Mini Guide to Installing Vaio TZ Vista Drivers

It seems that there are many people that are not in Japan that are very interested or have already purchased the Vaio TZ. Problem is for some importers such as pricejapan, they don’t allow the option of installing an OS other than Japanese. So when you do try and install Vista from scratch you lose all drivers. Or if you just want to do a fresh install and get rid of the bloatware, you’re left in the dark to hunt for drivers, because technically, they are only on sale in Japan.

This is a mini guide if you want to install a fresh copy of English Vista, so hopefully you will find this useful as I have successfully installed a copy of English Vista with all the functions working.

1. Obtain a legal copy of Windows Vista of your choice.

2. Download the drivers for Sony Vaio TZ160C from another computer onto a USB drive here http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-swu.pl?mdl=VGNTZ160C&region_id=1

3. Boot from CD drive and proceed to install Vista.

4. These software drivers come with a model checker to make sure you’re not installing it onto another model. An unnecessary step IMO. So you would need to fool this model checker into thinking your model is TZ160.
Simply follow the directions in this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=100991
Don’t worry about the FE model mentioned by the OP, its just an example because he happens to have an FE. Also don’t worry about which driver to install, but rule of thumbs is to install chipset first and the rest, pick and choose.

5. Reboot when requested and viola.

 

I'm a little confused. First I install a full retail copy of Vista Business then I go to vista directory C:/windows and change the model.txt to 160C? after that I can install the 160C model drivers?

Do I need to install anything else before the drivers? I've checked the link and it said something about

"first download the Sony Utilities Driver Package, the Graphic Driver Package(Nvidia or Intel, the Nvidia driver seems to be the same to the one distributed through windows update, so maybe you can skip this one) and the Sony Shared dll package"

Do I need to install the Sony Utilities Driver Package, the Graphic Driver Package, the Sony Shared DLL package and then the Drivers?

If you install a clean copy of Vista into your TZ wouldn't that wipe out all the info so there wouldn't even be Model.txt or Model name on the C:/windows directory. right?????

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question.

Can you please explain to me step by step.

thanks in advance

 

Its actually simpler than you think. Like I said previously, don't worry about downloading the sony's utilities package, I didn't.

Right after you install Vista, there is NO model.txt file.
That file is created AFTER you try to install one of the drivers.

So you will need to "try" to install a driver, of course it will tell you that your model isn't compatible. Just exit.

Go into your c:\windows folder and that file will magically appear. Follow the link on how to edit and then go into the security tab and follow the steps, save and exit.

Now go back and install that same driver that you couldn't previously and you'll get an error message, but just click ok and everything should be fine.

NOTE: it is very important to download all the drivers onto a USB flash drive BEFORE you reinstall windows. If you download onto an SD drive it will not work because the laptop needs the SD driver to be installed or it won't recognize the drive.

 

OUTRIGGER,

Thank You Sooooooooo Much.

 

"So right-click the file und select "Properties". Then select the Security-Tab. You now have to disable write-Access to the file for all Groups (System, Administrators, Users)."

What does he meant by select file und?????

Is there a file called und??

thanks again outrigger

 

Nice thread Outrigger, is going to be very helpful.

I am planning to order too from japan and i have a question that in another thread it wasn't answered.
Can i download the drivers from Sony US even if install a non-English Vista Business?

 

I think that poster is German. "Und" means "and" in German. So this is what he meant:

Right-click the file AND select "Properties"

 

thanks esskay.

 

Noone can answer my previous question?

 

Sony uses the same drivers for their bundled English and Japanese OSes, so you shouldn't run into any problems. Instead of doing the model.txt method though, I recommend you use Universal Extractor to extract the actual setup and driver files from the model checker executable so that you can have more control during the setup process and know exactly what you're installing.

 

Thanks again bogart, i will follow your suggestion.

Can you tell me if is better a 32 bit Vista or a 64 bit for the TZ?

 

Sony does not provide drivers for the 64-bit version OS so you should use the 32-bit version.

 

Outrigger,

Did you successfully attain all the drivers for your TZ90? Did you get all the drivers from Sony website under TZ160C model? Did you install the original or everything?

 

i installed all the drivers using the tz160 model, and 2 software related to TPM and fingerprint software from the tx29 model. they all worked with no issues.

 

I got the driver working to, but which program you use to save your fingerprints for later use?

 

the UPEK® Protector Suite QL / Protector Suite QL

but TZ160C doesn't have it for some reason, but the TX series models do.

 

outrigger,

I'll be getting my TZ next week. Is it true that you need to install the driver in certain order to work properly on your TZ?

help will be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

I don't know if it is really does matter to install the drivers in certain order, however this is what i've done and everything works perfectly.

Just download all the ORIGINAL drivers from TZ160C US support page and match the filenames.

As for the updates just install it in any order.

 

Thank you so much.

 

Quick question - did you format the hard drive first or did you install Vista English over Vista Jpn?

 

formatted everything including the hidden partition and installed vista from scratch from an external hdd

 

Cool - what app did you use to format the HD or should I say SSD? Is this the same everyone did too?

 

i removed the hidden partition with diskpart from command prompt, there was a guide somewhere here in the forum

or http://www.microsoft.com/resources/.../xp/all/proddocs/en-us/diskpart.mspx?mfr=true

 

Thanks a lot! Everything seems to be working fine here on my TZ. Any ideas where I might be able to get the UPEK Protector Suite for Vista? I don't seen it downloadable on the sony site.

 

Outrigger, I read in another thread that Sony now offers a "Vista Companion" DVD for $9.99. Can we assume that this DVD will be able to install all the right drivers for the TZ90, assuming, of course, that we did rename the Sony model in that text file?

 

I haven't heard anything about that, but if that DVD contains all the drivers for the TZ, I don't see any issues assuming you rename the model.txt file. Have you checked on the Sony site to see if they do in fact sell this? It would help a lot of people importing and reformatting the TZ with ease.

 

I have not but I will find it and order it, and report back. I'm tempted to downgrade to XP now, but might want to also have it for a potential SZ purchase.

 

I was able to remove the hidden partition...but how do you actually format Vista? ALso I have the 32SSD/160GB HDD. I heard from someone on the forum that I can use the Samsung SE-T084 slim external DVD writer and I've tried it on 2 computers including mine but they both don't recognize the device so I don't even know how I would boot a new Vista for it even if I did format??

I'm assuming I install the drivers from the Samsung CD, then run the Vista CD which will give me the option to format? But I'm not sure because I don't want to mess anything else up. Also everything is in Japanese which makes it a tad harder to find things can you or someone pleeease help me out? These are basically my main problems.

1. How to format Vista
2. External DVD Drive not being recognized automatically
3. How to format Vista!!!!

I'm pretty sure I'll have no problem finding the drivers after, It's just these couple of hurdles I have to get through. I'm hoping I don't have to buy a different DVD drive? I obviously have the priceJapan.com Japanese only version. Thanks alot people...I am in DIRE need of help

 

errr...well actually I got the laptop to recognize the DVD reader now (Just had to restart the computer with the usb already inside) The problem now though is that it can't read my Vista CD. I'm trying to download a driver update now to see if it'll help. Other than that, I still don't know how to format Vista..

 

kevin2dx, i think u need to enable USB device bootable, and set it as first-priority. Try that , see if it will boot from the USB external dvd (vista)

Cheers.

 

thanks for the tip re: removing the write access of model.txt - worked well for me

i'm desperately trying to get teh function / brightness keys to work & i'm running in circles:
i installed the following .exe files:
- chipset
- utilities
- shared library

the function volume buttons work, but the brightness don't. I checked & i do have the right graphics card driver, is there anything else i need to make this work?

thanks

S.

 

i posted this as my machine was rebooting, and surprise: the last step (shared library) fixed it !!!

pls ignore - everything works like a charm now - 10h of battery life is just changing my life !!! great machine !

 

congrats now go and enjoy your little machine!

 

Hello, I have a TZ90 and installed ALL the english drivers with the Model Check hack but the Volume, Brightness and other function keys DO NOT WORK

Any ideas????

 

Try reinstalling the library file again.

 

Do you still have some unknown device in device manager? If yes, try this - Sony Notebook Control Device update from Microsoft at this link:
http://download.windowsupdate.com/m..._a5db7ce11f55024ce049b23a6bf61f9c34248ff0.cab
And if have at least 2 unknown devices, try the one mentioned above and search somewhere for Sony Programmable I/O (But Vista searched and installed both for in update - works fine).