Which version of quiclplay do I need?

Hi,

I dual boot with Vista (installed first) and XP. I know quiclplay does not work the way it's supposed to work in Vista. Is there a fix for this? If not, which version can I install on XP and have it work without booting? Thank you.

 

You will need Quickplay ver 2(2.1 or 2.3). The bootable or the directplay part is contained in a separate installation folder than the windows part. basically you will have to get 2 installation folders, one to install the windows half(QPW) and the other(HPQPDP) to install the directplay half.

The Vista QP behavior is by design I believe. I dont think they are going to provide any fix. Maybe with the release of the new santa rosa platform they might roll out bootable quickplay for Vista as well. But for now I dont think there is going to be any fix.

 

Well, as miner said, you can install Quickplay 2 (direct partition) within XP to use Quickplay without booting. You cannot do this in your current dual-boot configuration, though, and it's really MUCH more trouble than it's worth.

If you want to try though:

Quickplay 2.3 for Windows XP -- I uploaded it at http://www.mediafire.com/?2zh0gxl1vnm . Let me know if there are any problems.

Quickplay 2 Direct Partition -- instructions and download are at http://www.notebookforums.com/post2542025.html

Quickplay 3 (for Vista) -- at http://www.mediafire.com/?e4neajozn5l

You can easily install version 2.3 in XP and 3.0 in Vista, but due to the way Quickplay partition modifies your MBR (and it's dumb partitioning requirements), you will NOT be able to use the Direct Partition (to use Quickplay without booting into Windows) in this situation.

 

In my current configuration, Vista boots first by default. Is that the problem? If I can change it so that XP boots first, would it make any difference? Thanks again.

 

No, the biggest problem with Quickplay Direct Partition is that it is only designed to work with a VERY specific hard disk partition configuration. You have to have one (and only one) primary partition, one hidden recovery partition (optional), and 1028 MB of unallocated free space at the end of the hard drive, for Quickplay Direct Partition to allow you to install. If you have a second partition (for Vista for example), Quickplay just will not install. And if you try to install it by setting up your hard drive the way Quickplay wants, and then repartitioning and installing Vista, the bootloader to get into Quickplay will not function.

The secondary problem is the bootloader, which is hardcoded for a specific partition and setup to boot Quickplay Direct Partition, which doesn't seem to work at all with multiple OS's (even if they were on the same partition).

There are many other problems/annoyances getting Quickplay Direct to work (even if your hard disk is set up correctly and you only have XP installed) that makes it nearly worthless. Also, since some (all???) of the HP models that ship with Vista use a newer motherboard hardware revision than the previous models, they will not be recognized by Quickplay anyway, and won't install/function on those machines.