Another awkward problem

So after learning a little more about graphics cards, I decided to install the game onto a computer of mine which has a more appropriate setup for it... However I cannot install the game and get a message along the lines of "Cannot install without Windows Vista Service Pack 2"... Problem being that I updated said computer to Windows 7 and when I try using the Service Pack on the computer, it says that Windows 7 cannot run it because it's an update for Windows Vista... So I think the disk reads the computer as Vista (it's initial OS), but the computer is now w7. Any help in the matter would certainly be appreciated.

Use the windows update link from your programs menu to verify that you have the most recent updates for windows 7. Let us know what you find.

No dice... w7 is fully updated but the installation won't recognize my computer as a w7 system, but a Vista one. Perhaps I'm over-looking something, but it seems my only real option at this point is to dust off an Acer Aspire 5100 with XP-SP3 and hope that it's RADEON will be good enough as long as I run nothing save Windows and XIV on it...

Not to get spammy... but is there any way to make my computer verify that it is a Windows 7 so that the installer stops reading it as Vista?

Ah, this is probably because, amusingly, windows 7 and vista have the same version numbers. Vista is (6.0 while 7 is 6.1). It could also just be a small problem with compatibility.

I am currently running windows 7 enterprise x64; Have you been able to install this on you computer before? How long ago? Last time I installed it was right after SP1.

Let me give you a few steps in order from quickest to slowest (i.e. least to most painful):


1. Go into the directory for your DVD (I am assuming you are installing from the DVD, correct?) Right click, and click explore. Go to setup.exe, right-click on it ---> properties ----> compatibility ---> uncheck "run in compatibility mode".

2. Disable User Account Control if you have it enabled. (UAC loves to do screwy things with 3rd party programs). Please re-enable it when you're done, though. Even if it's a pain, it's still a level of security that I somewhat respect. :)

3. Go to SQEnix's help site, check to see if they have any FAQs about this.

4. Roll back your updates so that Windows is at a point before 7 SP1 came out (Last week of Feb, iirc). I don't think that system restore keeps points that early, but you can try going to system restore and check to see if you have any restore points from before Feb 20th, 2011. Otherwise, you'll have to uninstall the service pack manually through Windows update. This might take a while to roll back.

5. Reinstall Windows.

I had this exact same problem installing on a Windows 7 machine recently. Just that first step should solve the issue. For some reason, the latest version of 7 wants to run the FFXIV install in compatibility mode for Windows Vista SP1. You just need to uncheck the box to fix that.