Dell Media Direct 2.0 ... Running on 9300/XPS M170 - Page 5

An easier way to load explorer: during the file copy process, copy taskmgr.exe from C:\windows\system32 (or whatever your system32 directory is) to x:\windows\system32. Note: this has to be done while the media direct install CD says copying files.
Then, when you start up in media direct, you can press ctrl-alt-del. Then go to file, new task. Type explorer and press enter. You can now install drivers without worrying about renaming files and using ERD, etc. Do not quit media experience at any point during this time (very important).
When you have finished installing new drivers, make sure you choose turn off from the shut down menu in task manager (the window that appears when you press ctrl-alt-del) instead of quitting media experience. This ensures that, the next time media direct loads, the drivers will be loaded correctly and explorer (+ anything else you started up) will not load as well (saves RAM).

Hey tentonine
That's a great Idea. You Rock!! Sounds alot easier so u don't have to look for erd and boot to it cuz it takes a very long time to boot to it. So you can see the hidden partion during the install? Pretty slick

Not trying to rain on anyone's parade here but do you guys really find Media Direct worth the hassle? For faster machines like the XPS2 and above booting into windows isn't really all that slow. Personally I don't mind waiting the extra few seconds it takes to boot into windows to access my music, etc. Having the added benefits of access to the whole OS outweighs the 5 seconds it saves in my opinion. Aside from the benefit of it's boot time does it really offer any other benefit? Maybe I'm missing something but it seems like more of a gimmick than anything else. I can understand its use if your machine takes a long time to boot or if your machine is a dedicated media box but that's about it. Maybe I'd like it if I used it on a regular basis but personally I haven't found the need. As for having the option to use it should I so desire is another case. I'm guessing there are at least a couple people here who just like having it there in case they randomly decide to use it.

but good effort anyway! I'm sure it will be of good use to some people...

I think I am probably one of those people!

For anyone wanting to do this with multiple partitions: I have found that Media Direct must be installed in the partition after your first NTFS/FAT partition. (Note, this does not include the Dell diagnostics partition, if you have one).
My hard drive is now set up with a Dell diagnostics partition followed by main Windows XP Partition, followed by Media Direct, followed by other partitions.

Note: when you install Media Direct, you have to have free space directly after your current OS partition, but, if there is also free space at the end of the drive, media direct will be copied here instead. In this case, it won't work if there are other partitions between the main partition and the media direct partition, so you have to move it, perhaps by ghosting it.

It is possible that, if you have an OS partition as your last partition and there are several other partitions before it, then media direct will still work correctly if you install it after that partition, but I am not sure about that - it is only a possibility (and I think it is unlikely).

I don't know if the media direct installer updates some setting somewhere to tell the computer which partition to load or if it is always the second partition that is loaded - I think I need a bit more experimentation to find out.

I can't seem to find any of my music in DMD. All my music is stored in the My Music folder. Am i suppose to move them to the shared music folder? Anyway I got it up and running on Media Center Edition. The graphics are ugly. The interface is still a little slow with video drivers installed.

In that case, you require 1.3Gb free at the end of the drive and, if you have multiple partitions, you also need 1.3Gb free immediately after your current OS partition (even though it won't actually use this space during the install). However, if you want Media Direct to boot correctly, you will have to move the Media Direct partition (maybe using Ghost) so that it follows immediately after your first partition (not including any Dell diagnostic partition).
At least, that is what I have found so far. Media Direct refused to install for me if there was only free space at the end of the drive but not after my main partition.
As a final note for the guide: the Media Direct drive will always be drive X, not Z. If it cannot be drive X for any reason, then the install will fail (the installer consists of self-extracting rar files that have been set to install to drive X).

That's strange...that didn't work for me. I tried to install it and it came up with an error (at least one other person reported the same thing). I then had to free up 1.3Gb beyond my OS partition in addition to the 1.3Gb at the end of the drive.
Then it installed without problems at the end of the drive. However, when I tried to boot to it, it actually just booted to my third partition (well, second partition not including dell diagnostics). Now that I have moved the media direct partition so that it is the third partition, it boots correctly.
Maybe it just doesn't work as partition 4. Perhaps either partition 2 or 3 is OK.
One other thing...did you install media direct from an OS installed on your C partition or D partition? I don't know if that makes any difference, but it might be interesting to know.

By default MD20 access's the administrator accounts documents. You would have to go to c: then docuements and setting the whatever user u named the account. Then you should be able to access the files..

In that case, I think we have to assume that it automatically loads the third partition or, if you only have two partitions, then it loads the second one.

Here is what I have, getting frustrated!

Looking at Partition magic i see.
DELLUTILITY as Fat and 47mb
Local Disk Drive C: 51gb
Unallocated Space 1.5gb (this is the one I created by shrinking my C drive
Local Disk CP/M,Concurrent DOS,CTOS (this is the restore Drive I am assuming)
Unallocated Space 7.8mb (I have tried to get rid of this and I am unable)

I would prefer not to have to delete the utility partition or the restore partition.

Any Ideas?

Ok, I got it to install in the 1.5gb space I created by using Partition magic and assigning it drive letter "X". When I did that it installed fine. When i look at explorer it looks as if the drive is now hidden. When I power down and press the power button Media Direct seems to start (at least it shows the medis direct banner) but then it just sits there and does nothing.

If it doesn't work straight away, it is possible to create the partition manually. Create a 1.3Gb partition in the empty space. Load it with a Windows XP bootsector by booting from a Windows XP CD, going to recovery console and typing fixboot d: (I think this will work). Then use WinRAR to extract the contents of XPEI1.exe and XPEI2.exe from the media direct CD to this partition. Finally, run ptedit32 in the Partition Magic install folder and set the new partition to type D7.
This will hopefully work. If not, copy ptedit (which you can find somewhere in one of the Partition Magic subfolders) to a DOS boot disk. Boot from it and type ptedit at the command prompt - use that to change the partition to type D7.

As far as I know You can have only 4 primary partitions.

That is correct. So, if you have 3 or 4 primary partitions, Media Direct must be on the 3rd. If you have two partitions, Media Direct must be on the 2nd. I don't know what happens if you try to install Media Direct to an extended partition - I expect it does not work.