First of all thank you for any and all help that you can provide. This is the most frustrating time I have ever had with a Microsoft Product. The install is always the easy point and I cannot get SQL Server 2008 R2 to install. So to give as much background as I can here we go.
The Installation Media:
I participated in Microsoft Dreamspark and downloaded SQL Server 2008 R2 Developer Edition Directly from Microsoft. I also purchased a student copy of VMware workstation. Finally I downloaded a copy of Windows Server 2008 also from dreamspark. I have configured a VMware virtual machine for both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter. Both all fully patched with automatic windows updates.
I click on setup.exe from the SQL Server folder and get the message that:
This SQL Server Setup media is not supported on a x64 system. To continue, run the SQL Server Setup media that matches your system.
The Download contains a folder called 1033_ENU_LP. Under it are folders for ia64, x86, and x64. I attempted to re-download from the Dreamspark website and was told that I have downloaded it too many times already. I have looked at this error message and seen comments about Parallels desktop. I just do not understand what is going on and would appreciate any and all assistance.