One thing I realized I forgot to do was make a system image saved to my E drive. I should probably do that before going any further. This might take a while. If you don't know how to do this... in Win7 go to Start > Control Panel > Back Up and Restore. There you can back up all your files or create a system image that saves an exact duplicate of your current system settings, drivers, programs, files, etc. That way if something screws up you can just load the image and your computer will be exactly the way it was when you created the image. However it takes a LOT of disc space to do this. The image I am currently making is over 160GB and I really don't have much on this system. Fortunately I have 1TB E drive (internal) so there's room. It is usually preferable to send the image to an external drive but I don't have one yet. Just thought I'd mention it. The Windows help files have more detailed instructions and there are tons of vids on youtube doing it with Windows back up and various other programs such as Norton Ghost, Acronis or Macrium Reflect (Macrium has a free version).

@synkro... I actually downloaded it to my laptop a few days ago but thanks. I should dig up the link to the download page for that. And yeah... Norton pretty much sucks and drags your system down. The only pure AVs I use are Avast and MSE. The rest are garbage although I've heard good things about the paid version of Kapersky. I do however have other secondary malware and spybot removal tools to compliment my AVs. A little off topic but I gotta wait for my image to finish. It's a third of the way done. Pretty quick actually. Cheers.

Alright. The back up is complete and I've read the Installation section of the User guide. It pretty much says all the same stuff the other documents said except they mention that you need your Serial numbers and Registration codes. I doubt many people have bought X2 from a store yet but if you did they should be on the disc envelopes (if you ordered the disc box for your upgrade from Cake though you need to get them from your store account or the email they sent you... the box won't have them). I did the download upgrade so my SN and Reg codes are in my email and store account. I have them at the ready. So NOW I can install.

I navigate back to the X2 folder on my desktop > right click 02_Sonar_X2_Producer.part1 > Run As Administrator (it is not showing the .exe extension but I was informed by one of the Bakers in another thread that in my case because I downloaded with Firefox they were just hidden and not stripped out like what happened to some people who used IE... we shall see). Okay... it is now extracting the Setup Bins (whatever that is).

Alright... that took about ten minutes and now I have a pop up asking me to "Select the language to use during installation" with options for Deutsch, English, Espanol, Francais and Italiano. I obviously want English so I click "OK". Now a get a new pop up "Welcome to the SONAR X2 Producer Setup Wizard" Hooray! It prompts me to close all other applications. Click "Next" and now it's asking if I want the 32 bit or 64 bit application. I want the 64 bit one. Click Next. "Previous Cakewalk Product Detected" and it's telling me shared paths already been defined by a previous installation, uninstalling the previous product may require reinstallation of my Cakewalk plug ins. I am going to be running X2 alongside X1 for a while so I don't have to worry about this. It is also saying if I previously had a 32 bit version installed and I am installing a 64 bit version I may need to add an additional VST scan path to use my 32 bit plug ins. My X1 installation was 64 bit so again I don't need to worry about this. Click Next. Now I have the Software License Agreement page. I check off the appropriate portions (I can only install and use the software on one machine at a time, I understand I cannot transfer or sell the software and I accept the terms of the License agreement... the usual legal mumbo jumbo). Click Next (I'll continue in my next post).

Now I am at the registration screen. It's asking for my Name, Company (optional) and Serial Number. I want to point out that whenever you put in your Serial Numbers and Reg codes for any software it is best to manually type them in to the appropriate fields as opposed to copy/pasting them because some email providers and software manufacturers use security measure that screw with the text to avoid pirates and hackers.

I typed in my Serial Number and it told me it was invalid... but I had just mistyped it. I tried again, clicked Next and now it is offering me a choice between Basic or Advanced installation. You would use the Advanced Installation if you only want to install certain components of the program (lets say you don't want the audio content or demo projects or plugs or whatever then you would use this... you would also use it if a component of Sonar became corrupt or you accidentally deleted it, etc... then you could use this to just install that one component and I think you can use it to set the install paths for all the goodies... at least I think that's how it works but I've never done it). I however want the full install so I'm gonna choose Basic and click Next. Now I've got the Ready to Install screen. This is listing all the components about to be installed and gives me an option to go back to the previous screen and choose Advanced if I want to change anything. It looks good to me and everything will be going on my C drive for this section. I do think I want audio content to be on my E drive but I don't think this includes that stuff. Click Install. And now it's installing. Hooray!

Advanced lets you control the entire process. Where Basic uses their defaults.

Using basic can result in not installing all you may want.

Okay that took about 5-10 minutes and now I've got the Rapture Setup Wizard. Click Next. 32 or 64 Bit? I choose 64 Bit. Click Next. Software License Agreement (same as before). Check off where appropriate. Click Next. Now it's asking for registration info... hmm I'm not sure if this serial number will be the same as my X2 number and my email doesn't contain anything in regards to Rapture. Ah but I did write down all the new numbers and codes from my store account right after I purchased the upgrade. Smart Beepster. It is in my notes which keep in my X1 Suite box (I bought it from a retailer) and yup... there it is. Rapture. So yes indeed it is a different serial number. Check your store accounts. I punch in my info same as I did with the X2 registration screen. Click Next and now it is giving me an option to use the default install location or browse for a different location. I want the default. Click Next. Select Start Menu Folder and again it's giving me an option to browse for a new location. The default location is in the Cakewalk folder (Cakewalk\Rapture). That's the one I want. Click next. Select VST folder (again I want the default). Click Next. Ready to Install. It's showing me the paths I have selected and an option to go back and change them. Click Install. It installed in ten seconds. Click Finish. Completing the SONAR X2 Producer Set Up Wizard "Setup has finished installing SONAR X2 Producer on your computer. The application may be launched by selecting the installed icons." What? Already? That was quick. It's giving me two options to launch the Read Me file and launch the application. Sure. Why not? Click Finish. "Sonar will now personalize your user settings by copying application data files." Click OK. "Migrate SONAR Preferences"... this is saying it's going to "locate my wave data folder, import any custom instrument definitions and import other custom settings in various Cakewalk menus and INI files". Well alrighty then. Click OK. Now it is showing my "most recent INI file" whatever the heck that is. "Press OK to migrate your old preferences". It lists one entry. I seriously have no idea what this is. Click OK. "All audio have been kept in [data path] with your previous Cakewalk Sequencer. Do not delete this directory". Sure thing. Click OK. It did a little scan and X2 is now open with the registration screen displayed. HOORAY!

@John... Really? What kind of stuff does it leave out? Cheers.