The Zune, Microsoft's answer to the iPod, has received a lot of criticism in relation to its Apple counterpart. One of the biggest complaints from consumers is that the MP3 player can't operate as an external hard drive when connected to a computer. But you can make your Windows computer recognize the Zune as a hard drive. You can manually change the registry for the Zune on your computer, or you can download and run someone's homemade patch for this.
Instructions
Manual Registry Change
1. Disconnect your Zune from your computer and make sure your Zune software is not running.
2. Open the computer's registry editor. Go to the start menu and select "Run." Type "regedit" and click "OK." Click on "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" and then on "Edit > Find..."
3. Type "EnableLegacySupport" in the box labeled "Find What" and click on the "Find" button. Double-click on the "EnableLegacySupport" value, then change its value data by setting it to 1 and clicking "OK."
4. Repeat the above step to change the value data for "PortableDeviceNameSpaceExcludeFromShell" and "ShowInShell." The PortableDevice value data should be 0 and ShowInShell's should be 1. Close the registry editor after making these changes.
5. Plug your Zune in and open the Zune software. Go to the "My Computer" window in your Control Panel options. The Zune should be included among the available hard drives.
Using a Patch
6. Check what version of Microsoft's .NET Framework is installed on your computer. You need at least Version 2.0.
7. Find a Web site where you can download a Zune HD patch. The original is titled "ZuneHDPatch.exe," but it might not work if your .NET Framework is 3.0. Other versions include "ZuneHDPatch.zip" and "Zune_HDD_Patcher.rar."
8. Download the patch and run it on your computer. You need to have your Zune disconnected from the computer and your Zune software closed while running the patch.
9. Connect your Zune to your computer and go to "My Computer" on your control panel. If the patch worked, the Zune should be listed as an extra hard drive.
Tags: your Zune, your computer, value data, Zune software, change value, change value data, computer make