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The other day I was trying to copy profiles from one Windows install to another.  One Windows install existed on an IDE drive, the other on a SATA.  I installed the two drives in the same machine and then proceeded to boot one of the installations in order to perform the file transfer.

Somewhere along the way the SATA drive, which would become the primary drive, had its letter renamed from C: to E:.  This created a problem as initial logins would crash explorer.exe, and subsequent logins failed entirely even after removing the secondary drive.

In order to restore the drive to its former glory, I booted from the IDE drive, loaded its SYSTEM registry key and looked in  the MountedDevices key.  There I found DOS\Devices\C: and DOS\Devices\E:, each with a GUID value.  I swapped the values, unloaded the SYSTEM key, rebooted to the SATA drive, and was able to log in; the SATA had been renamed C: and the IDE as E:.

The Toshiba Bluetooth Stack is software that can be found on Sony machines as well as Toshibas that ship with Bluetooth wireless adapters.  Pairing a device for something other than file transfer, in my case, ActiveSync, with the Toshiba Bluetooth Stack is counterintuitive and confusing, so here are the notes on the matter.  These assume you have ActiveSync installed.
1.  Set up a Server COM port via the Local COM Ports icon that the Toshiba Bluetooth Stack installs.

2.  Right click on the Bluetooth icon in the taskbar and click on Options.

3.  Under the Security tab click on Clustom Level and uncheck “Not Discoverable” and “New Authentication Denied” (yes, you read that correctly).

4.  Start ActiveSync and click on File and Connection Settings.  You want to make sure the Serial Port field has the COM port that you established in Step 1 selected.

4.   On the Windows Mobile handheld device click the Bluetooth icon.

5.  Under Devices click “New Partnership” and enter a random PIN number.  The computer will also request that you enter this random PIN at this time in order to create the partnership.

6.  Click the refresh button until you see ActiveSync listed as a service.  Make sure its checked off and then proceed to complete the pairing.

The Mac Pro, albeit a hefty investment for someone new to the Mac, is the ideal machine for Windows users to test the Macintosh waters safely.

I say this because if they currently possess a Windows machine with a SATA hard drive, that drive can be moved into the Mac as a secondary drive and they can use Boot Camp to boot to their previous machine’s installation.

1.  Remove the SATA hard drive from the old Windows machine and install it as the second drive in the Mac.

2.  Boot the Mac and install Boot Camp.

3.  Create the Boot Camp drivers CD and indicate to Boot Camp that you would like to install Windows over the current Windows installation on the second hard drive.  Don’t fret as you won’t really be reinstalling Windows.

4.  Proceed with a Windows installation as per Boot Camp’s instructions.  When you get to the point in the Windows install where you have the option of deleting the existing install, simply select the partition from the list and type ‘R’ to perform a Windows repair.

5.  Windows will reboot and execute its setup procedure.  Once it is done you will be able to log in and use the Boot Camp driver CD to install the remaining hardware.  All of your user account data, installed programs, and customizations to the Windows installation will be retained.

So I spent the better part of a week trapped in this scenario: the Sony Vaio VGN-SZ26CP/C, a Chinese market only model, was dropped in my lap with the request to put a clean install of the English version of Windows XP on it.

Anyone who has reinstalled Windows on a Vaio available in the US knows that it is not a pleasant experience due largely to the fact that devices will cease to function if the order of driver installation isn’t strictly adhered to.  In the case before me, I had no reference materials and only some of the necessary drivers kindly left at the root level of the C drive.

After days of trial and error I finally emerged with a fully functional Vaio.  In summary the process involves extracting the drivers from the factory install via a third party utility, requesting a special patch from Microsoft, restoring some of the extracted drivers in a particular order, then using the original driver installers for a similar US model via the Sony support site to take care of the remaining troublesome hardware.

Please note that when an actual installer is indicated for US model VGN-SZ260P in the steps below it is meant to be the original installer that shipped with the machine. An updated installer checks the make and model of the machine and will prevent an installation.

1. Extract the drivers from the original factory installation (I used Driver Magician).
2. Install the extracted Intel Chipset.
3. Request KB909667 from Microsoft and apply it.
4. Install the extracted Sony Notebook Control driver.
5. Install the extracted Sony Programmable I/O driver.
6. Install the Sony Shared Library for US model VGN-SZ260P.
7. Install the Sony Notebook Utilities for US model VGN-SZ260P.

At this point you should have the Vaio-specific keyboard functions working.

8.  Install the SigmaTel Audio driver for US model VGN-SZ260P.
9.  Install the HDAUDIO Modem driver for the US model VGN-SZ260P.
Your audio should technically be working.  I had to repeat steps 8-9 multiple times both before and after 10-11, but eventually the sound came to life.

10.  Install the Bluetooth Stack for the US model VGN-SZ260P.
11.  Install the Bluetooth Control driver for the US model VGN-SZ260P.

After installation of Bluetooth, the remaining drivers should install individually without issue.

These are the notes for creation and customization of a Windows XP 64-bit image exclusively for Operations Research & Financial Engineering. The notes are updated as I change the software set and configuration options. Software is 64-bit bit unless otherwise noted.
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