I just figured out how to install the DSC USB drivers and get my Sony FD92
Mavica to be recognized in Vista 5384 32 bit. It was NOT intuitive, and it
was a PITA to figure out. Let's watch for this effort to be REFINED by MS...
It also caused MULTIPLE blusescreens to my system as I reported earlier. This
is the fix-
A. To install the drivers you must do the following or Vista will display an
error stating the drivers "are not compatible with the current OS" and leave
you wondering what to do:
*** Do a "Create a System Restore Point" before proceeding ****
*** This has saved my A*S many times, and is highly appropriate before these
next provedures in case you want to start over. *******
1. Download the current USBDRVEN.EXE DSC driver set from Sony.
2. Right-click on the file and choose "Properties".
3. Choose the "Compatibility" tab.
4. Select the "Run this program in compatibility mode for" checkbox and
choose "Windows XP Service Pack 2".
5. Select "Apply" and "Ok" to close the properties dialog.
6. Double click the USBDRVEN.EXE file and the drivers will install to
C:\Drivers\SonyUSB. Reboot when prompted.
B. Next, you must install the camera using the drivers you just installed.
Again, this is not intuitive as one would THINK you are trying to install a
camera, but the drivers you just installed won't be recognized in any attempt
to locate "camera" drivers. You must instead go through the Hardware Wizard
and install a new "Universal Serial Bus Controller".
1. Connect your camera. Mine was met with a dialog that it again wanted to
look for new software, as if it wasn't recognized again. Select "Browse my
computer for driver software". Click "Next".
2. Select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer". Click
"Next".
3. From the "Select your device's type from the list below" dialog, choose
"Universal Serial Bus controllers". If this is NOT in the list, scroll to the
top and click "Show all Devices" and the list will refresh to display them.
4. Scrol down through the list until you see "Sony Corporation". Choose
this, and that list will populate and display many Sony camera choices. I
selected the obvious "Sony Mavica Digital Still Camera", and clicked "Next".
5. In the list of "Universal Serial Bus controllers", you will see "Sony
Mavica Digital Still Camera" appear, and the familar prompt will appear
asking whether you want to browse your camera. All done!
Notes:
1. Once you disconnect your camera and happen to look in Device Manager at
the "Universal Serial Bus controllers" list again, you will see your camera
is no longer listed. Don't worry- it will reappear when you reconenct it.
2. For those of you who have mapped drives, Sony decided for some reason
that they want their cameras to occupy themselves in Windows Explorer as
drive "H:\". So if you already have a drive "H:\" mapped, the camera won't
show as a mapped resource. I leave drive "H:\" unmapped for the Sony Mavica
to use. Plan accordingly.
*** After you are satisified things are working, create another "System
Restore Point" ***
Good luck and happy digital photography!