As many of you will know, I recently purchased a Microsoft Zune player (to replace my lost iPod, which never surfaced no thanks to crappy Iberia!). Unfortunately, days before the arrival of my Zune from the USA, I made the switch to Windows Vista. This meant that, when the Zune arrived, I couldn't sync it up with my media-stuffed laptop, as in their infinite wisdom, Microsoft have decided NOT to make a Vista friendly version of the software available yet.

DOH!

So I set about seeing if the XP software could run happily on Vista! It does... and here's how I did it!

Prerequisites

You need 3 things to carry out this process.

1. Zune CD - You need the CD that came with your Zune
2. WinRAR - You need WinRAR installed, the trial version is fine. Get it here
3. My Zune.msi install patch - You need the all important installer patch, from here:  zunevista.exe ( 351.97K ) Number of downloads: 11719

Before we start

Usual caveats apply, if your PC / Zune blows up, don't blame me (but it's working fine for me!)

The process itself is dead easy, and i've broken everything down to be as simple as possible... so don't be daunted that there's a lot of steps (well, only 10!) I have UAC enabled on my Vista build (the default), if you don't, then you can ignore any steps related to running things as an administrator.

Finally, don't actually plug in your Zune until prompted to do so by the Zune software.

Let's get started!

Instructions

1. Create a directory on your desktop called 'Zune'. You can delete this at the end, it's a temporary storage area.
2. Copy the 'zunevista.exe' file you downloaded above to this new directory.
2. Put your Zune CD in the CD drive. In the 'Packages\ZUNE' directory you'll find a file called 'Zune-x86-ENU.exe'. Copy that to the folder you just created.
3. This bit is why you need WinRAR! Right click the file you've just copied, and select 'Extract Here'.
4. You now have 'Zune.msi' right? Great! You can now delete 'Zune-x86-ENU.exe'.
5. Now we're going to patch the MSI to install on Vista using my patch. Double click 'zunevista.exe'. You'll get prompted by Windows to allow the application to run. Allow it
6. You'll see the patch run, and it will tell you it's successfully completed. Hurrah! You now have a Vista friendly zune.msi! You can delete zunevista.exe now.

We now need to run the MSI, but with elevated permissions, which is a bit of a pain. You can't just right click an MSI and do 'run as administrator', so you have to jump through some hoops.

7. Click the 'start orb' or press the windows key, and type 'cmd'. You'll see the cmd application is selected, but DON'T hit enter. Hit CTRL-SHIFT-ENTER instead! You'll be instantly prompted for permission to run the application, indicating that it will be running with elevated permissions.
8. We need to run the MSI now. Type the following 'C:\Users\Paul\Desktop\Zune\Zune.msi', obviously replacing the path as appropriate for your configuration.

You'll now be led through the Zune setup! Hurrah! Just install as normal, and when the install is finished... REBOOT. This is not an optional step, you MUST do this!

There is only one step left now, and that is to set the Zune software itself to run in XP Compatability mode. This is because MS have implemented an OS check in the software.

9. Click the 'start orb' or press the windows key, and type 'Zune'. You'll see the Zune application itself on the list - right click it, and select 'Properties'. Select the 'Compatability' tab and check 'Run this program in compatability mode for'. Click OK.

That's it! You're done! You can use the Desktop or Start Menu shortcut for Zune to launch the software, and get syncing!

I hope this is useful, and worked, so please post below with feedback!

P

I've not got a Zune but:
a ) Whenever I try and install anything that needs administrators rights it just comes up with a dialog box asking for the administrator password and
b ) When I tried to install some drivers that said they were "incompatible with this version of windows" Vista took over and tried to reinstall them with"suggested" settings and they installed fine - doesn't this happen with the Zune setup?

I must admit I've not installed a lot under vista but have had no problems so far and was very impressed with the installation of CA's antivirus - especially as it's free for a year!

What do you think of the Zune?

a - it's not quite that simple
b - no

I'm using Windows Live OneCare 1.5 Beta, and i'm impressed, once I got WMDC working

So far, quite liking the Zune. It's not perfect, by a long shot, but then nor is the iPod (I have a black one of those too, or did, now just the missus does). At least it plays all my (no DRM) WMAs!

P

You got it working on vista?

Paul U rock!!!!

/me orders one now

ZIm

Ahh so it IS Onecare thats messing up my WMDC in Vista...!

I ended up trashing OneCare because major issues with WMDC.
Even when it wall all excluded from the firewall it still wouldn't work.

You must have missed some exclusions then... i'm sitting here now with my Excalibur synced via USB and OneCare 1.5 Beta running

P

Hmmm, i've just been pointed at this post, also detailing how to get Zune running on Vista. If only i'd found it last night I might have got to bed before 1am

It's a similar process, but doing MSI edits manually rather than using my patcher.

I too used Orca and made the same changes, but i'd like to point out I was not aware of this article before now.

P

I made it thru the software install but when i restarted my computer then plugged in my Zune it says it can't find drivers for it. Any ideas?

Do a manual install, it hapened to me too. Go to devise manager an update the drivers. choose the location where Zune installed and it will find the drivers.

Thanks Paul for the patch.

Thanks for the great insructions. BTW - I also had to enable the "Run program as administrator" option in the compatibility property sheet to get it to work on Vista RTM.

Strange, I DON'T run it as admin!

P

Paul,

Just a quick question...

Does the FM radio work well in the UK I'm not expecting it to show stations names, but does it tune in OK?

Thanks,

Richard

Nice work Paul. I really want to see a zune in real life, see how it stacks up against the competition.

I see, you've made the Engadget front page aswell

Ooh cool

P

It works fine, with station names too... just switch the Radio to 'Europe' in settings

P

Woo Frontpage of Engadget.. get you!

Dang. Didn't work for me. Maybe because I am running RC1? On install = rollback.

yeha got that happing to me, u have to run the zune.msi installer from command prompt - as administrator.

ZIm

As detailed in points 7/8

Liking the Zune Zim?

P