I just got my X2 upgrade yesterday afternoon. The download took until 1:30 this morning! It went well on IE 8. I guess. I haven't installed it yet. A couple of questions!
I know about the adding the .exe extension but there are some areas where I am afraid I am getting confused.  1-The updated mastering plugs-Delete or just let the installation write over them?
2-Would I be better off just biting the bullet and un-installing all previous versions of Sonar to avoid scattering installations all over the place?
It doesn't seem like the bakers are going to cook anymore patch fixes for X1. It seems sort of useless to keep these older versions on my drive if I am never going to use them again.
3-Are the loops and one shots the same versions as in the previous Sonar installation?
4-Is there still a problem with installing the additional content if you are custom installing because I never did get the content loaded because of my already upgraded version of Dim Pro 1.5 in X1!
I'm just trying to get a clear understanding of what should get installed and what not to install if I choose to keep the older versions of Sonar.
I have had no problems with X1 other than the usual ones when it was first installed. It is running so well that I am afraid to tinker with it at all. My gut tells me don't touch anything but be careful about this installation. I have been reading in this forum about X1 not working as well after X2 has been installed next to it. Could we please have a definitive set of instructions of how to install if you have previous versions of Sonar already. As well as Dimension Pro and Rapture LE! It seems I remember there being an issue where you had to un-install Rapture LE as well to get Rapture full version to install right. Is this correct?
I am using these programs in a working studio day to day. I just can't afford right now to be down for a couple of days or weeks ironing out issues with my installation going awry. I know that a lot of this info is scattered all over the forum. Is there anyway someone could assemble these pieces of advice and put them in one thread. I believe it would be very helpful. Thanks for everyone's patience and help.

the loops and one shots is all new..a huge addition and massive improvement.., dont bother installing dimpro 1.5 as you already have it..

did i read that the loops & one-shots includes the previously-beatscape content, in which case it's not all new? did anyone diff the files from x1 versus x2 yet?

That was one of my questions. I have Beatscape and all the other plugs installed in X!. Is the loops and one shots the same?

Hi, Sidroe, I'm having the same doubts as you.  I posted in this thread (http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?high=&m=2666614&mpage=1) but, till now, no good answer. This is a copy of what I posted on sunday:
 
Before installing X2, I've been reading the forum's posts but still various things aren't clear for me. For example:
 
1) If we don't uninstall X1, will we gonna stay with the two DAWs, X1 and X2, in the system in a way that we can open one or the other?
 
2) What is gonna happen with all the installed plugins and updates such as ProChannel Concrete Limiter, PC4K S-Type Expander Gate, PC4K S-Type Channel Compressor, PC2A T-Type Leveling Amplifier and Z3TA+2.1? The X2 installation is going to recognize all of them or will we have to do their reinstallation? And if it's the case, are we gonna have all of them duplicated, assuming that we leave X1 installed?
 
3) After the answer of 1 and 2 items, If I decide to uninstall X1 and do a clean install of X2 from scratch, meaning that I'm going to delete all the entries of X1, plugins, DP 1.5, Z3TA+2.1, Guitar Rig 4, etc. (although it's a huge work) and reinstall everything so that I can have only a complete X2 (For me there's no advantage having two DAWs if I won't use the old one), will I be able to install Beatscape or is it incompatible with X2? If so, can I use its library? I apreciate if you can give me some help in a way that I stay with things organized in my system, I'm not keen of having X1 and X2 together but if it's the ideal situation I'll accept. If you have some more useful tips before I start installing X2, please, I'll apreciate.
 
Of course, we need some more deep instructions about the migration to X2!

I'm not a big fan of letting the installer just overwrite all those plugs. What I read in bits and pieces all over the forum is if you have X1 Expanded and the updated version of Dim Pro and have not yet installed full version Rapture the key is to just custom install X2 alongside of X1,8.5, etc. It should go without too much problem. My understanding is that the new features like R-Mix, the updated LP plugs, and console emulators cause problems with X1! That is my concern about should I just wipe all the old versions out and clean install X2! Like I said before, my studio is my paycheck and I want to have all my ducks in a row about the installation. I can't afford to be down for any length of time sorting out what went wrong with my install. Depending on how buggy X2 is, it might be easier to deal with just clean installing X2 with bugs than to create major problems getting it to play nice with X1!

BTW, if you uninstall everything you have to re-install all your plugs again! Some of them you can just move to the VST folder and they work fine. The more complicated ones such as Superior Drummer, Garritan, GTR, Amplitube, etc. will most probably have to be re-installed from scratch. That is what I am trying to avoid!

I've just got this reply by Cakewalk:
 
"There are no problems with installing X2 on top of X1, and yes, you'll have both versions available. X2 Producer is already "expanded" and will automatically migrate any ProChannel modules you have installed for X1 Expanded. You will not need to install the Dimension Pro included with X2 as you already have Dimension v1.5 from X1. Guitar Rig has a separate uninstaller and will remain if you uninstall SONAR. Beatscape will run just fine in SONAR X2, however as it is not part of the X2 installer, you would need to reload this from X1 if desired.
If you wish to do a full clean install of everything at any point, you can follow these instructions:
To completely wipe out all of your Cakewalk programs try the following:
1) Completely un-install all Cakewalk programs from your computer. This is normally done from Start | Programs | Cakewalk. This will not remove any of your project files or audio data.
2) Next you will want to open the Run Command
  a) In Windows XP this can be done by going to Start | Run
  b) In Windows Vista\7 this can be done by holding down the ‘windows’ key and pressing ‘r’
3) At the prompt type regedit and click [OK].
***Backup your Registry before making edits - you do this by clicking the File menu, Export Registry File.
4) After backing up your Registry, you will want to delete the following registry keys. Delete the last folder in the chain of these keys by right-clicking on them and selecting "delete". If you do not have some of the registry keys below, it is okay simply proceed to the next one on the list. Here are the keys to look for:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Cakewalk Music Software
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Cakewalk Music Software
*Please note that this will remove any effects presets and key bindings you may have made in Cakewalk. You can back these up separately if you like, using Options|Key Bindings, Tools|SONAR Plug-in Manager, and Options|Colors. Hit F1 in these views for detailed instructions on how to do this.
5) Open the 'Run' command again.
6) Copy and paste the following into the prompt:
%appdata%
7) This will open your Application Data folder, right-click on the Cakewalk folder and choose ‘Delete’.
8) Navigate to the following directories and delete their contents:
C:\Program Files\Cakewalk
C:\Program File (x86)\Cakewalk
9) Open the 'Run' command again and type msconfig Click [OK] and then click on the Startup tab at the upper right of the window that opens.
10) Uncheck all items listed, click [OK], then restart your computer. You can always recheck those items again at a later time.
11) At this point you can reinstall your Cakewalk programs."
 
It doesn't answer all the questions but it's a start, I asked for the loops and one shots and I'm waiting for the reply. I'll post here when it's available for me.

It is probably just me and my weird style of music, but I never found anything usable in the free One Shot or Loop folders.

I've just received the reply from Cakewalk about Loops & One shots:
 
"The Loops and One shots does contain the raw loops of the Beatscape Library among other things. If you already have Beatscape installed, then you do not need to remove the current install of it, X2 will see it just fine. Beatscape, Dimension, and Guitar Rig, all have separate installers/uninstallers from SONAR X1, and if you simply uninstall X1, they will remain intact and X2 will still have access to them as is."
 
Hope it helps!