SQL 2012 Upgrade Advisor cannot detect SQL Server I have an instance of SQL 2005 on a Windows 2003 server that I want to analyze using Upgrade Advisor. I can access SQL Server remotely via SSMS, so I assume necessary ports are open &amp; user privileges enabled. However, Upgrade Advisor gives me the following error:

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Upgrade Advisor could not detect SQL Server components on the server. Please check if current user has the privilege to access target server's registry, and if the Remote Registry service in target server is started.

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Requested registry access is not allowed. (mscorlib)



Program Location:

at System.ThrowHelper.ThrowSecurityException(ExceptionResource resource)
   at Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey.OpenSubKey(String name, Boolean writable)
   at Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey.OpenSubKey(String name)
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.UpgradeAdvisor.SqlDetection.GetClusterInfo()
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.UpgradeAdvisor.SqlDetection.DetectComponents()
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.UpgradeAdvisor.FormDetectComponents.Detect()
I was going to delete my question but it got voted +1..anyhow
Needed to enable access to remote registry as the error says...

How to: http://www.windowsreference.com/security/how-to-disablerestrict-remote-registry-access-in-windows/