Believe it or not, I'm having a problem.

I am running Vista Home Premium on a Dell Inspiron E1705, and I had something called "Roxio Creator DE" on the as-received machine. Last night I wanted to make a DVD with some movie files and a ton of pictures, but when I noticed that the "DE edition" didn't have an option for adding a slideshow, I bought the EMC9 upgrade.

I downloaded the ~340-MB upgrade package after purchasing it for $49.99, and saved it to my desktop. I double-click on it, and it does the whole "extracting contents of package," "validating package," etc. thing, and it takes me to an InstallShield Wizard, as expected. It goes through the rest of the process, and it claims to have installed the software on my PC. However... I can't find a capability to launch the program--through an icon or a path--anywhere! I try to open the MyDVD part of the original "Roxio Creator DE," and it is still giving me the advertisement to upgrade to EMC9. I try to create a DVD anyway, and I have no option to add a slideshow.

I've tried to remove DE, reinstall EMC9, remove EMC9 and reinstall EMC9, etc., but nothing seems to be working.

Anyone have any ideas? A pleasant thought? A cold beer?

I like the cold beer part the best.
Do you not have a blue Roxio Home button on your desktop or in your quick search toolbar? Actually, I think you'd have done better to remove the DE version first instead of an upgrade. Less problems that way I feel.
Did you reboot after the install? Go to your c:\programfiles\Roxio folder and open some of the folders and try opening some of the application files and see if any programs start.
I think in the long run, you'll have to do a clean install and making sure you've removed all traces of Roxio and start over.

Uh oh.

I explicitly followed the instructions on the clean install link you provided. I had previously burned a CD-R (ironically, using my Roxio DE software) of the upgrade package I downloaded, so I inserted the disc into my machine. I double-clicked on the upgrade package, it went through all the normal rigamarole, and when it opened the InstallShield Wizard, it popped up a window that said "You must install Roxio Easy Media Creator 9 before installing the content."

So now that I've removed anything and everything Roxio from my PC, that doesn't sound very good. What do I do now?

Sounds to me that you are trying to install the Content program. You do need to use the Program disc first. I believe you should have been given 2 files to download. Check the name of the files you have and use the Program file first, reboot, make sure EMC9 is working then install the Content program.

Bingo. You were right. For some reason I didn't think I needed to download EMC 9 since it was already on my computer; but I did as you said, and everything works fine now. You'd think a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering would know how to do this, huh? Oh well... I'll chalk it up to the fact that I work on semiconductor materials and devices, not on software!

Many thanks, Beerman! Wish I could send you a sixer of a choice amber ale, but it's the thought that counts, right?

It's the simplest things that always get ya! And, thanks for the beer. I'll have a few tonite in your name.

As another engineer I do have to admit I prefer hardware - after all, when you get really cheesed off you can kick hardware

Hi Newbie

I have consulted with the Online Chat today. I have been having the same problems as you have. When I purchased my Dell it had the DE trial version on the puter. Follow the steps that I have listed below.

Uninstall all versions of EMC.
Do the Clean install routine again. Search registry for all Roxio and Sonic entries. Do a search using edit toolbar for any other entries with Roxio and Sonic.

When you get to the instillation step, boot Vista in diagonstic mode. Done in Msconfig. (Start/All Programs/Accessories/Run. Type in msconfig) Resart puter.

Put in CD,
Go to computer select drive CD is in, select "explore" Copy all files to a folder you made on your Desktop.
Open folder, right click on "Setup.exe"and "Run as administrator".
When all files are installed.
Reboot computer You can change back to original configuration in Msconfig at this point.
Test to ensure it is finally working.

Once you are sure that everything works now you can install Contents CD from CD drive.

I have not yet done this process yet, wanted to share first. If it does not work I will come back and let you know.

Good Luck.