NIS 2012. If you want to stay with NIS 2011 - and you haven't yet had NIS 2011 ask for your Product Key - then click on the "Express Renewal" button on the NIS Control Panel and put your NIS 2012 key into the box where requested. With the key in place, follow the rest of the instructions to go through the activation procedure. Once NIS 2011 is activated, you are good to go.
10. Call Symantec and have the Tech Support people guide you through the process of removing the installation folders for NIS 2011 (you don't need them anymore). If you are not going to upgrade to NIS 2012, you can also delete the NRT executable. (You don't keep this one, because it gets updated when new versions of Norton programs are released. When you need the NRT, always download fresh.) You may wish to keep the NIS 2011 executable in a safe place (because it won't be updated anymore) so you don't need to redownload it if you ever need to reinstall NIS 2011 again.
IF you decide to upgrade to the 2012 version:
1. You have to go through the same procedure we just went through above - to clean out the freshly-installed and validated copy of NIS 2011. You uninstall NIS 2011 from Add/Remove Programs, Run the NRT as many times as is necessary to completely clean out the 2011 version, and then install the 2012 version FROM A DOWNLOAD, NOT FROM THE CD.
2. To obtain the NIS 2012 download, go to the following website: http://www.norton.com/nis12
3. Save the downloaded file to your desktop. Do not do anything with the file. Just download and save it for now.
4. Uninstall NIS 2011, as per Items 1 through 6 in the previous section. Once you have done so, you should have a "clean" system - with no "mortal remains" of NIS 2011 - suitable for a fresh install of NIS 2012.
5. Double-Click on the NIS 2012 download on your desktop. Allow it to unpack itself, suitable for installation. Install the program when prompted.
6. Once the 2012 version is installed, it will probably ask you for a product key. Use your product key from your NIS 2012 CD. Test to see if NIS 2012 is working properly now. If so, run Live Update again, as many times as is necessary - rebooting as directed - until NIS 2012 tells you it is completely up-to-date. There are some big downloads, including some compatibility bugfixes for the latest browsers as well as NIS 2012 performance improvements. Once the updates are complete, check your version number by opening the NIS 2012 Control Panel, clicking on "Help & Support" and clicking the "About" item in the dialog box that opens when you click on "Help & Support. The NIS12 download will have installed NIS 2011 Version 19.1.x.x The updated version from Live Update should be 19.2.0.10 or later.
7. If things are running properly, and you haven't been asked to put in your Product Key, use the same procedure as detailed in Item 9 of the previous section to Activate your copy of NIS 2012. If you use the Identity Safe feature, you can restore your Vault (your Identity Safe info) from your Norton Account - or from your saved backup of your Identity Safe info - if you were able to save that info before things went all sideways in the first place. If you don't have that info, you're going to have to rebuild the info manually by logging into those sites and putting in the username/password info and allowing NIS to store the info for later reuse. Once you have the Identity Safe info rebuilt, be sure to back up your Identity Safe info to your Norton Account - so that no matter what befalls you in future, you have a copy of that info in your Vault. You are then bulletproofed against catastrophe - so that if there is ever a problem with your NIS configuration again in the future - you can fix the problem and restore from your Vault without losing your Identity Safe info.
8. Hopefully, the above will get you a working system again. If this procedure seems too complex for you, get Symantec Technical Support to refer to this post - and then log into your system and at least download the files you need and save them to the desktop - as well as start the NRT procedure for a "full pull" cleanup of your existing NIS 2012 installation. You are going to want to have Tech Support on voice phone with you - because you have to reboot so many times to do this properly - and you are going to have to go through the procedure to allow them to remotely log into your system each time you have to reboot - so they can then perform the next step in the procedure.
9. Once everything is working, get Symantec to help you remove the installation folders for NIS 2012. You also want Symantec to check your installation record in your Norton Account. Because of the problems you've had, the count may be 2 or 3, even though you only have 1 copy of NIS 2012 installed. Have Symantec reset your installation count as necessary to reflect your true install count.
I know this seems like a lot of work. But installing an older version of Internet Explorer over top of a newer version produces just as much of a mess - and is an even worse problem to clean up because there is no NRT for Internet Explorer.
From now on, please ensure that you get clarification for how to do an upgrade of NIS before you act. There are right ways and wrong ways to upgrade. Your assumption that the CD is "better" than the download is what got you into trouble in the first place.
Hope this helps.
