4/30/10- Post updated. Read the last paragraph before venturing in.

I recently upgraded to Windows 7 through my school’s MSDNAA program. For all my drivers, I used Windows Update and everything pretty much worked out of the box. However, recently, my friend bought a 50” HDTV and we wanted to test it out by using my laptop’s (VGN-FW270J) Bluray drive. I looked all over in Sony’s Drivers & Downloads site but All I could find was updates  and not the installer.  I called Sony and they straight up told me that they didn’t support Win7 until Oct 22nd and that if I wanted to play Bluray without spitting out some cash, that I had to reformat using my recovery partition(which I luckily didn’t format while installing Win7). I looked all over the web for a solution and I couldn’t find any  so I took matters into my own hands. I booted up Linux and crawled through the recovery partition and bumped across some files that looked like installation files that were compressed in some way (.MOD). I  did some looking around and it turns out that there is a program called Mod2WIM, which temporarily displays your hidden recovery partition and copies over all the installer files (mod & sny) and then converts(unlocks) them to be WIM, a format that is used by Windows to pack / mount installers.  After mounting a couple (using gimagex – a graphical inteface to the imagex program that is included in the mod2wim download) , I found WinDVD BD, which was file “MODJ-128993.wim”.  After mounting, I just opened the setup.exe file and voilà! The installer popped up.

So If you have a Sony VAIO Notebook computer which comes with WinDVD BD preinstalled and wishes to play Bluray without reformatting or anything crazy like that, go ahead and download it here.

 http://rapidshare.com/files/282725115/WinDVDBD.rar

And if you wish to install some of the other software that comes preinstalled which your computer, here is the software I used and some explanatory screenshots.

Mod2WIM [Download] ( Click to enlarge )

ImageX [Download] (GUI Version GImageX)

The files I were able to obtain from my partition were:

437M MOD-Quickbooks_Starter_Edition.no_3.wim
435M MOD-VAIO_Movie_Story.no_35.wim
312M MOD-OneCare.no_36.wim
307M MOD-Office_2007_Home_and_Student_Trial.no_6.wim
300M MODJ-126940.no_15.wim
252M MOD-MS_Works_Bundle.no_5.wim
190M MODJ-126695.no_17.wim
189M MODJ-128993.no_31.wim
180M MOD-Music_Box.no_34.wim
161M MODJ-126708.no_26.wim
137M MOD-VAIO_Help_and_Support.no_48.wim
90M MODJ-126813.no_24.wim
68M MODJ-126259.no_7.wim
65M MOD-VAIO_Media_Plus.no_40.wim
46M MODJ-126696.no_20.wim
46M MOD-AOL_Software.no_47.wim
44M MOD-Wireless_Connection_Utility_EVDO.no_46.wim
29M MODJ-126299.no_9.wim
20M MODJ-126885.no_21.wim
19M MODJ-126296.no_8.wim
18M MODJ-126887.no_28.wim
16M MODJ-127038.no_25.wim
16M MODJ-126883.no_22.wim
12M MOD-Napster_Pre_Install.no_32.wim
12M MODJ-126880.no_23.wim
8.5M MOD-VAIO_OOBE_And_Welcome_Center.no_49.wim
7.7M MOD-VAIO_Care.no_50.wim
6.8M MOD-MS_Office_2007_Activation_Assistant.no_33.wim
6.8M MODJ-126798.no_19.wim
6.1M MODJ-126955.no_14.wim
5.6M MOD-VAIO_Wireless_Wizard.no_41.wim
5.1M MODJ-120274.no_2.wim
4.8M MODJ-126894.no_13.wim
4.6M MODJ-126779.no_12.wim
3.7M MOD-CSUP.no_39.wim
3.2M MODJ-128897.no_30.wim
2.9M MODJ-126728.no_27.wim
2.7M MOD-VAIO_Startup_Assistant.no_45.wim
2.2M MODJ-126943.no_18.wim
2.2M MOD-Documentation.no_44.wim
2.2M MODJ-126957.no_16.wim
2.0M MOD-VAIO_My_Memory_Center.no_11.wim
1.7M MOD-VAIO_Survey_Standalone.no_43.wim
1.7M MOD-Media_Center_User_Guide.no_4.wim
1.5M MOD-SetAutoFailover.no_42.wim
412K EPC-RenewCPU.no_51.wim
304K MOD-Registration_Warranty.no_10.wim
184K MOD-Puma.no_37.wim
128K MOD-OEM_Information_Registry_Settings.no_38.wim
16K MODJ-128994.no_29.wim
4.0K MOD-PowerPlay_Setting A.no_1.wim

*Update* 4/30/10 – Sony eSupport site finally caught up to Windows 7. As of January of 2010, they have put up the installer for (at least) my model. You can grab the installer from their site:http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNFW270J&SelectOS=45#div_pos_113  and expanding the ‘WinDVD sofware’ dropdown. My model is in there, you can change it to see if you can find yours.

I hope this helps out somebody out there.. and if you find it useful; don’t forget to thank in the comments section.

A while ago I found out that the 'Show Hidden Files and Folders' option was not working properly on my computer. I did some Googling and found out that is caused by a spyware/adware/malware (whatever) that messes up the Windows Registry from updating properly, thus disabling the option to 'Show Hidden Files and Folders'. The check box (radio button) works, but as soon as you close the Folder Options Window, the option is disabled again. Anyway, here are some ways to re-enable the option:

You'll have to browse through the Windows registry in order to do this. Be sure to know what you are doing.

Method One: (This one worked for me)

1. Open up the Registry Editor. Go to Start -> Run or press 'Windows Logo key + R' and then type "regedit", without quotes. Press Enter.
2. Browse through the keys: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL
3. Look at the right side of the on the Window and there should be a key called "CheckedValue", this should be a DWORD key. If it's not, delete that key.
4. Now, create a new DWORD value. Right Click -> New -> DWORD Value. Name it CheckedValue and press enter. Now double click and set it to Hexadecimal with a value data of 1.

This should re-enable the option to show hidden files and folders. Here's another method. I think this method just directly enables the option, showing hidden files and folders (thus, not fixing the main error) but you can try it anyway.

1. Fire up regedit. -You should know how by now.
2. Browse through the keys: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
   Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
3. In the right side area, find the key named "Hidden", double click it and set the Value Data to 1.
4. Close the Registry Editor and check if this has fixed the problem.

What you need:

• A network =) and a computer in the network with enough space to host the ghost image (~6GB or ~3 with max compression)
• Norton GhostCast [download] - Comes with Symantec Ghost Corporate Edition 2003
• Windows Deployment Tools (SYSPREP) - Located In your Windows XP Cd under SUPPORT>Tools>DEPLOY.CAB or, [download here]
• Hiren's BootCD [download] (and an empty CD to burn it to) or Network Boot Disk.

Here are the steps:

1. Install your OS, Drivers, Apps on a computer.
2. Extract the contents of Deploy.CAB or SYSPREP.ZIP on a folder on your image computer.
3. Run the Setup Manager(setupmgr.exe) and Create a new answer file.
4. Select Sysprep Setup and your desired OS
5. Fully automated.. - Change the desired settings and make sure to add a computer name
   
6. Finish and Create your sysprep.inf file.
7. If you want to fix the Computer name set up error, open the sysprep inf file you just created with a text editor (ie. notepad) and look for the line that contains ComputerName=[yourvalue], edit it and add a asterisk to the end of it. Save It(What this is doing is automating the whole set up but then the asterisk is going to cause an error, allowing us to input the desired computer name, and after that it is fully automated again!).
   
8. Open Sysprep.exe and press Ok
9. Check the "Use the Mini-Set Up" Option, Insert your Hirens Boot CD into your CD drive, and press the Reseal Option (caution: It shuts down your computer).
   
10. Set up your BIOS to boot from your CD drive and start your computer from the cd.
    
11. Select Disc Clone tools & Then Norton Ghost > Ghost with network support.
    
    >
    >
12. You dont need to add a cd, and you dont need to log on to your domain either.. actually I recommend not doing it, because of the "^{multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed}" error.
13. Start GhostCast Server on the computer you will be having the computer image stored.
14. Set your session name, set the create image option, browse where your image is going to be stored and press Accept Clients.
    
15. Back on the other computer;press Ok, select Ghostcast>Multicast
    (If you dont see this, is because the BootCD couln't detect your network card.. try restarting or good luck on making your network floppy !! )
16. Join the session you created in Step 14.
    
17. Select the drive to create the Image, Press Ok
18. Select Compression and Proceed with Image Creation.
    
19. Once your image file is stored on your computer, start the computers you want this image to be replicated into and boot to Hiren's BootCD (Repeat steps 10-12 on all the computers).
20. Repeat step 14, but this time select Restore Image and browse the image file you created in step 17.
    
21. Join the Session in all of your computers and then; on your computer running ghostcast server, Press the [Send] Button.
22. Once the image restore is complete you can go ahead and restart the computers and this will set up the computers automatically and ask you for the computer name(Ignore step 7 if you don't want the set up to do that)

Good Luck! ~anebg

Error Deleting File or Folder
Cannot delete [file]: Acess is denied.
Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.

Annoying huh, here it is:

1. Open a command window. You can do this by going to Start -> Run and typing cmd. If you are using Vista, go to Start, then in the search field type cmd or command.
2. Now that you have the command window open, you'll have to set a schedule. To do this, type:
   

   at [time] /interactive cmd

   and press enter. It should say Added a new job with job ID = 1. Where it says [time], you type in the current time in your computer plus one minute, be sure to set it in military time! (For example: If its 1:26, you would type: at 1:27 /interactive cmd );
   -I hope you understand military timing.

3. Now, you have to wait one minute or a few seconds until a new command window appears. When the new command window appears, fire up task manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del), and end the process explorer.exe. (Go to the Processes tab. Select explorer.exe from the list then click on End Task) Now your explorer window should disappear, leaving opened the newly opened command window.
4. Now, on the window, type in explorer.exe, and your explorer windows should reappear with SYSTEM privileges; wait a few seconds while the SYSTEM user account is set up. Now you should be able to delete that annoying file of yours.

To get back into your own username, just login again.

Still having trouble? Please comment.

Download webcam ViewQuest VQ110 Drivers here:

Maybe you have heard about this little trick many times, but here it is again. This will enable you to use your Zune as a portable drive, actually it just shows your Zune in the Windows Explorer window and enables dragging and dropping and stuff, anyway here it is.

In this tweak you will need to use regedit, before you do this, be sure to know what you are doing

1. Make sure your Zune is not plugged in and your the software isn't running.
2. Open regedit, to do this, click start -> run, then type regedit and press enter.
3. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Enum\USB\
4. Search for "PortableDeviceNameSpace". This should be contained under the Vid_####&Pid_####\########_-_########_-_########_-_########\Device Parameters within the above ...\USB\ The ##'s listed here will be numbers and letters specific to your Zune.
5. Change the following values: * EnableLegacySupport to 1 * PortableDeviceNameSpaceExcludeFromShell to 0 * ShowInShell to 1
6. Hopefully at this point you can open up "My Computer" and browse your device, though it does NOT show up as a drive letter.You may need to restart your computer.
   Now you can access it as a hard-drive and sync it with the software.

Model No. 2418
FCC ID: RYK-WUBZ-103

Download Here:

The link here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/124585561/Winzip_v11.0.zip