Another option instead of ERD Commander is to use Hiren's Boot CD v 8.0. All us crazy hackers use it. Highly recommended. oh yeah, and it's free.

anybody know if this will work with the audigy 2 ZS card

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Embedded" /fastdetect /KERNAL=NTOSBOOT.EXE /maxmem=256
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Windows XP" /fastdetect /KERNAL=NTOSKRNL.EXE /maxmem=256

use these changes....

I will be trying this today since I just got my Audigy 2 ZS from Bal

You should be able to go in to the control panel from explorer. From there you can choose System then go to the hardware tab. You should be able to install your drivers from there.

awesome keep us posted

I wonder if there is a gaming advantage to using a very trimmed down version of XP like that used in Media Direct 2.0. Turn my XPS G2 into an XBOX 360 of sorts. Most of the games on the 360 are also on PC and they play just fine on the XPS G2. I was thinking of swapping Media Direct for like Meedio or just a launcher.
Any thoughts.

The Dell Media Direct loads so quickly because it puts the computer into hibernate every time you turn it off. This is why there is a 256mb limit - otherwise it would need a lot more disk space in order to save the rest of your RAM to disk.

I realized this when I changed the /MAXMEM to 512. I was getting a hiberfile error on start up. I was still able to run Dell Media Direct.

I was able to load the SoundBlaster Audige 2 drivers and it works thru the headset port. Since there is no tray to use Feature Mode select.

Also, with the SB drivers loaded, I am down to only 120MB of space and back to getting the hiberfile error.

Maybe I will try and use a partition magic boot floppy and resize the DMD partition.

None the less.. It's working with internal sound, or with the Audgie pluged in, I can use the headphones.

To free up some more space, you could try turning the page file off (I don't know if this might cause other problems though) or limiting the RAM usage even further. There are also some other files that can be deleted - some are small, like regedit.exe (I expect you can find other files that are not in use - even explorer.exe can probably be deleted). The original sound drivers could also go. Obviously, looking for things like this won't make a huge difference, but it could help to get a few extra megabytes if you need it.
A suggestion about the soundblaster: I don't have one to look for myself, but might the tray options be accessible from the control panel or else in the form of another .exe file in the Creative folder? If not, maybe you could try to see if internal speaker playback through the audigy can be enabled via a registry setting.

By the way, thanks a lot for your guide on how to do this...very useful.

Any chance we can get a ghosted partition of this? It may be the only chance I have to get this to work on my hard disk that already has multiple partitions

After installing on my hard drive (with an additional partition), pressing the media direct button made the computer boot to the next partition after the OS partition (which had another version of Windows on it). Is this the problem you are having?

anyone try it with the 6000?

I think this is why bittorrent was created. I'd definately be down to seed for a week or so after downloading it, not that I have the fastest connection or anything.

I think Ghosting will actually take longer now that i've installed MD20 three times. Just imagine downloading a 1.5GB ghost image then ghosting the drive.

It really only takes about 30 to 45 minutes if you have all the resources. Like MD2.0 Disc. Drivers on CD. ERD Commander and Partition Magic.