Installing Windows XP on SZ450

[nixon]

You would have been better off just buying an SZ360 which already had XPP on it than trying to backtrack on the SZ450. Downloading any and all the drivers and software should help, and make sure to install the VAIO core dll's as part of the process.

[wselby]

Getting the SZ360 was not an option for me at the time. My boss wanted an SZ with XP, none of the local retailers had any that fit the bill. None of them expected to get any more either.

[SPEEDwithJJ]

You could always ordered online. There are quite a number of reliable web stores.

[bogart]

Read this entire thread.

[nixon]

You could always ordered online. There are quite a number of reliable web stores.

Agreed, and you'd have gotten support and service and not the usual retail markup.

[wselby]

The problem was timing. The boss needed a laptop immediately, since his did not work, and he didn't have the time to order something online. Believe me, if I had my choice, it would have been something I ordered online direct from Sony with a full warranty. In the end, we got his old one working enough for me to try and fix this one. I may end up having time now to just take this one back to the store and get something online that works better. We'll see what the boss wants to do.

Thanks bogart for the link.

[SPEEDwithJJ]

I am curious about something. Hopefully, there are answers to it & it may help quite a lot of people out there thinking about purchasing the latest SZ4 series & run Win XP.

I have a SZ370P/C. I'll just make up a scenario. Let's say I buy a new SZ450N/C & a new copy of retail Win XP Pro. I wiped the SZ450's HDD & install the newly bought Win XP Pro using its unique CD key. Then I use the re-install discs of my SZ370 to just install the SZ drivers (not restore the the whole system) & utilities. I'm curious whether the SZ drivers from the SZ3 series's reinstall discs will actually install onto the SZ450 without any problems... Anyone who have tried this, please feel free to share your experience.

[leadweight]

I just did a clean xp install on my sz330pb. What worked for me was to use xp pro that been updated with a ryanvm (www.ryanvm.net) patch. The result is an xp install with all the latest updates and hotfixes, including several hard to find hotfixes that are necessary for a good result. I used the UK drivers for the sz3 mentioned above, except for the TI flash reader and flash reader registry patch which came off the US sz330 page. The fingerprint reader driver is the new one from Asus which works wonderfully on XP, and for wi fi I used a generic driver from Intel (just the driver, not pro set). Everything works perfectly, although I did not bother with the cellular modem as I have no activation.

The trick is to install the drivers using the driver update feature in device manager. In some cases it is not obvious which driver goes with which device as the descriptions can be obtuse. TPM was an "unknown device" and bluetooth was some strange 3 letter thing.

[whwtan]

These SZ3 XP drivers and utilities are compatible with the SZ4 and don't check the model of the notebook before installing so they should work fine.

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/Vaio/Ori...Z3_Drivers.zip

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/Vaio/Ori..._Utilities.zip

Oh wow Bogart,

That is an extremely handy link!
I'm quite excited...I'll have to try out these drivers. I was only just complaining in another thread that I couldn't find any help here.

Thanks! I hope these drivers will solve my frustration.

[bogart]

Oh wow Bogart,

That is an extremely handy link!
I'm quite excited...I'll have to try out these drivers. I was only just complaining in another thread that I couldn't find any help here.

Thanks! I hope these drivers will solve my frustration.

No problem. Here's the order in which you should install everything. #15 isn't needed if you don't use TPM. For #16 I recommend the Widcomm bluetooth stack instead of the Toshiba (search for the tutorial on this forum). #17 isn't needed and #22 as well if you don't have the WWAN antenna.



Let me know if you need any missing drivers or utilities that are not included in those two zip files.