Sql-server – Upgrade SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2012

I have a test environment set up with the following:

• Virtual Machine (Hyper-V)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1(x64-bit)
• Windows SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition SP4 (x64-bit)(default instance name)
  • 1 Database with Merge Replication set up… 3 publications with 2 subscribers each.

We are testing the procedure for upgrading to SQL Server 2012 Developer Edition (sp1)…

I have downloaded the iso for 64bit SQL Server 2012 Dev. (sp1) from MSDN (full licensed copy) and have started going down the upgrade path. At one of the final stages, where it begins a check for different criteria, we run into a bizarre issue as outlined below:

Rule "Upgrade architecture mismatch" failed. The CPU architectures of upgrading feature(s) are different. To upgrade these features, Setup architecture must be the same as the features being installed.

Furthermore, in the upgrade log file, I found the following (more verbose) output:

(03) 2012-12-28 14:02:45 Slp: Init rule target object: Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.SetupExtension.BlockMixedArchitecture
(03) 2012-12-28 14:02:45 Slp: Rule 'BlockMixedArchitectureUpgrade' detection result: IsMixedArchitectureInstall= True 
(03) 2012-12-28 14:02:45 Slp: Evaluating rule        : BlockMixedArchitectureUpgrade
(03) 2012-12-28 14:02:45 Slp: Rule running on machine: REPLICATIONTEST
(03) 2012-12-28 14:02:45 Slp: Rule evaluation done   : Failed
(03) 2012-12-28 14:02:45 Slp: Rule evaluation message: The CPU architectures of upgrading feature(s) and this installation program are different. To upgrade these features, Setup architecture must be the same as the features being installed.

I have made sure that we are on an x64 system and not an ia64 and I see no reason why a mismatch would be occurring. Something to note: We cannot simply install SQL Server 2012, and reattach the databases to it as we have over 20 live databases (in production) with over 40 publications set up… this would be an absolute nightmare if we had to re-set up replication.

Here is the version info for the SQL Server 2005 setup:

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - 9.00.5000.00 (X64) 
Dec 10 2010 10:38:40 
Copyright (c) 1988-2005 Microsoft Corporation
Developer Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.1 (Build 7601: Service Pack 1)

9.00.5000.00 indicated SP4.

I will be calling Microsoft support about this tomorrow.