onsdag 14 januari 2009

Surface on Windows 7 - Now it works!

I had actually given up all hopes to be able to install the Surface SDK on Windows 7. Yesterday I tried to consult two of the sharpest wiz-kids at Connecta and made some progress but after a while it was a dead end. I actually had thrown in the towel and decided to go for a dual boot. So I started the disk manager and shrunk the disk to create a new partition with 20 GB to host Windows Vista. Installed Vista on the new partition and then it was too late in the evening to continue.

And then, this night, at 00:25 there was a reply from Kurt Brockett at Blendables.com on a post that I made to their forum!

As I already had assumed the only problem with the failed installation is the OS-check at the beginning. A colleague of mine tried to install the SDK on Windows XP and found out that there is a property missing on advapi32.dll that is one of the core dll’s in Windows. This property is of course present in the Vista version and I assume that it’s also there in the Windows 7 version. So if there was only a way to get around the OS-check…

What Kurt told me in the post was that there is a way to edit msi-packages with a simple vb-script!

So to be able to install the Surface SDK on Windows 7 just download the script and place it in the same directory as SurfaceSDKWE.msi. Then drag the msi-file and drop it on the removechk.vbs. This will remove the OS-check and the installation of the SDK will work perfectly!

Now I have started the Surface Simulator and tried the samples and everything works great on Windows 7! Love it!

The thread on Blendables.
Link to the vbs-file to remove the check.

7 kommentarer:

  1. Hi, I had the same idea to install the SDK on Win7, but went about it differently. I posted this on the Surface community site (do you have access?)

    "As suggested, the msi file blocks installation except on Vista SP1. It said I have the wrong service pack. I found there is a tool in the Windows SDK called Orca that allows us to edit at least some features of the msi file. Using hints from here:

    http://www.gottabemobile.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6861&PID=45191&SID=3f5954832ae7847e48cedaz927z92431#45191

    I opened the msi file in Orca and in the LaunchCondition table deleted the row that had this condition and description:

    > Installed OR (VersionNT=600 AND ServicePackLevel>=1)

    > Your system does not have the correct service pack. You must install [ProductName] on a 32-bit version of Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, or Windows Vista Ultimate with Service Pack 1 (SP1).

    After that, it installed fine, no problems. Once installed I ran the simulator, compiled the sdk samples, and tested a few (WPF and XNA) with no issues. Water in the simulator seems even more responsive and lively than before, although I'm comparing two different computers."

    Also, you might be interested in my blog: http://nui.joshland.org

    SvaraRadera
  2. Hi,

    Thanks for the great post. I'm trying to install the SDK in XP. At first there was an error telling me to update to a newer version of Window Installer, which I did (downloaded and installed Window Installer 4.5). After that, when I tried to install the Surface SDK, there was this error "Microsoft Surface SDK 1.0, Workstation Edition Setup could not finish because of an error. Your system has not been changed...". I have tried both of the methods above, but still unable to install. Do you guys have any idea of how can I fix it (in your post you did mention your colleague actually tried to install it on XP right?). Your help would be much appreciated because I'm totally stuck at this stage and seriously don't want to upgrade to Vista...

    Thanks a lot.

    SvaraRadera
  3. Hi,

    I successfully installed the SDK on Windows 7 and calibrated the vision system. But when I try to run the simulator or the user mode I get the "Shell has stopped running..." error. Any tips? I have VS2008 and XNA Redist installed.

    SvaraRadera
  4. Hi Kirll. Why are you running the calibration of the vision system on the SDK? That isn't necessary since that only calibrates the cameras on the table. Is there even a way to run that in the SDK?

    I have now installed Windows 7 RC and the simulator works great here also.

    SvaraRadera
  5. Hi,

    thanks for that cool post. Like jkid169 I'm trying to install the SDK on Windows XP. I want to try the SDK SP1 first before I actually install it on the Surface unit, because I read in the Microsoft Surface Community that some people had problems installing it.

    But I'm having exactly the same situation like jkid169 with the need to install Windows Installer 4.5. After installing it and runnig the fixed MSI I get that above mentioned error.

    Did your colleague manage to get it working and do you happen to know if it leads somewhere if I get me a Vista advapi32.dll

    Any help is much appreciated!

    SvaraRadera
  6. same error... plz giev us a solution :( :( "Microsoft Surface SDK 1.0, Workstation Edition Setup could not finish because of an error. Your system has not been changed..."

    SvaraRadera
  7. Hi,
    i have installed Surface SDK as your post guided me. I was successful in installation but afterward, i cant find the Option of Creating new Project of Surface in Visual Studio 2010. What should i do now for this problem?
    Kindly give me a solution. THanks

    SvaraRadera