Creative Zen NX and Vista, Working Together Finally !!
I decided to give my already updated PC to my wife, and build myself a new Quad Core PC (why not).
I also decided not to install any software that came with my Zen NX to see if I could make vista work without it this time. It was harder this time but took 10 min. vs 3min last time.
Note: MAKE SURE YOUR ZEN IS NOT PLUGGED INTO YOUR PC’S USB PORT yet..!!
1) So you need to decide if you need the creative media player/converter (media source) or just the explorer program so you can sync programs.(file explorer).
2) Either way you will need the program “JB3MV2_PCWDRV_US_2_01_00.EXE”. It is on creative .com or around the globe just google it. You need to run it in windows xp compatability mode (that’s right click properties, seciurity run as xp sp2). Also run and install as administrator (right click, properties, run as admin.) This is the zen driver for your PC.
Note: If you intend to use a 3rd part product like red chair, you also need this driver above.
Note: I have tried it not doing this way and it gives you errors.
Note: In installing it with the player plugged into the USB it killed other USB ports, that I then needed to unplug and replug into, no biggie either way.
3) On installing the jbmv2… diver it appears to hang at some number 52% say… after it is there for a while you may need to manually cancel it (do not turn off your pc). This is because the code written for XP is nto written for Vista so it appears to hang when it really has not). Once you manage to kill it then it says it is in installed.
4) Depending if you want file explorer (for syncing NMEX_PCApp_3_01_10.exe) or the media source program for playing and converting (CMS_PCAPP_LB_3_30_21.exe) they should install fine now.
Note: I suggest installing media souce 1st as it works witohut rebooting, file manager for syncing required a re-boot).
5) Note: desktop shortcuts might not appear but will be under programs/creative via your start button.
6) Enjoy (or reboot and enjoy).
Original Story
A Little Tweaking and your Zen NX is now Vista Compatible..Chew On That Creative March 2007- Melbourne Australia
Not thanks to Creative Labs that ignored all contact on the subject (from me and the rest of the world) all but to say the Zen NX is not Vista Compatible Bull Sh**. So why would they say that if it wasn’t true? So you buy a new MP3 Player.. maybe.
Because they couldn’t be bothered to support a last generation MP3 Player.. maybe.
Or because they were perhaps too lazy to spend some time finding out how to do it…likely. So I have to start this quickly to say I was a Zen fan boy, from the original hi-tech 8-bit PC soundcards, other incarnations of mice, and yes MP3 players.
I started with the original NOMAD MP3 for $300 US, then when the NX came out I had heard the spec and that it had essentially a laptop battery inside…hmm what would happen if I hacked it and added a 60gb HD into it..hmm.
OH MY GOD! It worked a 60 gb Zen NX and I used to amaze my friends (the geek ones of course then). SO when I finally went to install my little friend on Vista, I was more than a bit saddened by the fact I had to use my XP machine to update my music.. But wait a minute, Vista can see the player but the drivers are pooched .. SO after a bit of trial and lots of error (days) I got it to work on my new M90 Dell laptop but I don’t know how I did it. Time to try on PC, this time it took 45 minutes to figure out how I did it, so simple I can afford the waffle on.
1) Install original software that came with nomad.
2) Sometimes it will install other times it will all run but in the end after all the software (media source) etc is installed it will see the Zen NX, but not work.
3) Reboot
4) Go to creative.com and download the lasted media source program (currently Creative MediaSource Player/Organizer 3.30.21 and is about 52mb.. I know some are going tried that..
5) Install the software (currently at http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/download2.asp?MainCategory=213&Product=4836&dlcentric=8681&Product_Name=NOMAD+Jukebox+Zen+NX&filetype=3&OSName=Windows+XP) 6) Run it, it should install (but still won’t work on the Zen NX)
7) Reboot
Go to your original software disk and under drivers run the Jukebox driver driver_JB3.exe It will say it cannot read your disk on this and windows will say this is not a legal driver. Just keep installing it, and saying yes or ignore.
9) It may ask you to reboot, if it does reboot
10) Enjoy
This should leave you with your portable device icon being live and the latest media source software. If the latter doesn’t happen you can now reinstall the latest media source (or firmware etc) and all works fine. For me it was installing Notmad Software from my friends at redchairsoftware.com/notmad.
That now also worksAny questions leave a comment on my blog here, I will answer all. Except why didn’t creative do this themselves in the 1st place..
Updated 19 September 2007
Hi all,
I tend not to edit unhappy comments, so all comments appreciated.
I am sorry if any of you have had trouble getting this to work.
I have recently spoken to Creative Labs and Redchair Software (or at least tried).
Thus far neither are willing to offer any patches for their products to make this easier for folks to use their Zen NX.
Their view off the record, is they see the demand for a fix, not worth their time in revenue.
I can appreciate it (even though I disagree with it).
So, I note that there was a more recent release version (version 5) of the media source organiser. It did not work for me with the Zen NX. Nomad, or Zen (the orignal 10gb model) on Vista.
So to date I am still happily using the tweaked 60gb zen nx 110% with vista. If anyone needs help just ask.
Enjoy
March 30, 2007 at 12:39 pm
This looks great…do you know if it will work with a creative zen micro?
April 19, 2007 at 10:17 am
Hello,
I tried the method mentioned above with no luck. I will run through the steps I took to see if maybe I missed one.
1.) Installed original software that came with my ZEN NX. It installed and you can see then NX on the My Computer device screen but when you click on it, it says “Not Connected”.
2.) Downloaded the Mediasource player/organizer 3.30.2. Clicked on it to install it. It extracted the files and then a pop up titled “CMS Web Installer” came up and Said something along the lines of “Setup Unable to Detect a Supported Product” Then gave options to “Retry” or “Cancel” after retring a few times I clicked on “Cancel”. After that a windows box popped up and noted that program did not install correctly and asked if you want to “Retry Installation” or “Accept as Correctly Installed” I accepted it hoping that I got what I needed.
3.) Went to original software and attempted to install the Dvr_Jb3.exe. While installing it stops and and indicates “Error Occured While Installing”. After this it still says “Not connected” when I go the device screen.
Can you see anything that I missed or did wrong. I’m gettiing desperate at this point. Thank you very much in advance for any additional information you can give.
May 3, 2007 at 1:31 pm
This doesn’t work at all. I’m not sure what you were smoking when you wrote this, but it’s not accurate or reproduceable.
Creative gets major negative marks in my book for not directly supporting Vista. There must be a way to get everything to work, but this isn’t it.
May 27, 2007 at 9:05 pm
How about Nomad Jukebox 3 anyone got a work round for that in Vista
July 8, 2007 at 11:35 pm
yeah….i’m having trouble getting to intall the driver for my zen micro too =(
July 8, 2007 at 11:36 pm
…as kenna says =D
September 18, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Guys,
This gentlemen is trying to help us, and you are asking him if he smoked a good one?
I can confirm that IT WORKS. Exactly the way it is described + one more step (at least for me):
* After all the previously described steps, I had to open my device manager, right-click on the ZenNX that was detected (with an exclamation mark) and I selected “Update Driver”. I then pointed windows to the “c:\program files\creative” directory and finaly, Vista accepted the “legacy” driver.
Thank you for the hint and shame on Creative Labs.
Cheers.
November 25, 2007 at 2:31 pm
I got a new computer this week with Vista. I’ve spent the last four days trying to get my Zen Xtra to work with it and it’s been frustrating. The best I’ve been able to do is to finally get Vista to recognize it, but not to fully load the player. I can get it half full and Vista refuses to load anything else on it. What a crock. I learned an awful lot about Creative this weekend and none of it is good. I really love my player, but half a player isn’t really going to do it for me. I guess I’m in the market for a new (non-Creative) mp3 player.
December 23, 2007 at 9:51 pm
mrinternet you totally rock. My CL Zen Xtra - Vista recognized it now. Thanks for your help!
January 2, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Hi everyone:
I’m having the same problem with my Jukebox and Vista.I hope that the stuff I read here can help me fix it.But I have a question.Why does everyone keep blaming Creative?Yes they should be able to release some new drivers compatible with Vista.But that’s not the point I guess.The point is when you re-product a software,a new version,it should be able to do whatever the previos version did and some more features …So why don’t you blame Microsoft for producing Vista?!Anyhow,I bought my jukebox 3.5 years ago.The drivers are rather old for sure.But shouldn’t my Windows Vista be able to deal with it like my XP?!
January 3, 2008 at 6:45 am
Hiya,
Good Question, long answer.
My view from an industry perspective is that, the driver compatibility for any product has a responsibility split of 25%/75%. That is Microsoft or any OS needs to provide the ability for the product to work in its, Operating System (Vista in this case) and the 25%, but it is mostly (75%) the hardware suppliers responsibility to make sure their product, and its user documentation, allows its hardware to work (easily) with various OS’s. Microsoft did fail in making driver compatibility available early enough for hardware manufactures to react and were not clear enough that hardware manufacturers would need to be proactive for the 1st time in addressing hardware needs.
However, Creative and Microsoft had an intimate relationship, (teaming up to take on Apple and the iPod) so this was not an issue.
This then goes down to the mighty dollar, where creative in cutting staff also had a problem in sales with its new products coming on at the same time as the iPods were taking over the market and to make matters worse ally Microsoft had decided to capatalise . What better way to stimulate growth then to kill all previous owners’ ability to work with vista. It is also known internally that Creative were not that chuffed with Microsoft introduction of the Zune, hurting matters further for new Zen products. It had been discussed that Creative would make the Zune for Microsoft and that also did not happen.
SO the bottom line is Creative (or any seller) has the responsibility to look after its customers. Vista works with all creative products (including the nomad), so if I (and others) can figure it out why can’t Creative?
This can be proven in that there could easily have been a class action law suit against Creative, in failing to support users, when Vista was launched. Creative was able to avoid this by ‘back cataloging’ any products it did not want to support with vista (for what ever reason). This is shown, of course by looking for drivers for the older products, where it shows it is not supported by vista.
Finally, all the compatibility issues has since been resolved going forward by introducing new driver compatibility standards with Microsoft called ‘playforsure’. This new standard makes it very easy for products to work with Microsoft, very easily. The older creative products could not meet these criteria so Creative smartly avoided the problem again.
Most users (according to Creative), were not negatively affected by vista. In English this meant the cost of supporting vista for older players like the nomad, and Zen NX was too great, and many users either did not migrate to vista or were happy to buy new players (vs. the cost of support and hurt on new sales).
It is of some notable interest that there were 2 lawsuits around at the time as well. One anti-trust against Microsoft by Creative in 2003
Where Microsoft says Creative MP3 Players suck let’s make our own,
And the other against Apple by Creative, where Apple lost $100m ouch. This actually granted Apple a license to use the the ‘tree’ structure on all iPods.
Again this firmly puts the burden of blame on Creative.
I am still a fan of creative hardware but quite dissapointed how they treated existing owners.
I am sure this mean users like us looking at other players closer next time. I know I do .
Mr-Internet started life as an electronics buyer in the UK, buying and selling retailers the 1st and 2nd Gen gaming consoles, PC’s and sound cards.
He won various accolades from Sony, Microsoft, IBM, Creative and others, including Distributor of the Year, and Salesman of the Year.
He then moved on to the Internet(s), being part of the team that introduced business adsl, and fixed internet access in the UK, and Europe, where he won more accolades from this global telco. He continues introducing new Internet Products today, moving more into online applications solutions. He has spoken as a futurist across the UK and beyond.
January 3, 2008 at 8:08 am
I tried this technique with Vista and my Jukebox and initially it didn’t work. Neither Vista nor Creative Media PLayer would recognise the Zen. Then I rebooted and plugged the Zen in to the USB port. Vista said ‘Installing new hardware’ and when prompted, I chose to select the drivers myself and pointed Vista at the directory where the drivers had been installed. Bingo, Vista accepted the driver and what’s more it appeared as a connected device in Computer view. I could even double-click on it and browse and transfer files in native Vista explorer. However Creaive Media PLayer still insisted there was no Creative device installed even though Vista was seeing it. So I didtched Creative media Player and installed Winamp instead. Winamp manages the Zen perfectly. Thanks for getting me started.
January 21, 2008 at 5:35 am
hey… i have a creative zen xtra and the same problem got me frustrated…. then i came across this…. and it WORKED….!!!! i had all my data on my creative and i dunno what hell i would have gone through if it wasnt for this…..
the driver that’s mentioned….
everything’s working just the way it used to in xp once you install…(or say semi- install
thanks a lot …
January 26, 2008 at 1:28 am
Does anyone know if this process will work witht the Creative Zen 2.0 MP3 Player? Thanks
February 19, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Yes, I am so glad that winamp can work with Creative Zen Xtra under vista, EVEN x64 which I have! Just install the latest XP driver under compatibility mode and run as aministrator, restart your PC. Open winamp and BINGO! Winamp’s “portables” function works perfectly.
March 18, 2008 at 5:12 am
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
I’m away from home with 20Gb of music on my Nomad Jukebox 3 and a Vista laptop…so frustrating not to be able to access my music
but this makes it all better
March 21, 2008 at 5:37 am
Thanks ! I got my zen nx working on vista sp1 by just installing the “JB3MV2_PCWDRV_US_2_01_00.EXE” drivers as administrator and in win xp compatibility.
March 30, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Quite simply - you are a genius! Painless and done in 5 minutes. You put Creative to shame.
April 2, 2008 at 3:22 am
Its Works!! , finaly my zen NX works on vista T_T
Thank you !!
April 30, 2008 at 7:28 am
Following these directions I was able to get Nomad Zen Explorer to work and managed to use that and dragging and dropping from my MP3 folder to load my music onto my device. Thank you for the experimental work.
May 13, 2008 at 12:25 am
I am so happy - using these directions I was able to get my 20gig Zen to work with Vista.
I did as someone above did - installed the driver (JB3etc), plugged in the Zen, which Vista then found and installed okay. I can’t see it in explorer, but winamp picks up the Zen with no problems and I can manage everything through there.
May 16, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Nice work !!
Vista sees my Nomad 30GB Zen Xtra and Nomad Zen Explorer + Creative Source5 software works.
May 18, 2008 at 2:54 am
THANK YOU!! You’ve done a great job, I now have my JB3 working with Vista. I am grateful for this, I hate Creative for not doing this themselves, it’s their responsbility to look after their customers!!
This method works great but only for the USB interface, do you know why the firewire port doesn’t work??
Once again, thank you, great job!!
June 11, 2008 at 9:02 pm
(taken from another website, it worked for me)
ok for anyone for which this method didnt work and that tried everything else and is at wits end like I was
here is a great fix to get this thing working in vista
first upgrade your firmware to the 6.xx version
then
On an administrator account:
>>Right click “Computer”
>>Click “Manage”
>>Under the “System Tools” section, Double click “Local Users and Groups”
>>Click “Groups”
>>Right click “Administrators”
>>Click “Add to group…”
>>Click “Add”
>>Click “Advanced”
>>Click “Find Now”
>>Double click “Local Service”
>>Click “Ok”
>>”NT Authority\Local Service” should show up in the list now
>>Click “Ok”
>>Close Computer Management and reboot.
If that does not work, boot your computer up in safe mode with command promt. In the command prompt, type in one of these three variations of this command. (first one worked for me)
Net localgroup Administrators local service /add
net localhost Administrators /add Local Service
net localgroup Administrators /add Local Service
its flipping brilliant i say
June 16, 2008 at 8:40 am
Brilliant. Used your instructions to install my Zen Xtra on my vista box with the Zencast software (media player 5 would not install).
Thank you so much.
June 23, 2008 at 12:49 am
Worked for my Micro, though a couple of things were done differently, but it was these fantastic guidelines that even got me close. Thank you so, so, so much.
July 12, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Worked like a charm. I own Nomad Jukebox ZEN USB 2.0. I was sure I will need to by new one (forsure not creative’s… fuck them for the way they treat their customers)
Thanks a lot… It’s working great.
July 15, 2008 at 12:54 am
Thanks for putting this info up - didn’t exactly go without a hitch, but at least I was able to update and sync my old Zen Jukebox.
I agree with the poster above … never again will I buy anything from Creative!
July 22, 2008 at 8:57 am
could you repeat how to instal software nomad zen extra for vista,from 1step,i will be very grateful.
July 22, 2008 at 9:56 am
I made one mistake,but now it’s OK,when i changed my pc with vista OS i thought that i can’t use nomad any more…thank you for help,i realy grateful and happy now,i like nomad zen extra, and now i can use it with vista…