Running Zen Xtra in Windows Vista Home

[Joseph Johnson]

I am writing this to help anyone who has experienced this problem. I
don't know if this fix will work for all of you, on other versions of
Vista, or if you have other firmware installed will not work for you.
Note, since Vista was released Microsoft or Creative could have sent them
updated drivers without anyone knowing. I have had Vista Home Basic for 1
year now.


After some tweaking, the Windows XP drivers worked on Vista Home Basic.
I then use Nomad Explorer meant for XP to manage the MP3 files on my Zen
Xtra.


Firmware 1.20.08 30G Zen Xtra
No Playforsure installed
Vista Home Basic
User Account Control OFF



Here were my steps:


Connect your Xtra to the PC running Vista.


When first connected to Vista without drivers installed, Vista attempts
to find drivers, if it finds them you'll be golden, but as I know there
are no such drivers, if not it should return unsuccessfully.


Download the latest USB drivers and 2004 Nomad Explorer from Creative's
website.

Right click properties to set to run these programs in Windows XP Service
Pack 2 emulation mode.

Run all as administrator.


Install the driver, it will hang and time out, and some drivers will be
installed.

Install Nomad Explorer, if enough drivers were installed it will finish
installation.

Unplug the Xtra.

Reboot.


After Vista is booted, plug in the Xtra. It will now cause the driver to
load, with a bizarre off sized icon. It will view files but you cannot
open or access files. Media Player will try to boot and bomb, it cannot
access files nor downloaded them.


Now boot Nomad Explorer. It runs through the Xtra drivers. It will work
like XP but look like Vista.

[Uncle Buckle]

Thanks for this excellent procedure. I used it to connect my Nomad Zen USB
2.0 (older model than Zen xtra).

Post by Joseph Johnson
I am writing this to help anyone who has experienced this problem. I
don't know if this fix will work for all of you, on other versions of
Vista, or if you have other firmware installed will not work for you.
Note, since Vista was released Microsoft or Creative could have sent them
updated drivers without anyone knowing. I have had Vista Home Basic for 1
year now.
After some tweaking, the Windows XP drivers worked on Vista Home Basic.
I then use Nomad Explorer meant for XP to manage the MP3 files on my Zen
Xtra.
Firmware 1.20.08 30G Zen Xtra
No Playforsure installed
Vista Home Basic
User Account Control OFF
Connect your Xtra to the PC running Vista.
When first connected to Vista without drivers installed, Vista attempts
to find drivers, if it finds them you'll be golden, but as I know there
are no such drivers, if not it should return unsuccessfully.
Download the latest USB drivers and 2004 Nomad Explorer from Creative's
website.
Right click properties to set to run these programs in Windows XP Service
Pack 2 emulation mode.
Run all as administrator.
Install the driver, it will hang and time out, and some drivers will be
installed.
Install Nomad Explorer, if enough drivers were installed it will finish
installation.
Unplug the Xtra.
Reboot.
After Vista is booted, plug in the Xtra. It will now cause the driver to
load, with a bizarre off sized icon. It will view files but you cannot
open or access files. Media Player will try to boot and bomb, it cannot
access files nor downloaded them.
Now boot Nomad Explorer. It runs through the Xtra drivers. It will work
like XP but look like Vista.

[Joseph Johnson]

Glad it worked. If someone else does it it means its stable.

For me, so far so good. Show others how to do it too if they are stuck.

Creative is of no help at all.

Thank you.

Post by Uncle Buckle
Thanks for this excellent procedure. I used it to connect my Nomad
Zen USB 2.0 (older model than Zen xtra).

Post by Joseph Johnson
I am writing this to help anyone who has experienced this problem. I
don't know if this fix will work for all of you, on other versions of
Vista, or if you have other firmware installed will not work for you.
Note, since Vista was released Microsoft or Creative could have sent
them updated drivers without anyone knowing. I have had Vista Home
Basic for 1 year now.