Recently I needed to check which IIS 7 components I had installed or not, and I discovered the dreaded “Turn Windows Features On or Off” “empty window list” bug. You select "Turn Windows Features On or Off" from "Programs and Features", the window comes up, and it's BLANK. Nada!

From the large number of forum posts on this subject, I could see that I had plenty of company.  Unfortunately, although there are at least a half dozen supposed “fixes” -- the only one that really works is to do an Upgrade Repair Installation of the OS – where you upgrade Windows Vista over itself --  off the Windows Vista DVD.

In case you ever have to do this, I thought it would be appropriate to list the steps on how to do it right:

1. Put the Vista DVD into the drive while your existing Vista OS is already up and running. DO NOT boot off the DVD; you cannot do an upgrade repair that way.

2.When Setup.exe has started, click the “Install Now” link. Choose “Do not get the latest updates for installation”. Your upgrade will be faster, and you can always get them later from Windows Update.

3. IMPORTANT: On the next screen, “Type your Product Key for activation”, DO NOT type in a product key. If you type in the product key that you already used to activate your existing installation, you can end up running in Reduced Functionality Mode. REPEAT: DO NOT type in a product key!

• Keep the “Automatically activate Windows when I am online” checkbox UNCHECKED.

4. When prompted “Do you want to enter your Product Key now?”, choose “NO”.

5. Select the edition of Vista that you have from the list, and make sure the “I have selected the edition of Windows that I purchased” checkbox is CHECKED.

6. On the following screen, click on the “UPGRADE” choice (not the “Custom (advanced)” choice).

7. Follow the instructions while Vista is installing. You now have sufficient time to leave and enjoy a nice spaghetti dinner and some wine, or possibly even take in a whole movie.  When done, remove the DVD.

8. Windows deposits leftover and unused files in several folders it creates, like C:\Windows.old, C:\$INPLACE.~TR, and C:\$WINDOWS.~Q.  Check these folders for any personal / user files, which you can copy back if desired.  You can now safely delete these folders (you may have to disable UAC to do this).

9. Activate! Open Control Panel in Classic View, click on the System icon, scroll down, and click on “Activate Windows Now”.  You are done!

In a few cases, your installation will stop at the very end and you’ll be informed that the Windows installation will be rolled back. Windows will restart and begin restoring your original copy. If this happens, there isn’t much you can do except to “Pave” and install a completely fresh copy of Windows Vista.

"Configuring Updates" Endless reboot loop:

If you are stuck watching the "Configuring Updates Stage 3 of 3 0% complete Do not turn off Computer" and in the endless reboot loop, then stop the cycle and boot from the Vista media. You will need to "Repair your computer," so select your Vista installation and restore it to a point before the deployment of the updates. After gaining back access to your operating system, you will have to install the service stack  Update for Windows Vista (KB937287). Deploy this update before any other on your Vista, and only then install the rest. At this point in time, you should experience no more problems.

MIcrosoft says, "Update 937287 is a prerequisite package that contains updates to the Windows Vista installation software. The installation software is the component that handles the installation and the removal of software updates, language packs, optional Windows features, and service packs. Update 937287 is necessary to successfully install and to remove Windows Vista SP1 on all versions of Windows Vista".