Windows 7 on Sony TZ

Didn't see any other posts of TZ users with Windows 7 Beta, so I figured I'd start one.

I have TZ191 N XC. 32GB SSD. It ran Windows Vista Business beautifully (clean install, of course).

Upgrade install of Windows 7 took forever - roughly 2 hours. But, no errors, or hiccups in installation. Boot times seem about the same as Vista - which were pretty quick, but its been a year now, so I'm a little ho-hum lol. Anybody with a clean install notice faster boots?

Other than that, Windows 7 feels pretty much like Vista. I notice very little improvements, or problems. Aesthetically, I wouldn't even call it much different. As I mentioned to someone on a different board, I don't know if I'm "unimpressed" or "still happy". What's the difference with this OS again??

 

should be faster, and leaner. on a side note, what will you do when the beta expires?

 

I did a clean Windows 7 install on my TZ31 (32gb mtron ssd).
The boot time seems to be nearly the same as Vista.

 

Hmm, I posted mine in another forum previously more than a week ago... I love how responsive Win 7 is on my TZ. The startup time is significantly shorter too.


My post:


Installed 3rd Windows OS on my TZ... Triple Boot now.. lolz... But main purpose of installing the 3rd (Windows 7 Ultimate, Evaluation Build 7000) was to kinda test how it'd run on my TZ and how much smoother it really was as compared to Vista. Plus playing around & exploring new features.

Installation time was significantly shorter, eye candy was similar if not better, as compared to Vista. You can select different pictures to make a wallpaper slideshow whereby transition time can be customised too... Saw this on the Macs while shopping some time ago...

Ease of access has been improved, task manager kinda integrated into the task bar, whereby [X] boxes will appear for you to easily close the program, *similar to Windows Mobile*.

Network connection to wireless routers and access points is now much convenient, whereby with a click on the wireless logo, a small window appears, showing the list of available networks, and you just need to click on the network you wish to connect to, it'll start connection already.

Initial run, total number of processes showed was 38... My Vista had like 8x 9x... But that's after installation of the bits and pieces.

The BT and Wireless + Display worked without having to install any of the Sony drivers, audio blah blah all working perfectly as of yet.

Will try Win 7 on a netbook when I get the chance... Current installation took up around 9GB of hd space.

 

Those with WWAN, have you had it work? And how did you install the drivers?

 

TZ owner checking in. I installed the x64 version of Win 7 over the weekend. My install took about 15mins though i was installing from a usb key which i'm sure had something to do with it. Also i'm installing to a 250gb HDD as opposed to SSD. (Just re-read why i quote above, and realized you said "upgrade" so my intsall time numbers are useless in that context, since mine was a fresh install. That's what i get for not reading )Should any of you guys need to reinstall, and have a spare usb key lying around i highly recommend it over DVD media.

The install itself went okay though the sony utilities and vaio event service don't work correctly fo me unless i turn off UAC. Everything seems snappier than vista though vista never ran all that badly on the TZ in the first place IMHO.

 

Oops. I installed about 10 days ago but posted in the Z thread.

TZ-160C

1m 5s boot from off.
..18s from hitting [enter] on login/password to idle desktop.
...6s to sleep from idle desktop.
...2s to desktop from sleep.
..35s to hibernate from idle desktop.
..38s to idle desktop from off [hibernate].
..25s from idle desktop to power off [shut down].

For the volume hotkeys, make sure you change the PROPERTIES of VESMgr and VESMgrSub to administrator.
C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Event Service
- right-click on the two programs
- [Compatibility] TAB
- [check-box] "Run the program as an administrator

I had to disable UAC for volume to work. Brightness and others worked with UAC.

Still some tweaking since HDD Protection didn't start automatically and I don't no VAIO Control Centre. Otherwise, everything seems fine.

 

I haven't tried the WWAN in Win7 but if its anything like the last time i installed vista x64 on my Z, i had to install SmartWi first and then use that to turn on the WWAN so that it would show up as a device in device manager. Once it was on there i could then go and install the driver.

 

Oh boy - been nothing but a world of pain since going down the Windows 7 route on my TZ31.

Couldn't handle Vista any more - cold boot times were in the 7-9 minute mark, so thought I'd try the new beta, using the upgrade path. Installation took in the order of 4 hours from DVD, and right at the end, I kept getting an "unexpected error" message, which demanded a restart. This got stuck in a loop, with constant restarts. The only way I could do anything with the machine was to start over with a completely clean install.

All my data was backed up, so not too much of a problem there, and the new OS goes like a rocket - power button to open browser in something like 2 minutes. Can't fault MS for that.

However, I've lost all the Sony utilities. The WWAN modem is missing from Device Manager, and the Globetrotter Connect utility can't detect it. The fingerprint reader, the media buttons on the side (and of course the fast AV mode), the HDD protection, the function keys - all missing.

Of course, it was only digging through the box that I found Sony don't supply CDs. The software on Vaio Update doesn't install. The `XP downgrade' versions appear to install perfectly, but are then nowhere to be found, either running in the background or on the Programs menu.

Anyone got any ideas? Or shall I just go back to XP and have done with it?

 

Also just spotted the SD / MemoryStick drives are missing. And one more thing - ther was a nice OEM version of Acrobat on the VAIO when I bought it - don't suppose anyone knows where I could recover that from either?

 

Hmmm... doesn't seem leaner at all. Now, when I did clean install of Vista, it definitely got leaner. But the upgrade to Windows 7 from that clean install doesn't "seem" to have netted increases. Maybe I already enjoyed speed increases through the clean install on Vista - which despite reports on other machines - ran beautifully on my TZ.

Afte Beta expires, I'll either upgrade to the next Beta, or go back to Vista until I can upgrade. It shouldn't be too much of a hassle, since most of my data is backed up on external drive, and now I'm keeping a lot of my files on a 8GB SD card that's always onboard. And, having only 32 GB SSD ensures I run a pretty "light" configuation of progams installed.

 

You can download the necessary drivers from Sony's website.

The SD and memory stick drivers are available too.

 

I'm pretty sure that you need a clean install (of any OS) not an upgrade. Vista shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes to boot up unless you are running like 150+ processes. It might be that your registry or image is full of errors at this point. Clean install.

 

Absolutely - I've recovered the individual driver packages and utilities, and they all look like they're installed - everything on Device Manager appears to be in place, apart from the WWAN of course.

However, nothing's working. The SD / memory sticks are not mapped to drives. The AV buttons don't work, although the DVD drive can be ejected from software. The fingerprint reader's there in Device Manager, but does nothing. The volume control works now i've disabled UAC, but the brightness function buttons are dead.

Looks like 7 is still a long, long way from prime time, despite reviews to the contrary - this is Microsoft after all. Personally, I think i'll go back to XP, and wait for Windows 7 SP1 to arrive.

 

That's odd, I can see both the memstick and SD drives in explorer both mapped to drives G: and H: respectively, not that the individual letters matter. The one thing that's odd abut 7 is that they don't show up in explorer for me unless, they currently have a card in OR if i've enabled "show hidden files, folders, and drives" in folder options.

As to the fingerprint reader, can you launch the UPEK software app? For some reason i ended up having to install the software twice even though the i had the driver installed and device manager recognized it under biometric devices. But after the second install for the UPEK software i can use my reader to log into windows etc. Also UPEK has a pre-release Win7 distro for its driver and software.

http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/wi...t-s-finger-on-enhanced-biometric-support.aspx

I haven't tried my AV buttons so can't speak to their availibility, use.

 

I was having the same exact dilemma rudeboypete was having. I assume you were using the 64bit version? I was, and after downloading and installing the 32bit version, everything has gone perfect. Everything is working, and it all installed fine. Hope that helps.

 

I'm on the 64bit version on both my Z and TZ but my drivers came from the link in the "64bit drivers for Vista Business on Z" thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=292536

the link to the drivers from sony being:

http://www.vaio-link.com/os/vista/64bit/

You have to do a bit of hunting to find the drivers for your specific model though, and since they're being released without support from sony be prepared for sony to disavow all knowledge of that pages existence should they bork anything. That being said they seem to work fine for me on 64bit.

 

I have a TZ190, but, going to hold on on W7. My boot times after almost 2 yrs of use is still well under a minute and ive never had any significant issues with it (runs great actually). I will eventually do a clean install of Vista when i get the chance.

 

After a fresh install of the drivers, it doesn't work immediately. However after a restart, the system found new hardware and then it worked

 

OK - guess I'm some sort of masochist, but here's how I resolved it. I'd have loved to have done a clean install of Vista, but the halcyon days of getting proper OS disks with a machine are long gone ...

So I ran Sony recovery tool to format C: and go back to factory settings. I then got rid of all the crapware (seriously - Norton 360 anyone?) and installed Vista SP1, leaving all the Vaio tools in place. Startup was still very sluggish, so I thought I'd chance my arm running the upgrade path of 7.

Bingo! Hour or so later, no problems on the install, everything's up - SD card, fingerprint reader, AV buttons. I couldn't get any joy out of the Globetrotter connect utility, but there's now an entry on the network connection button on the taskbar that says "Globetrotter Connect", and it works like a charm.

Boot times and responsiveness are all well up on Vista, so currently quite pleased. Although if you add up the time spent messing around with this, I'll have to restart like a million times to see the net benefit ...

 

running 7 on my brand new tz340. unboxed it this morning, made recovery dvds, copied recovery partition to an external drive and did a fresh install of windows 7.

needed to install drivers for memory stick and SD readers. also needed to install software for FN keys to work. needed smartWI to toggle wireless on even though drivers installed fine.

windows 7 is working great. will upgrade to 2gb RAM next week and am looking into SSD options. any suggestions?

 

Good thread.

I'm waiting for the official MS WIN 7 release and then soon after the Sony or P1 disks.

I've been running the beta on a VMware PC, and it looks rather good. Boot times are nice and it uses a lot less processes than Vista.

C.

 

How about battery consumption? Anyone test that out yet?

 

Funny, I was just thinking about trying to benchmark my battery consumption times this weekend. Problem is I had already started noticing some battery degradation before i installed windows 7, so my times might be off from someone with a newer machine/battery (mine is little over year old).

Whatever default action Windows 7 has where after a minute or two if you haven't moved your mouse or typed, the screen dim significantly, i think is helping a little bit with battery life.

Is anybody having problems with the hiberanate or sleep function on the TZ? i read over on Gizmodo that it throws some machines into fits. i disabled my hibernate (deleted files), but i often close my lid and put the computer to sleep. No issues yet for me as far as significant battery drain or errors.

 

I am running Windows 7B1 on my Sony TZ-180N and find it works well. However, the Media buttons and Fn+ keys won't work. I tried the Vista drivers from Sony to no avail. How did you get them to work?

I saw that someone asked about battery life. It seems to last longer than under Vista but I haven't conducted any tests.

 

Hi all, proud TZ340 owner.

I am looking into trying windows 7 on my laptop, but was wondering if there was any order i had to install the drivers, the sony ones in particular like event service, shared library etc.

Thanks in advance

 

Haven't benchmarked, but anecdotally, battery life does seem to have improved a little.

With regard to the sleep / resume issues, I used to have occasional glitches under Vista, for example the WWAN or the DVD drive would not be recognised after resuming. It's a similar story under 7 - sometimes I'll resume and a bit of hardware will be playing up, needing a proper restart to get up again.

However, one neat thing is that on shutdown, as soon as you get the "shutting down" splash, you can close the lid and forget about it! Under Vista the Vaio used to get into terrible trouble if I tried to close the lid before the full shutdown process had finished.

 

Thats strange. On my TZ190, i set it up so when i hit the power button, it shuts down. As soon as i hit the power button, i can close the lid and it will go into full shutdown, no issues. Ive been doing this since the day i bought it (about 1.5 yrs).

 

Really?! wow! like the above poster, under Vista on my Sony TZ and on another older HP I upgraded to Vista, if I closed the lid before it fully shut down, i would find that my laptop often either went into some weird partial shutdown, partial sleep mode and then would hang when i tried to wake up, or EVEN WORSE, the laptop would stay on, in my bag, and when i pulled it out later the fan would be running HIGH and the thing practically too hot to touch. This happened a few times when i would close quickly on flight, put into my bag, and then i'd hear it or feel it when i got through the airport and into a cab. not good!!

 

I can check later on what i did exactly (its been a while and im at work).

Im sure its one of the VAIO software apps that controls the LCD hinge; eg. you can set it to turn off the LCD (or not) when the hinge is closed... and other functions of the LCD hinge.

I think i set it to do nothing (ie. laptop thinks the lid is still open when you shut down and thus doesnt interfere with the shutdown process). I also remember having shut down problems before making the changes (ie. that EXACT situation you described).

 

Hi fellas,

did you get fn keys for brightness working? Everything else seems to be fine, but this doesnt work for me.

Thx for your help

 

Never tried until saw your post ... mine does not work either.

 

FN keys work just fine for me. Make sure to install Sony Shared Library.

 

I did but cant test it cause I went back to XP. Did you make clean install or "update" from vista?

 

FN keys work if you disable UAC.
Hibernation/Sleep works fine here too
In fact, everything works for me so far. The only thing I havent tried is the camera.
Also, ppl, try Windows key + +, thats windows key + plus key
Way better than the crappy 'zoom' thats Fn+ F10

 

So ive installed 7 again. Disable UAC, set event service to run as administrator and run almost every sony utility. I still cant get brightness controls working (volume keys works). Im also missing magicgate reader driver and solving pasori/felica port issues.

Almost all of the hardware was recognised so i didnt use special vista drivers. Is that right?

Is there somebody with fully working TZ on W7 who can help me. Maybe send packages used for clean instalation? Thx

 

I have installed fresh Windows 7 x64 without any issues (that I am aware of).

1) Install Windows 7 and let it update
2) Get the x64 drivers from Sony http://www.vaio-link.com/os/vista/64bit/
3) Once Windows is installed go to Device Manager and fix the devices not installed by updating driver by browsing to point at folder where you put the Sony x64 drivers. (I did not use Bluetooth, Felica, Intel Graphics or Intel WLAN and am using what Windows 7 Installed).
4) Install Web camera using the Ricoh Motion eye (Ricoh) drivers here:
http://www.ralphg.com/public/ NOTE: Windows will reject this driver, but choose it yourself (update driver and choose yourself) and when Windows complains tell it no thanks and proceed.
5) Install "Sony Shared Library" and "Notebook Utilities" using the versions on the standard Sony support site for TZ / Vista Business.

I also installed "Instant On" and using the version on the standard Sony support site for TZ / Vista Business and I installed ArcSoft WebCam 2.0.21.173.

** At this point everthing works for me. FN keys, WebCam, Finger Reader, Mem/SD ports, Instant on and AV controls. What else???

Frankly I would recommend running as few of those Sony Installers as possible (like the ones on Sony eSupport site for for TZ / Vista Business), first you do not appear to need all of them, second they appear to be very poorly written and can just end up creating a mess that is hard / confusing to clean up.

UPDATE: Realized I had not installed the Mart WiFi Utility - which for me is not a big deal but kinda handy and if you use the Sprint WWAN modem it is helpful. OK the x32 version on eSupport site for TZ does not work.

However this one does:
Install SmartWi Connection Utility 1.2.0.020706
File: SOAOTH-00949418-US.exe
ftp://download.sony.com/US/pc/SOAOTH-00949418-US.EXE

You have to extract the Installer though as it check model and blocks install on TZ. Use something like "UniExtract" to extract and then run Setup (in TEMPEXEFOLDER folder). Bingo seems to be working fine on Windows 7.

 

FYI, installed Windows 7 build 7057 on my wife's TZ31WN. Had previously installed the 7000 build as a clean install but could NOT get some of the features working. This time, installed Win7 as an upgrade over a lean isntall of Vista with all features etc installed and working.

Observations:
-Total upgrade process took in the order of 3 hours to complete
-Had to disable UAC to get volume Fn keys working
-Everything works as is: fingerprint reader, brightness control and auto dimming, media keys, memory card readers, volume keys, sleep + hibernate, vaio power management (auto dvd off etc)
-Don't use SmartWi, so can;t comment as to whether or not it works
-Bluetooth module bundled with Windows 7 works great
-The Win7 performance rating is 2.0 (Desktop performance) but Aero seems to work absolutely fine
-Boot times are way way better than the Vista installation
-Reconnecting to the wireless network is flawless, compared to bizarro issues experienced with Vista
-Graphical glitches from the awful official Vaio driver on Vista have disappeared
-Battery life is typically over 5 hours, probably more if using the Power Saver profile in Win7

Overall, quite impressed with Windows 7, as I have been with my own SZ installation. And my wife is very happy with the increased responsiveness and the neat new features. Will be keeping build 7057 on both machines until a final release is available.

 

Update for me:
I got a copy of build 7068, and did a clean install. Have worked through most issues but having couple lingering problems. My memory card and SD card readers have to be enabled through Device Manager after every reboot. Anybody else experience or know how to resolve?

Re: this version versus build 7000 - i haven't noticed anything yet, but not sure i know what improvements were made, so... The clean install does seem to have increased boot and shut down times.

 

2nd Update:
have 7100 32 bit installed, and just about everything works perfect now (FN keys, AV buttons, volume, brightness, SD and Memory card, webcam, etc).

But i want to try the 64 bit, so i'm about to take the plunge. i am probably an idiot because i'm sure i'll be regretting it in about 1 hr. oh well. here goes....

 

New RC of Win 7 is now out. I'll be backing up the XP P1 build, and will do a dual boot system. Its been a long time since I dual booted, can anyone reccomend a good boot manager?

Cheers

C.

 

Could you please share how you install your drivers and programs for VAIO? I just clean installed 7100 this morning and still miss Battery Care Function, Camera Capture Utility, and it seems to detect my SD reader as I see it in Disk Management but not in Windows Explorer.

Thank you

 

I have an issue with the drivers - specifically - the hotkeys...

First of all, I have a TZ91 [japanese edition]....

I installed windows7 and it works fine for the most part, i just cant get the hotkeys to work. Reading the thread I tried to disable UAC and then installed the sony shared library. There were a couple of other bits i tried to install but i dont have a concept on what drivers/packages do what....

Its a japanese model so the drivers for are only on the jp site. I tried picking some random UK model and no joy so far in getting things to work. I dont want to install everything under the sun really, just the hotkeys and perhaps power management or something. Also, I wish to use the latest drivers since surely there must be updates to drivers from 2007?

any help would be great....links...even better

so far i'm liking windows7. its like vista on happy drugs.

 

I followed the instructions above (disable UAC and installing shared library) and am able to control the volume, but not brightness. I would love to be able to control brightness.

 

Have you tried installing the Event Service? I'm using TZ16SN and I install all Utilities from Sony and volume and brightness buttons are working but haven't tried the play/pause, AV, etc.

 

Found the solution to the memory stick & SD slot not showing up in explorer .

Open folder options , scroll down to the Hide empty drives in the computer folder , uncheck it .

You will now see both memory stick slots show up in my computer .



Edit : Just noticed if you install the updated ricoh drivers from windows update the drives disappear again . Had to roll back to the old drivers to see them again . As long as you stick with the original sony offered drivers the drives appear as they should .

 

the event service seems to help...can get volume control now...but no brightness.

 

Good news to everyone! I have made my vaio tz192n/xc work 100% properly with RC1, I can't remember the EXACT procedure I used, but this general outline definitly worked. Also, I note that sony US's website did NOT have all the drivers and utilities needed to make it work properly in win7.

Here is the general outline I used, PLUS a link to the FULL DRIVER and UTILITY package required to make this work.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=341599&page=5

Ok, so windows 7 update is going to automatically install some of these packages for you, like the intel chipset drivers, and the Sony Programmable I/O Control Device. Note: I DID NOT INSTALL the driver from sony if it, A) worked out of the box, like the network port, modem, graphics and audio or B), the driver or utility was provided by windows update (and there were some more, other than the intel chipset and the sony io interface).

in the directions I linked above, you most likely will have the broadcom bluetooth, not the toshiba one. You can find that driver on sony US's website...

UPEK fingerprint software has a NATIVE WINDOWS 7 package here!!! (awesome, I know!)
http://www.upek.com/support/downloads/windows7/learnmorew7.asp

For the camera there are 3 parts, I believe. A driver and 2 utilities! I needed them all to have the fully working camera.

All my hot buttons work 100% now, including the nice little on screen displays

One thing that does bug and worry me, i could just be being paranoid, but my cpu fan seems to be on a LOT more lately, and my battery seems to get less in windows 7........ I think this could be because windows 7 is getting to "know" my battery, and how to estimate the power left in it, but I'm worried there a slight incompatibility between some power management driver and function, and windows 7. I sure hope sony supplies us with native windows 7 code.

Yes, there is an updated power management driver that is supplied by sony, that you can download from the US site. I did use that updated driver and it did install the extra vaio powermanagement functions. They DO seem to work, as it disables the network port and modem automatically, as I have it set.

I do not use the WWAN (sprint sucks), and keep it disabled, and I did not test its functionality.

I also installed some other utilities not listed in the install guide I posted above. The extra utilities came from the utility package listed in the link above, which I though might also be needed. I forgot which ones they were...

So it is possible to get the function keys and all hardware working.. someone should writeup an exact guide.

Also, what do people think about the battery life?!?

Another thought! I downloaded the WIFI drivers directly from intel... Got the latest ones for windows vista x86, they work flawlessly.
http://downloadcenter.intel.com

 

Has anyone gotten everything to work?

I can't get my brightness and wi-fi utility to work =(

 

Nevermind figured it out...

Had to install the Sony Shared Library before the Notebook Utilities in case anyone was wondering.

Running Windows 7 build 7127