Instructions for a Vista clean install on an FZ190

Ok, as promised I have completed my step by step instructions for how to do a clean install of Vista on an FZ190.

One important disclaimer: You use these instructions at your own risk! I make no warranty as to their completeness. These are gleaned from a chronicle of the steps I used. Your mileage may vary.

You need to make sure you have a good backup of all applications and or data before you start. I will answer questions about the process, however I will NOT answer questions about "I didn't make a backup but need to find out how to recover my...".

Fair enough? Here ya' go... (See attachments. Word or PDF format.)

Gary

P.S. You will need a REAL Vista DVD for this process. A retail DVD or even an Update DVD will suffice. NEWS FLASH UPDATE: See the P.P.P.P.P.P.S. below! You have EVERYTHING you need in front of you. No retail or update DVD is required! Thanks coolguy!

P.P.S. I have updated the documents to clarify some items in step 14. No REAL changes in the process, just clarification.

P.P.P.S. I have made a few more changes to the document. Again, nothing really substantive. Some clarifications and a link to instructions on how to manipulate partitions during the install process. Also some notes on how to move the Documents, Favorites and Pictures folders. I also made note of some of the items that were my personal preferences and were really optional in the clean install. (9/27/07)

P.P.P.P.S. elmerb posted a message with his notes on using the clean install instructions on a 180 version of the FZ. In his case it was an FZ18OE. He outlines the specific steps where he found differences. Thanks, elmerb!! (11/08/07) Here is the link: Clean install differences on an FZ180E

P.P.P.P.P.S. AbuTech posted a very helpful message for those of you with an FZ2 series machine. He was able to do a clean install using my document, but did find a few differences in the process which he duly noted! Thanks, AbuTech! (11/28/07) Here is a link to his message: FZ2 series differences.

P.P.P.P.P.P.S. coolguy has found a way to take the hidden Windows Anytime Upgrade (WAU) directory on an FZ series machine and turn it into a bootable install DVD. The was succesful in doing a clean install using this process. Thanks, coolguy! (12/07/07) Here is the link to his message: Create an install DVD from the WAU directory

 

That's a pretty good set of instructions. Should be able to apply that to any FZ model (with the appropriate drivers, of course).

 

Did you use a retail version of Vista to do a clean install?

 

Yes.

Gary

 

So will this not work unless you have a retail version of Vista?

I got a copy of Vista Ultimate from my university for $20, but I am not sure if it will only upgrade from XP. On the disk it says "For upgrade use only." Will this work?

 

I used a copy from my college, but we are a Microsoft test site so I believe it's the full verson.

However, do a Google search for Vista full install with upgrade disk. I believe there is a workaround available that allows you to do a full install with an upgrade disk.

 

The process I documented should work for ANY version that will do a full install, rather than an upgrade. As for the version you have, even though it is designed to be an "upgrade only". There are reports, even on Brian Livingston's site (a well read reporter on all things PC for MANY MANY years) on the workaround that Microsoft itself has "blessed" for doing a clean install from an upgrade disk. You should check on Brian's site or any number of others, but basically what you do is install from the DVD WITHOUT giving it any key. This installs a 30 trial version. Then with that 30 day trial version running, you pop in the DVD and do an upgrade. This time you provide it with the key from the DVD package. Voilà' a full blown system.

This process has been blessed by Microsoft as the way for folks who upgraded from XP to Vista and then latter need to reinstall Vista. Without the workaround the ONLY way would have been to go back to XP and then upgrade to Vista. They also recognize this process as being ok for folks with OEM copies of Vista who want to upgrade via a clean install. So for all us Sony owners this process is legal.

Now how does this affect my instructions? First, when you do the initial 30 trial version I would follow the steps I suggested about loading the SATA driver DURING the install. I would NOT apply any of the drivers or applications to the 30 trial, I'd wait until after the upgrade. But that's just my gut reaction. I think either way should work just fine.

If you take my suggestion and partition the hard drive before you start and set aside a portion of the drive for Ghost images, I'd make an image after the initial 30 day trial install, and another after you install the drivers (regardless of whether you install the drivers on the 30 day trail or wait until after the upgrade) and I'd take one after the upgrade (again regardless if you have installed the drivers or not).


Hope this helps!

Gary

 

I installed clean installed xp once on an HP computer. I was able to upload the files requires off the backup partition and load them onto the new formated drive. I can't remeber exactly how it was done or which files but it worked perfectly. I bet there is a way to do this with Vista. You already paid for it legally why buy another copy. I'll try and find the article and post it here.

 

Kranker,

Do see if you can find that article. But I think the recovery partition on the Vaio's might be an image copy. If so, there is little hope of pulling the install files from it. But let's see what the article suggest, it is sure worth a try!

Gary

 

wow this is really nice, too bad nobody made one like this for the Sony CR

 

When I order a FZ, could I ask for disks?

 

Won't do any good to ask. Sony does not provide the disks. They only provide the recovery partiton and the ability to create a set of recovery DVD's.

I seem to remember someone mentioning something about a Vista Companion DVD from Sony, but I don't know the particulars of what is on that. You might want to check into that.

Gary

P.S. here is a thread about the companion DVD: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2243840

 

nice work....thnx

 

What if you don't have the windows vista cd?

is there any way to get a clean install? also, i want to remove my norton stuff. completely. i heard if you just uninstall using control panel, it leaves some in the registry and i hate that.

 

A "clean install"? No. A "semi-clean" install, yes. Not all app leave behind junk in the registry. Some do though but a registry cleaner app can fix that. Just make sure you do have a system restore point set. Before you start.

As I said in the document, I prefer to repartition the hard drive and set aside a portion to hold s ghost image of the C: drive. It takes about ten minutes to ghost the C: drive. Nice insurance for when I screw something up.

Gary

 

Hi Gary,

Could you tell me anyway we can extract the SONY reocevery Image and modify the content to make clean install ?. I mean is it possible to modify the sony recovery image by copying it to C: drive and extract the recovery Image content using any tool and delete all the sony bloatware from that?. That way we can reburn the the content again to DVD. I am not sure it is possible or not ?

Regards
Raj

 

The ideal scenario would be to do a clean install and use a program such as Norton Ghost to create an image afterwards. That way you have an image of the fresh install without all the bloatware.

 

You're dreamin'. There is no way to do this. The recovery image is NOT a copy of the Vista Install DVD, it is a compressed copy of the C: partition as it left the factory. You have one and only one option when doing a true "clean install" you MUST have a Vista DVD. Period. End of story.

(That DVD can be an Upgrade DVD, it does not to be a full retail install DVD. As I have mentioned before, Brian Livingston has a great tutorial on how to use a Upgrade DVD to do a start the clean install process on a machine that did not come with a Vista installation DVD.)

Gary

 

I just want to confirm that "less-than-original" copies of Vista will work just fine as long as you use a legit serial key (like the one on the bottom of your laptop) and I had no problems at all. The only thing I can't get out of the device manager is "Mass Storage", but I THINK that's my memory card reader because it's not working, so I just have to find the drivers for that.

 

Mugen Yarrr,

Did you use my list of drivers? Did you install them ALL? Post a screen shot of the device manager screen.

Gary

 

Also, I noticed that the "Capture" button no longer brings up the camera capture utility (the program still works if I open it regularly though!) and my audio buttons (volume and mute) don't show anything on the screen, but still do what they're supposed to do, which I kind of like anyway. The display off button works and I haven't tested the "instant on" button yet.

EDIT: Function keys don't work either

 

I just realized you don't have a FZ series machine. So, I don't have much of a reference point. Did you load the CR series equivalent of the FZ's "Sony shared library", "Sony Utilities DLL" and "Setting Utility Series" from my list? Those should make the function keys and onscreen display of volume etc. The Mass Storage is most likely the card reader and you will need the Sony driver for that.

Gary

 

Well, I decided to start fresh because I didn't see that you said to DOWNLOAD the drivers, I just did them all from the disk and I guess it doesn't work right. After formatting and installing Vista again (it seems to install MUCH quicker than XP did, at least IMO) I followed your guide almost exactly (most of it was the same really) and no ! in device manager this time, and my memory card reader works. I'm still installing stuff off the recovery disk right now though, I'm at the PX Engine thing, and I'm going through them one at a time, I think grouping it all together installing it all at once from the recovery disk screwed something up last time I did.

If there is problems when I get done I will be sure to post, but I think it's all going to work this time.

 

GREAT!!!!! I am glad it is working better this time. Can you do me a favor and go back to your message with the screen shot and delete the picture? Because it is so wide, it is causing all the messages in this thread to scroll of the right side of the screen.

Gary

 

Well, everything is now working 100% great, except for the function keys and the capture key. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them, but I can live without those working really, but it would be nice if they did.

 

Look at my document in the grid section. Note the line about Sony Utilities DLL (SOOOTH-37300000-US.EXE). Also note that that same file included a bunch of other items shown in the grid, like Vaio Event Service (aka function keys), Power management etc. I got that file from the Sony support site along with the other drivers and apps. There should be a similar file for your model. The description read: "Notebook Control and Utilities Sony® Notebook Utilities - Installs the originally shipped version of the Sony Notebook Utilities." Did you find a similar file? On my FZ that was the file that enabled the function keys (and other stuff too).

Also there is an FTP directory: Vaio Control Center That file was one of the things I could not find anywhere. I don't remember how I found that. On the Start menu right "out of the box" there was an app called Vaio Control Center. This is that program. It appears to not be specific to the model of machine. But one of the things it has is a tab to let you set the program to be started when you hit the "S" button above the keyboard on an FZ190. It might allow you to program the capture button, I don't know.

Gary

 

Hi Gary,

Thanks for your answers. Could you clear some of my doubts.

1) Can I uninstall complelte "VAIO Entertainment Platform" and "SQL Server 2005" from my FZ-190. If I uninstall what are the softwares affected ?. Any disadvantages I have ?. I don't want to keep unneccasary softwares on my system.

2) Do you know any free registry cleaner for vista to remove all the sony bloatware registry entries after unistalling the softwares ?

3) If I use the burned recovery DVD's, can I remove the hidden partition and install all softwares from recovery DVD's without copying to hidden part or C: drive ?

Thanks
Raj

 

dsnvraju,

1) If you uninstall "platform" it will automatically uninstall SQL Server 2005. If you do that, the only application that will be affected is Sony Media. (This is the application designed to allow you to share media files on your network. I believe it only works on a network in your home, not the Internet. But that is MY understanding of it. I had no need for it so, I never loaded it when I did my clean install.)

2) No. They might exist, I just don't know. I did a clean install not a bloatware removal. I am not the bloatware removal guy, only the clean install guy. Ask someone else. ...grin...

3) As far as I know, YES the DVD set (disk 1) is boot-able and standalone. But why would you delete it? The hidden partition is only about 7 gigs. Do you REALLY need the extra disk space?

Gary

 

Hi Gary,

Thanks. Yes you are correct I think it is better to keep the 7GB hidden part as it is without deleting. Initially I thought I can get 7GB free space.

Regards
Raj

 

Gary,

Nice procedure, it worked great for me.

I found two other updates on the Sony site that weren't mentioned in your document. One is new "Vaio AV mode Launcher", but the other is from May "InterVideo Instant Mode Update". I'm not sure if you knew about this or not. See attached screenshot of the InterVideo update.

I loaded both, but no luck with instant mode and the nVidia video card yet.

 

Hmmm, I just went back to the Sony Support site to look at those. At first I could not find this update. I had to change my model type from VGN-FZ190 to VGN-FZ190E to make it show up. Odd. (Anyone know what the difference is between a 190 and a 190E?)

So what DID this update attempt to install.

You are NOT going to have any luck with the instant mode and the nVidia card. Not until nVidia comes out with a new driver that will work without the operating system running.

Gary

EDIT: I just compared the lists for the three FZ190 models on the Sony Support. The FZ190N and FZ190E have identical lists of drivers and updates. The plain FZ190 has fewer items listed. Missing is the one you mentioned, the Toshiba Bluetooth driver, one for AOL (who cares) and maybe one other.

EDIT: Well I dug in a bit deeper, and at the screen where it shows "Original", "Updates", "Everything", if you select the "Everything" option it then asks which OS you want to see driver and updates for. If you select Vista Ultimate you do not see the Bluetooth driver. Select any other Vista option and the Bluetooth driver appears in the list. (I didn't check any of the other "missing" items.) Bottom line, look at the list for each of the Vista versions when seeking out drivers and updates!

 

If your original Vaio was a FZ190E that had Vista Home Premium installed is subsequently upgraded to Vista Ultimate, does that change which FZ190 ?? model that you use when looking at Support for drivers and updates in the future?

 

No, it appears that it doesn't change which model you specify. It does appear, though, that if you selecte the "Everything" option and then select a version of Vista the Vista version affects the list presented. Bottom line is, if you don't find the driver or update you are looking for look at all three Vista versions.

Gary

 

Hi Gary,

Could you tell whether I can delete "VAIO OOBE" safely from my system?. I am not sure what does this software do. Do you know anything about this software or any disadvantage by uninstalling VAIO OOBE from my FZ-190?

Thanks
Raj

 

I do not know if you can uninstall it or not. As I have stated here before, I am the "clean install" guy, not the "how to uninstall bloatware" guy. I do know that I did not install it when I did a clean install.

Now I will tell you I SUSPECT, but cannot say with ANY certainty, that I think this program may be what displays the Vaio tool bar at the bottom of the screen that in turn takes you to the VAIO Entertainment Center, VAIO Productivity Center and VAIO Security Center. But this is ONLY a hunch. I take NO RESPONSIBILITY as to what happens if you try to uninstall it.

If I were you, I would make a GHOST image of my C: drive to a DVD and then uninstall it. If you don't have Ghost, there are other apps that will burn an exact image of your C: drive to DVD. You might be able to rely on a System Restore Point as your safety net. But if you do that, or choose not to make some partition image, be prepared to restore from the Recovery DVD's or Recovery partition back to the "out of the box" state again.

OK did I make it REALLY clear that you need to have a fool proof way to recover should this fail?

Now, please report back your results if you do take this off. Tell me if my hunch is correct. There are folks in another thread trying to get rid of that pesky toolbar.

Gary

 

Gary,

I just tried to follow your guide to clean install vista home premium on my FZ11S (UK).

I've got as far as Step 14, so I have installed all the drivers and now looking to install the basic applications. I can install the software A-D but can not find px engine. I trying inserting the Applications Recovery DVD but nothing happens. The autorun will not run, I have tried to manually run it but with no luck.

Is this the DVD with the selective restore?

I backed up the C:\Program Files\Sony and tried to manually run the exe in the Recovery folder but it states px.dll cannot be found.

Any Advice?

 

First, I restored the PX engine from the same place I restored the items in steps A through D. The note in green was to mention that I realized that after I had gotten through steps 14a-14d I suddenly realized that the DVD wasn't really needed anymore. When I used the DVD in step 14a it had installed the "Vaio Recovery Center" (the applications recovery program's REAL name) on to my hard drive! I found it in "c:\program files\sony\Vaio recovery".

It sounds to me like you had backed up that directory somewhere while your machine was still in it's "out of the box" state and that you were trying to run from that BACKUP. Instead go to the above mentioned directory and see if you find a file called "launcher.exe". If so it will launch the "Vaio Recovery Center". If not just use the same process you did for steps 14a-14d. You should find the PX engine on the second tab. (See screen shot below.)

Gary

 

Ladies and Gents,

I just uploaded a revised copy of the documentation (it's still in the first post of this thread). There is NO change in the process, just some clarification about step 14. Specifically about the fact that after step 14a, you no longer need to use the actual DVD. The required files are actually installed to the hard drive in step 14a. By creating a desktop shortcut as indicated in the doc, you can run the Vaio Recovery Center app right from the hard drive. It is MUCH faster that way.

Gary

 

Sorry, I should have explained a bit more clearly.

I installed the 14 A-D from the Utilities zip file that I downloaded from Sony UK website. It does not seem to install the Vaio Recovery folder when installing Sony Utilities DLL. I can not find the launcher.exe in the Utilities or on the CD I backed up from C:\Program Files\Sony

I am unable to install the Sony Utilities DLL from the Recovery DVD as this will not run the autorun and just contains .pac files.

Hope that explains my problem more clearly.

 

Yes, it clarifies it quite a bit. It is obvious you are trying to do this on an FZ11 not an FZ190. It appears that the European version of things is going to be a bit different.

First lets start with the "Recovery DVD" you mention. I notice you keep saying DVD rather than DVD's. How did you come by this DVD or DVD's? On a US based machine when we run the utility to create the recovery dvd set we get TWO dvd's. The first of those two is dual use. It is bootable to do a "bloatware included" reinstall of the os. It is also usable within Vista as I explain in the document. If your disk only contains .PAC files you are not going to be able to use my process as written.

Without the Vaio Recovery Center application, from the DVD set, there are MANY things you are going to have to somehow find to complete this process.

Sorry I don't have better news, but I can't access the UK website to try to see if I can help you locate the equivalent files.


Gary

 

I created 3 DVD's using the Recovery Center from the "out-of-box" state. The first 2 are used to recover the whole system, i.e. Vista with all the bloatware and the 3rd is an Application Recovery DVD.

Is there anywhere I could download the PXEngine? I have a feeling that this is preventing the Vaio from executing the Autorun. Is it possible to download the just the Recovery Center from the US site?

I found something on the Vaio Forum about decompressing the pac files, which then contain most of the applications. I have decompressed these and can find most of the bloatware including Works, Click To DVD, Sony Photo and Video, but can not find anything to do with PXEngine or Roxio.

I had some difficulties installing the drivers because Sony UK only provide inf files, which I got around. I think I'm heading towards rebuilding including the bloatware and then just uninstall it.

 

Oh!!!!! So you have 3 DVD's. Yep things are a bit different on that side of the Atlantic! ...big ol' grin...

Tell me about the three DVD's. The first two that are used to restore, are they the ones you say contain only PAC files? What happens if you put the first of those two in your machine when Vista is running? Was this what your were trying to do when you said: "I am unable to install the Sony Utilities DLL from the Recovery DVD as this will not run the autorun and just contains .pac files." If these two only contain PAC files and nothing else how do you use them? Is the first of the two bootable? If so, when you boot from it is the ONLY option to recovery the entire "bloatware" version of the C drive or is there some sort of selective recovery of apps option?

On to the third disk. What excatly does IT do? What options are availbale to you when you use it. Post a screen shot if you can.

The PX engine is not available for download from anywhere I cn find. It is NOT what is keeping you from doing the Autorun though. It is part of the CD/DVD writing functions. Nothing to do with autorun.

I just reviewed the rest of step 14. NONE of the other stuff is essential EXCEPT the Bluetooth utils installed in 14e. Do you have the files for that? If so, you might want to just skip the PX engine for the moment. Install the Bluetooth stuff. Then try burning some files to a test CD. See if you have any issues. As near as I can tell the PX engine is used for the instant drag and drop style of recording files to a cd. If that functions ok, you should be good to go without step 14d.

Keep me posted. If we get through this you and I can publish an FZ11 addendum to my instructions.

Good luck!

Gary

 

I have attached the Root folder of each of the three recovery discs. The first two do not contain the pac files. If i insert Disc 1 it says reboot pc to boot from disc to recover windows. Disc 2 just says insert disc 1. If I boot up on this disc I have the options to (1) Fix startup problem in Windows, (2) Restore system point, (3) Recover files from HDD, (4) Restore system to original state - Can't see an option to do a selective restore.

Disc 2 contains the drivers and utilities that can be downloaded from the web. Drivers include Audio, Bluetooth, Camera, Chipset, etc... Utilities are in the screenshot, i have put done next to whats installed, Bluetooth is a duplicate from drivers.

Disc 3 - Application Recovery Disc contains the pac files which are compressed applications. This is the disc where autorun does not work.

I found a folder somewhere with the px files in but no install, think it was in a folder with an application called rescue. I copied these files in to the recovery folder I had backed up and ran the recovery utility, which worked this time. I went to options...selective install but it just starts installing things, first windvd which I don't mind but then something called OpenMG which i ctrl-alt-del end tasked the whole process. Think some files on my pc exist for OpenMG now.

I was planning on installing Nero anyway, so not too worried about DVD drivers, however would like to still install the Vaio Recovery Utility, but cannot find it anywhere.

Also what is the DSD Direct and DSD to PCM playback plug-in software for? and is the Click 2 DVD just to process videos etc?

Hope that all makes sense.

 

Badboy4ife,

When I insert disc one while running Vista, I see the attached dialog box.

As you can see, it contains similar verbiage about booting from the disc to do a complete reinstall of the C: drive, but it also allows me to continue on and run the app for recovering individual drivers and programs.

As I said in my last note, I think at this point you have ALL the essentials loaded. If you can burn DVD's using the drag and drop method AND using Nero, you are home free you should not need this PX Engine.

DSD Direct and DSD to PCM playback plug-in, I believe, are for a Sony Proprietary Audio format. Click 2 DVD is just used to process videos.

Gary

 

Gary,

Thanks.

I think I am more comfortable now, believe the system is ready to use, without the bloatware.

Not too happy that OpenMG put some stuff on my pc, but better than having everything.

I have attached the message that I get when I insert the disc. Doesn't give option of individual install. Do you know if sony makes the Vaio Recovery Utility available for download as I believe that is the only other thing I wanted to install, just in case.

 

Badboy4life,

I have not seen it as a download, sorry.

PLEASE test the drag and drop write to CD and regular burn of a cd with Nero and let me know if it works.

Gary

 

I have erased a DVD+RW and dragged files to it and it writes them ok. I haven't installed Nero yet, but Windows seems to do a good enough job, so not really sure that I need the PX Engine after all. I'm guessing this should work if dragging to a CD too.

Just tested it works over HDMI and it does, so I'm happy. Now just need to go through and disable services that I don't need and should run quick slick I hope.

Thanks for your help Gary.

 

Hi

Does anybody know where I can download the original drivers for the Australian model - FZ18G? I have had a look at the usual site where I got my drivers for my SZ: http://www.sony-asia.com/section/support but there are no original drivers listed for the FZ, only Software updates

Thanks

 

Hey Guys, Sorry if this is a stupid question or if it has been addressed somewhere else here. I just ordered a Vaio FZ190. I can get an OEM version of Vista cheap from my school, is there any reason I can't forget about all the restore partition crap, purchase an OEM version of Vista, dban the vaio and just install that new version with its new serial number, then download drivers from the sony website and have a totally clean machine? Is all this you guys are doing to avoid purchasing vista again or is there something more to it?

Thanks

 

You DO want to make the 2 DVD "backup" set from the restore partition. The reason being that DVD set will also contain an application that will run within Vista and allow you to selectively restore some of the applications that are NOT available for download from the Sony website. The specifics are all contained in the document attached to the first message of this thread.

Otherwise yes you can do exactly as you are suggesting.

Gary