Hi. Sorry if this is covered in a FAQ somewhere. I looked but couldn't find anything.

Can somebody explain why my SS 4.3 won't recognise Net MD? (I'm using Vista - on this laptop at least, for my sins.) I had the same problem on my last install of Vista and figured I'd just used a bum SS installer, but it's happening again.

I installed using the online sonicstageinstaller.exe a few weeks ago, and when SS is running and I plug in my RH1 with a 'MD' formatted disc inside, Windows freaks out and says detecting new hardware blah blah, and then asks me to put in the CD that came with my Net MD. And when I say er I don't have one, it just gives up and says your new hardware might not have installed properly. Everything's been working fine on Hi-MD stuff. Transfers both ways, no problems. But plug in a standard MD-formatted minidisc and it's all "Windows needs to install new drivers for your Net MD." Incidentally, when you have a Hi-MD-formatted disc in the unit, the "Hi-MD/Net MD" dropdown box in the transfer pane is greyed out. So there's just no way to make Net-MD happen.

I never had this problem with 4.0 or 4.2 on XP. Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance.

Some restriction on "driver" files *.sys under Vista.

Maybe it would work fine but you're not running as administrator and so privilege to load driver files on demand has been zapped?

You need to install a seperate NetMD driver for SS4.3, as it's not included in the main install. If you go to the MDCF Downloads section (link at the top of this page) you should find it there. I think it's presently the top link "Windows Vista Compatible Driver for Net MD and Hi-MD Walkman", but it's been a while since I installed it. It doesnlt work with the 64 bit version of Vista, apparently.

Thank you!

Suddenly everything makes so much sense.