I have read and understood the instructions in the sticky threads, however I do not want to reinstall or reconfigure all of my apps, so upgrade is the only path.

I burned an ISO of the latest image onto a FAT 32 formatted 8 GB USB Key.

When I boot from it, I get to the Windows logo on a black screen, then installation hangs.

When I try to upgrade from the files on the USB key, installation gets to 80%, then I get a dialog telling me "Installation of Windows 8 has failed." No error code. Clicking OK dismisses the dialog and the install window.

When I copy the files from my flash drive onto my boot hard disk and try to upgrade from there, I get exactly the same result.

In the two cases where I have the option, I check the "download from the internet" box. I have a working internet connection.

The checksum on the downloaded ISO matches what's shown on the site. I used the Windows 7 DVD Tool to write the ISO to the flash drive. I used the correct Product Key from the download site.

How do I proceeed, given that a clean install is not an option? Thanks for your time.

This is NOT Win 8 Pro. That has NOT been released yet. The release date is October 26th. You are trying to upgrade to Win 8 RP and as we have stated repeatedly, there IS NO UPGRADE PATH to Win 8 RP.

The ONLY option using Win 8 RP is a Clean Install.

If you wait until October 26th, there will be an upgrade path from Win 7 to Win 8 Pro.

You also should format the Flash Drive to NTFS rather than FAT 32.

Understood. Thanks.

You are welcome. Please come back often to add to the discussions.