Hello.  I've been trying to install Sonar X3 for the first time and every time when it gets about two thirds of the way through and says its extracting files the system reboots with no warning.  Then I have to start all over.  The install appears to almost stop before it reboots.  I'm running Windows 7 (64 bit) on a Dell Precision i7 with 16 Gb of memory.  I have Symantec virus turned off and I even tried uninstalling the virus protection to make sure it wasn't interfering, but no luck.  I also tried both 32 and 64 bit installations, but same problem.  I have administrator privileges on this computer but I do need to use an admin password when installing software since it is a "managed" computer.  Any suggestions on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

Welcome....
 
The issue will be Windows and not Sonar I suspect.
Please make sure the install files are on your C drive.
Do you have enough disk space?
Try running the install by right clicking the file and then click "Run As Administrator".
Are you installing to the default file locations?
Also what do you mean by a  "managed" computer?
 
How does it reboot, is this a Blue Screen Of Death? What does it say in the Windows Event Viewer?
 
Otherwise for the time being I suggest running chkdsk first followed by Windows update. Also please make sure your sound card drivers are up to date (for starters).
 
Hope this helps...

Thanks, I'll try the things you suggested.  Plenty of disc space (>300 Gb) and I'm installing in the default location on C drive. Not the blue screen of death...it reboots just like you clicked on restart but with no warning.  When I say managed I mean it is a university computer and that there are different levels of administrator privileges.  One needs administrator privileges to install software and I have those privileges but don't have the ability to alter certain aspects of the system like changing certain security settings.  Nevertheless, I have installed lot's of other programs with no problems.  This may be a Windows problems, but if so, it appears to be specific to Sonar since other installations work fine (including removing and re-installing Symantec today).  I'm not seeing anything in the Event Viewer indicating a reboot, but then I'm not sure what I am looking for either.
 

Is it possible you still have the included Windows antivirus software running?  If so, please suspend it and try again.
 
Also, concur on making sure you use the explicit Run As Administrator option to launch the installer, rather than just using an account that has Admin privileges.
 
The above would be my first guesses, 
 
Bob Bone
 

... and if that doesn't work you will need to get a sysadmin to log you in as a Full Administrator on your desktop (even though you may have installed other software in the past). Sonar may still be denied access to the areas of the registry (or disk) it needs to write to.
 
BTW to avoid confusion, there is only one administrator privilege in Windows. "Administrator" actually means you are a superuser (god) of your machine and you are not restricted in any way.
 
You appear not to be an administrator, but you do have permissions which lay in the middle of being a normal user and actually being an administrator. Probably "manager" or something.
 
Cheers

You could actually be getting a critical error that is causing the system to auto-restart.  Make sure the following setting is disabled (that the box is unchecked):
 
Control Panel-System-Advanced System Settings-Startup and Recovery-Settings-Automatically Restart
 
If the box is already unchecked, I would next suspect that your system is overheating... Check the air flow -- that the vents aren't clogged with dust.  If you see evidence of this, you may need to remove the side panel and vacuum the cpu/fan as well. 
 
Or, if this is a laptop - in addition to checking for dust - make sure the bottom vents aren't blocked (Keep it on a table or desk top - not on a bed or carpet).

CakeAlexS
... and if that doesn't work you will need to get a sysadmin to log you in as a Full Administrator on your desktop (even though you may have installed other software in the past). Sonar may still be denied access to the areas of the registry (or disk) it needs to write to.
 
BTW to avoid confusion, there is only one administrator privilege in Windows. "Administrator" actually means you are a superuser (god) of your machine and you are not restricted in any way.
 
You appear not to be an administrator, but you do have permissions which lay in the middle of being a normal user and actually being an administrator. Probably "manager" or something.
 
Cheers

Regarding Windows 7 Administrator priviliges - I think confusion remains about Administrator - To the best of my knowledge, there are differences between a user account being assigned Administrator account type and program execution privileges.
 
When signed on to Windows 7 with an account that is set to have Administrator privileges, there is an additional token created - a program execution token - that is given a more basic set of privileges.  This is part of UAC.
 
This is one reason that when launching the Sonar installer, that it should be EXPLICITLY set to launch with Run As Administrator, in order to get the full set of EXECUTION privileges needed for a proper installation.
 
You can cause the launch of the Sonar installer with Run As Administrator by either right-clicking on the launch icon, then clicking on Run As Administrator, or you can right-click on the launch icon, then click on properties, then click on advanced, then click on Run As Administrator, then click Apply, and this will then ALWAYS launch the installer with Run As Administrator.
 
Bob Bone
 
 

There is a specific problem with the X3 installer on Windows 7 that relates to one of the C++ libraries being loaded that the X3 installer is trying to replace.  If you have Gobbler (one of the programs that forces the C++ library to load) it will just reboot without notice.  If you run as a full administrator you will get a prompt that the machine is about to reboot that you can cancel the reboot and continue the install.
 
You must be logged in as an administrator to get the prompt.
Glen

Thanks for all the helpful comments!  But alas, I still can't get it to install properly.  I am right clicking on the X3 setup.exe icon on the DVD and selecting "Run as Administrator."   I give it the admin password and install from there. However, I think the way it is set up is I'm a user with some admin privileges, but I do not have full admin privileges so it is possible that the problem with X3 installer mentioned by Glen is what is happening and I'm not getting the message to continue without reboot.  The way this is set up I have to give it the admin password every time I do something that requires admin privileges, even if it's just 10 seconds later; so it is not like I can log in as admin and have full privileges until I log out.  I did check the "restart" box mentioned by JonD and it was unchecked.  Also, it does not appear to be overheating.  The laptop is not hot to the touch and the vents are clear.  The computer goes quiet for two or three minutes before rebooting and the install seems to stop with just the "extracting files" message showing, like the installer is frozen.  This consistently happens about 22 minutes into the installation, after it has gone through the C++ files.  I tried installing in advanced mode with just the program option checked and that also failed.  Our IT folks won't be available for over a week but I will check with them if I haven't solved it by then.  In the meantime I'll try the disc on a home computer to make sure the problem isn't with the disc.  Thanks again.

xycon
This consistently happens about 22 minutes into the installation, after it has gone through the C++ files.  I tried installing in advanced mode with just the program option checked and that also failed.

This sounds exactly like the issue I mentioned before.  You might try killing any other background programs (Gobbler, Jing, Skype, Quicktime, etc) before starting the install.  Also, are you installing from CD or from the download?  This may have been fixed in the download version, but is known to happen with the CD media.
Glen