Clean Install on Media Center XL201 PC

[wwarby]

Hi all,

I've spent probably about 30 hours over the last couple of weeks establishing the best procedure for making a clean break from the factory image on my VGX-XL201 VAIO Media Center PC. After many CD-Rs, many hours of Googling and many hours of watching the "formatting C:\" progress bar roll slowly onwards, I finally seem to have my PC just how I like it - with all the software I want and none (or at least hardly any) of the software Sony wants me to have.

I extracted files from both the Application Recovery and System Recovery DVDs, customised an MCE 2005 installation CD with nLite and installed a couple of extra bits and pieces from the web to get to where I am now, and there was a lot of trial and error involved.

Anyway, the point of this post is that I want to guage interest in a thorough write up of the process I went through. To get a media center PC to clean install is not the same as with a laptop, and all the information I needed, whilst largely available on the Internet was all over the place. I'd like others to benefit from the time I've spent on this and so I'd like to write a detailed how-to. However, I don't want to spend my time doing this unless I know people are going to read it. If I write such a guide, will people find it useful?

[herpof]

Besides doing all this stuff, you can always download a windows xp media center edition from bittorrent and then use your legitimate license key (it's in the back of your laptop).

There is absolutely nothing illegal with this and you can then activate your copy via the internet. It's the most clean and quick install!

[tabaheights]

Is there a similar guide to cleaning up the Wireless Lan access point configaration on the VGC-RA 304?

[Quedos]

I would be interested if the same process works for other desktop models I have a Vaio RC202 the model prior to the Blueray version - but still newly purchased. In addition I would like to know if you had any difficulty establishing Recovery discs as my system disguarded 6 discs today at 97% complete saying they were faulty or corrupt and that i had to break them up and throw them away..... so its back to the drawing board for me i will be phoning sony tomorrow and the disc customer service department ugh!!!!

[ITTroll]

I'll probably do a new guide for Vista on this media center PC when the driver set is officially released.

Top marks, a very professional guide. Are you still planning to do the Vista guide? The official drivers are now available.

[jamesbramsdon]

I have also wasted lots of time getting my XL201 exactly how I want it - and then having to repeat from scratch when I had a major software/incompatibility problem.

However, I am a bit of a novice, and don't understand the difference between your "clean install" procedure, and creating an image/back-up of your setup using Norton Ghost etc?

Does your process offer any major benefits which can't be obtained by restoring using Ghost etc? If so, I may need to get hold of the XP discs required for your procedure.

Thanks

[wwarby]

I'll probably do a new guide for Vista on this media center PC when the driver set is officially released.

Top marks, a very professional guide. Are you still planning to do the Vista guide? The official drivers are now available.

Yes, I probably will do a guide for Vista. When my Vista upgrade DVD arrived a couple of weeks ago I started to perform the upgrade and found I had to apply a BIOS update to make the graphics card work. Sadly the BIOS flashing utility provided by Sony crashed and corrupted my BIOS, and now I am in the process of sending my PC back to Sony in France to have the BIOS chip replaced, so it'll be a couple of weeks yet at least until I get the chance to try again.

The process for Vista, at least in the case where you buy the PC with MCE2005 and get an upgrade DVD from Sony is going to be considerably easier than the process for MCE2005, because the only method of install supported by Sony is a clean install of the operating system. However, there are plenty of pitfalls as I have already discovered, not the least of which is the method for flashing the BIOS. They also give you another applications disc which needs to be filtered unless you want bucket loads of useless software on your PC.

Watch this space...

[wwarby]

I have also wasted lots of time getting my XL201 exactly how I want it - and then having to repeat from scratch when I had a major software/incompatibility problem.

However, I am a bit of a novice, and don't understand the difference between your "clean install" procedure, and creating an image/back-up of your setup using Norton Ghost etc?

Does your process offer any major benefits which can't be obtained by restoring using Ghost etc? If so, I may need to get hold of the XP discs required for your procedure.

Thanks

The difference is that the process I have described lets you install what you want on your PC, not what Sony thinks you might want. At the factory, Sony installs dozens of bundled applications on your behalf, most of which are poor quality, out of date versions or just plain useless. Most of them have absolutely no commercial value otherwise Sony wouldn't give you them for free. Essentially they (like every other PC supplier) try to make it look like they're giving you a load of added value with your PC when what they're really doing is cluttering your hard drive with worthless junk.

For some novice users who may not know that there are better or newer alternatives to most of these applications available, the bundled software may be welcome. For most experienced users though, it's like you've just bought a house and the developer has filled it the ugly second hand furniture and 70s decor which you have to dispose of and strip away before you can start decorating it how you want.

Frustratingly, Sony don't give you the Windows install CD any more so you have to obtain the install CD another way. The guide I have presented here describes how to use a Windows install CD to get to a point where you have Windows and only the essential drivers and applications installed to make your media PC run. Once you get to that point, you can take a ghost image and you have a clean PC image without all the junk software and configuration provided by Sony. This is quite a common requirement amongst experienced users with new PCs and Sony make it sufficiently difficult to achieve that I thought a guide was in order.

[ChalkyWhite71]

Hello Wwarby. Many thanks for this. I think I'll print it then read it whilst socialising with my wife, who hasn't seen me for a while whilst I've been trying to get my XL201 just the way I want it.
What I'd like to see is a list of the software components that can definitely go, e.g. that annoying Viiv software that INSISTS on highlighting new nodes on my network, despite me going into the notification settings and marking options accordingly. I'll hunt around for Viiv threads, rather than expecting people to clutter this thread helping me with my problems. Where's that violin!!

[MrsHarris]

This is an excellent write-up... I'm hoping to do something similar for the RC-202 but for a fresh install rather than using the restore discs. I've just got to work out which drivers to use 1st

[carpeck16]

Hi Ive got my 201 running in duel boot xp @ vista .Media center works better with XP I stream video to a X box in an other room. Video streaming can be a problem Idownloaded Transcode 360 and this did the tric .Any usfull info on the 201 would be helpfull