Zune 3.0 can be tricked into installing on Server 2008

Previous versions of the Zune software would install without any trouble on Server 2008, my desktop OS of choice, as long as the "Desktop Experience" feature was already installed on the system, which provides the missing Windows Media and related DLLs.

The new Zune 3.0 setup program will complain with "Can't install - Zune doesn't support your current operating system."

You can however, 'shortcircuit' the install by going into either the "x64" or "x32" directory of the unpacked archive, then going into the "packages" directory and directly running "zune-x64.msi" (for 64-bit) or "zune-x32.msi" (for 32-bit).

It is possible your system might be missing some of the prerequisites but thankfully they are included in the same directory in case they are needed.

If you attempt to launch the Zune client without the "Desktop Experience" feature of Server 2008 installed, you will get an instant crash of the Zune client upon launch. It is a tell tale sign that you are missing the necessary DLLs.

So, officially, Server 2008 is unsupported, but you can make it work if you need to, like I do.

Posted by Aaron Tiensivu in Microsoft, Server, Windows OS at 01:06 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

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can you explain how to the "You can however, 'shortcircuit' the install by going into either the "x64" or "x32" directory of the unpacked archive, then going into the "packages" directory and directly running "zune-x64.msi" (for 64-bit) or "zune-x32.msi" (for 32-bit)."

#1 jason on 2008-10-06 15:52 (Reply)

Jason,

When you run the executeable it will create a large GUID String in the root of the drive with the most available disk space.

#1.1 Joe LaDuca on 2008-10-06 17:14 (Reply)

Beware, you might have to start the setup and go make a copy of the folder before you hit the "close" button. I had a rough time finding the folder because the installer was smart enough to clean up after itself.

#1.1.1 Dave on 2008-11-12 23:02 (Reply)

Thanks. I thought I was going o have to stay at 2.5.. good tip..

#1.2 Jason Phillips on 2008-10-12 00:48 (Reply)

I've ran the 64-bit msi and have the Desktop Experience installed. The driver _seems_ to have installed, but shouldn't there be a UI client as well?

#2 Jeff King on 2008-10-21 17:32 (Reply)

2 hours of searching for a solution. Thank you. Here it is.

#3 Zune owner (Homepage) on 2008-11-07 06:13 (Reply)

Hi there
With your help I was able to install zune 3.0 software on my x64 windows 2008 server. It worked fine. Today I got the information over windows update that zune 3.1 is available. I tried to install the update, but got the "Unsupported Operating System" message. After that I extracted the 3.1 version and tried to install the .msi only but I got the message the product is already installed. grmpf. Is it not possible to update the current 3.0 to 3.1 on server 2008? I also tried to uninstall the 3.0 version, but if I use the uninstall in Programs and Features I got Unsupported Operating System" message again. What's the best and save way to update the current 3.0 to 3.1 on windows server 2008.

#4 comlab on 2008-11-19 05:44 (Reply)

Thanks for the info! I installed the latest x64 version available from the microsoft website, 3.1.620.

Installed great -- I found the gibberish directory name in H:, my largest partition, and ran the x64 msi (they were both in a packages directory together in this version). I left the "unsupported" window open during the installation to avoid having it clean up until I'd finished with the MSI.

When I ran Zune the first time, it popped up a message that there was an update but the updater wouldn't run due to the unsupported system. I think this is just a case of Zune confusing the error from the updater into it claiming there's a new update available.

ZuneSetup.exe (the auto-updater, in the ProgramFiles\Zune directory) outputs a log file to %TMP%, and it looks like all it's doing is checking the system requirements and failing, not actually looking for an update.

#5 Nick on 2009-05-20 14:37 (Reply)

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