jrf2027

You'll probably have to go out and find the drivers manually. That's what I had to do when I installed XP on my Toshiba U305. You may want to check the forums at notebookreview.com, to see if anybody over there has found the drivers already.

Unless you are downgrading from Vista Business or Vista Ultimate to XP Pro, you need a valid XP license. With a valid XP license, your activation problems should go away.

EDIT: Nevermind. I reread what you want to do - it looks like you want to plug your external drive into your Windows machine but create a network share for your Mac to access the Mac partition. I don't know of a way to do this through Windows, and I'm just brainstorming here, but it sounds like network attached storage may be your solution. Either with the external drive connected directly to your network if it's set up to be a standalone NAS drive, or connected to the network through a dedicated box (an old computer running some simple form of Linux) with sharing enabled between the Mac and the dedicated box. You could also then enable sharing between the NTFS partitions and your Windows PC. Like I said, just brainstorming...

The Vista OEM key will work with a retail disc. Please disregard any advice to the contrary. However, if you use the OEM key from the Certificate of Authenticity, you will have to call in to activate it. If you would like to preserve the current OEM preactivation before wiping out the current Vista installation, therefore eliminating the need to call in to activate, please review orev's post from notebookreview.com: Clean Vista install WITH NO ACTIVATION If the computer is an HP, it has the OEM preactivation certificate. You can simply back up the preactivation certificate, install Vista from a clean source (yes, that includes a retail disc) without entering the product key at the time of installation, then reinstall the preactivation after installation is complete. I've done this countless times without any problems. BTW...there really is no such thing as a "retail" disc or an "upgrade" disc with Vista. It's not like XP where the Retail disc was different from the Upgrade disc, the OEM disc, and the Volume disc. There are only four different types of discs for Vista: 32-bit Vista gold (no SP's) 32-bit Vista with SP1 integrated 64-bit Vista gold 64-bit Vista with SP1 integrated You can install 64-bit Vista with a 32-bit key, and vice versa. However, you must make sure you install the correct version of Vista - if you have a Home Basic key, you can only reinstall Home Basic. (This even applies to the N versions - I tried installing Business N with a Business key and they are different!)

The RECYCLER files are just where the Recycle Bin actually stores deleted files. You can delete these files, because Windows will recreate them when something else is deleted (moved to the Recycle Bin).

Just glancing through, I would suggest starting with integrating the SATA driver, or changing the BIOS to IDE mode. Having installed XP on my own Toshiba laptop, I recommend using the drivers from the Intel site for your chipset (the ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller, from your post on HalfDone). Use nLite to integrate into your XP source - here's a quick link on how to do the integration: http://tech.aroundthehat.com/nlite_sata.html.

A quick Google search revealed this page: http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums...hreadId=1246963 Also...in order to install XP, you will need to either change the BIOS configuration to use the SATA drive as IDE, or integrate the SATA drivers into the XP install disk using nLite. I'd recommend integrating the drivers - it's actually a very simple process, just jump down to the nLite forum for more details. With a little searching and experimentation, you should be able to install XP on any current system.

A couple of brief observations: First, make sure that your computer's BIOS is set to boot from CD first. Second, you'll probably need to use nLite to integrate the drivers for your optical drive and, if your computer's hard drive is SATA, the SATA driver into your XP source disk. I haven't met a Vista system yet that can't have XP installed on it...as long as the computer has an optical drive and you have the correct drivers, XP can be installed.

Is cmdow.exe in your %windir%/system32 directory? cmdow.exe is not a part of Windows - it's an addon.

FWIW...I've seen both the file rename bug as well as the shortcut bug on a clean Vista x64 SP1 install - no vLite, no custom theme, etc.

I just switched to 64-bit in my latest clean installation...with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Quad and 3 GB of RAM, I have noticed no significant performance increases or decreases, and only one minor program didn't work. My system is about one year old, and all major components had 64-bit drivers available - amazingly even my four-year-old Lexmark x5250 all-in-one had a full-featured driver available. As for major applications, Office 2003, Acrobat 8 Pro, Nero 7 run fine under 64-bit even though none of them were designed with Vista x64 in mind. My only software conflict came with Webroot Window Washer, which Webroot's own site acknowledges is not compatible with 64-bit. Oh well, gave me an excuse to finally move to CCleaner. If I were building a new system now, even if I wasn't planning on putting in 4GB+ of RAM right away, I'd go ahead and install Vista 64-bit, because as the other posters have acknowledged, with the price of RAM falling rapidly, it won't be long before you're running with 16 GB.

Yes and yes. All Vista install disks from Microsoft (OEM, Retail, Upgrade, and when they made them, Anytime Upgrade) contain all versions of Vista. It's the key you enter when installing Vista that determines what OS you are licensed to operate. Install disks from Royalty OEM's like Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc., may or may not have all versions, or they may need some cleansing to install a version other than the disk's default.

You would think nothing...but the driver for my current card, the AverMedia M791 (an OEM card installed in Gateway computers) conflicts with Nero Vision. With the driver installed, Nero Vision crashes, actually it shuts down with no warning for no apparent reason. Once I uninstall the AverMedia driver Nero Vision works perfectly. If I reinstall the driver, Nero still works fine until I reboot the computer, then the problems start all over again. I can't get any hardware or software vendor involved in this conflict to offer any assistance - Gateway said that since Nero didn't ship with its computer, that I should uninstall it, swallow the blue pill, stop worrying and learn to love the bomb, etc. (FWIW, the Gateway chat tech closed the chat on me after telling me that I should never have even thought of installing Nero on the computer.) AverMedia doesn't have any plans to update the driver for this particular card even though the driver file is now over a year old. And Nero hasn't even acknowledged my technical support submission yet. Doing some research, I've discovered that the WinTV-HVR-1800 shares many of the same chips as the AverMedia M791; however, the ATI 650 shares no common chips with either of these cards. The last thing I want to do is buy a new card with the same issues as the old card. Therefore, I'm now leaning towards the ATI card. The specs are what I want (PCIe, ATSC/ClearQAM/NTSC, hardware encoding), so I thank you for your suggestion. ClearQAM is used by cable companies to deliver unencrypted HD content over cable lines - generally, your local HD stations, thus eliminating the need for an OTA antenna or set-top box to get your local stations in HD. The Vista Media Center TV Pack will allow you to use ClearQAM in Vista Media Center...or so a little birdie told me...

Thanks for the recommendation. I have also looked at the ATI Wonder 650...I assume it works well with 64-bit Vista, based on your signature? Do you know if the ClearQAM works on it? Also...have you used Nero Vision (either the version that comes with Nero 7 or Nero 8) on your system with this tuner installed? Any conflicts?

To make a long story short, I'm in the market for a new TV tuner card for my PC. (AverMedia M791 tuner card driver conflicts with Nero Vision; neither Nero nor Gateway, the maker of the PC, seem interested in helping me solve the conflict; Nero works fine with AverMedia drivers removed.) Plus, with the upcoming TV Pack for Vista Media Center, I'd like a tuner with QAM support. The Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1800 appears to have all the features I would want in a TV card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16815116016 But before I spend $100 on a card, I want to check to see if anybody using this card has had problems with it; specifically, any conflicts with Nero? Additionally, are there any other problems with it? Many of the problems I've seen on reviews of the card appear to be in machines based on AMD processors; I haven't seen any problems specifically in Intel systems. Brief summary of my system: Intel Core 2 Quad 6600; 3GB RAM; Vista Home Premium 64-bit. Thanks for any information anybody can provide! (Or...anybody know a workaround for the AverMedia driver issue that doesn't involve me uninstalling the drivers each time I want to use Nero, then reinstalling the driver each time I want to watch TV? )

I'll break this into two parts: First, with Vista, there is no such thing as a "home basic" disk, a "business" disk, an 'OEM" disk, a "retail" disk, etc. There are only four varieties of disk - a 32-bit Vista installation disk and a 64-bit Vista installation disk for RTM (meaning non-SP1) and a 32-bit Vista with SP1 integrated and 64-bit Vista with SP1 integrated. Each disk has all versions of Vista available for installation; the product key you enter dictates which version is allowed to be installed, not the media. You should be able to buy a Vista Home Basic SP1 Retail upgrade disk to get the SP1 integrated bits for your project; or, if you have a MSDN subscription you can download it. Second, with OEM's like Acer that utilize system locked preinstallation (SLP), you can backup and restore your original SLP settings using programs such as orev's Activation Backup and Restore (he has a really good guide on doing exactly what you want to do posted at http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=120228). This way, your installation will be activated without having to call in and without having to reactivate online. If you use the product key from the machine sticker, you will have to call in to activate, but it should also work. Good luck!

The Windows XP powertoy, TweakUI, allows you to redirect these folders. Download it here.

If you didn't use a Gateway OEM XP Home installation disk, you will get the activation prompts. Besides the product key, you also needed to retrieve the OEMBIOS.BIN, OEMBIOS.CAT, OEMBIOS.DAT, and OEMBIOS.SIG files from the original installation. These files cross-reference with the BIOS on the computer for preactivation. Without these manufacturer-specific files, your installation is not preactivated. The Unattended guide explains this a little bit: http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/29/ You may be able to recreate the correct files by following these instructions: http://www.msfn.org/board/OEMScan-Automate...ity-t82638.html Worst-case scenario, you can keep the current installation on the computer, but use the Magical Jellybean Keyfinder to change the product key to the same one that's on the COA on the computer, then call in to Microsoft to activate it.

Unlike past versions of Windows, every version and flavor of Vista (retail, OEM, upgrade) can be installed from one installation disk. The product key alone differentiates the various versions. Therefore, you can find any clean Vista installation disk (try to find SP1) and your OEM product key will work to reinstall the same version of Vista that came with your computer. Also - I think Acer has OEM branding and activation - you can use orev's activation backup and restore program (find it here) to backup your activation and restore it if you decide to do a clean installation. The guide looks long, but it's actually quite simple.

Does anyone have a link for downloading KB938371, besides through Windows Update? I don't see a link in the KB article.

Just a FYI for those of you that use XPS Viewer Essentials Pack on Vista... I reinstalled Vista last night, with SP1 integrated using vLite. After reinstallation, I tried to reinstall the XPS Viewer Essentials Pack (Microsoft link) and received a "This update is not needed" message. However, the viewer was not installed on the system. I had originally downloaded the 32-bit .msu installation file last fall - the file size was 1,964 KB. So I re-downloaded the .msu installation file from Microsoft, and noticed that the file was larger - the current version of the file available for download weighed in at 1,966 KB. The newly downloaded file installed perfectly. I'd guess that Microsoft may have originally planned on putting this package in SP1, and created a flag in the installer preventing it from installing on any system with a service pack installed. Then it was cut from SP1 and MS had to reissue the update for SP1 compatibility. So, if you use this software, you will need to re-download it for use in future deployments to machines with SP1 already installed.

I'm just curious what the consensus is...assuming you have RTM media to reinstall Vista, would you pay for installation media with SP1 already integrated, and if so, how much? Personally, I'd like to see a Windows Anytime Upgrade disc with SP1 integrated for about $20 or less...however, vLite has worked for me so far.

This worked for me using vLite: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/01/07/m...th-vlite-guide/

I can't guarantee this will work for you, but it worked for me. I deleted every subfolder in the C:\Boot folder except the en-us folder, and deleted every file except for files named BCD, BCD.LOG, BCD.LOG1, BCD.LOG2, bootstat.dat, and memtest.exe. My Vista install boots just fine. I deleted the files and folders from a Linux installation on my computer.

Few questions for you: Based on your sig...you're using Vista Home Premium 64-bit, in the US...is this correct? Have you installed SP1? Did you install 64-bit Vista yourself, or did it come installed on the computer? What TV card does your computer have? Did it come with the computer, or did you install it yourself? Do you have the correct 64-bit drivers for the TV card? I assume your computer has net connectivity and this is the only place you're possibly experiencing any connectivity issues? Do you have any antivirus or internet security suites that may disable some connectivity? Let us know.