Windows 7 multi-touch driver for HP TouchSmarts

Just wanted to post a quickie about the fact that a Windows 7 driver with support for multi-touch for the HP TouchSmart range of PC:s is available at http://www.nextwindow.com/windriver/index.html. After installing Windows 7 on it I just got “single-touch” but with the driver found at the link above my HP TouchSmart becomes a full featured multi-touch machine. Sweet!

HOW TO: Modify and install Nvidia drivers for mobile graphics chipsets in Windows 7 when all else fails

When I installed Windows 7 RTM on my Sony VAIO laptop I discovered the same problem as when beta testing WindowsVista some years ago. The problem is that drivers for the video card for Nvidia mobile graphics chipsets is missing which means running with the feature lacking and slow Standard VGA driver.

In all releases of Windows 7 up to RTM there has been a driver available via Windows Update for the Nvidia mobile card but this driver seems to be pulled from Windows Update (and Microsoft Update Catalog). If you did not already know it Nvidia offers drivers for many of its mobile graphics chipsets on www.nvidia.com, but unfortunately these drivers do specifically not work on SonyVAIO machines.

The solution to install the Nvidia driver anyway is to download and unpack the driver from www.nvidia.com and then modify one of the INF files to make it support your video card. May I mention that this solution is not support in any way, but the important thing is that it works.

In my case I looked up the hardware ID for my Nvidia GeForce 8400M GT in device manager and found out that is has the hardware ID “PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0426&SUBSYS_9005104D”. Then I went to C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\186.03\International\Display (the path might differ when using a newer driver) which is where the files are unpacked when you run the downloaded driver. Then I opened nvam.inf and added the below two lines where there are similar rows in the INF file.

Note that the “0426″ part in the beginning of the first and second line is derived from “DEV_0426″ part in the hardwareID which is unique depending on what graphics card it is. In my example the lines I am adding looks like:

NVIDIA_DEV.0426.01 = "NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT (Sony Vaio FZ38M)"

%NVIDIA_DEV.0426.01% = Section012, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0426&SUBSYS_9005104D

If you look in the INF file it will be quite obvious how to proceed. Then run setup.exe or install the driver manually. It should work like a charm ;)

A look at Device Stage in Windows 7

 Windows 7 contain a feature called Device Stage. It is a way for hardware manufacturers’ to provide more value related to their products and it can be anything from providing shortcuts to drivers, firmware, manuals to processing of digital photographs online or to provide links to purchasing printer accessories.

The good thing about this is that the hardware manufacturers can provide this functionality for older hardware and not just new hardware, as well as provide updates to the Device Stage experience for each device whenever applicable. This is achieved by using the same feature as the one which in Windows Media Player download album cover art automatically. Note that the Device Stage information can be supplied in the driver from the factory but as this only applies to new hardware it’s best to let Windows 7 update this kind of information from the internet.

Below I provide a couple of screenshots where you can see a Device Stage example for a Lenovo X300 laptop. As you can see the icon is a real image of how the machine looks in real life. The second shot shows you how Lenovo has customized Device Stage for this particular machine. The only Lenovo specific tool as of this date is the link to ThinkVantage Tools, but this can easily be adjusted by Lenovo to contain manuals, important information, ordering parts or upgrades etc.

I would say that the imagination of the hardware manufacturer is the only obstacle when it comes to Device Stage. It will be interesting to see how the manufacturers can take advantage of this feature and I am really looking forward to seeing more use of Device Stage!

MCITP, Enterprise Administrator. Worth it?

Last Friday I passed the last exam in the MCITP certification for becoming Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Administrator. Cause for celebration! But that was not why I started writing this. Today I met with a client of mine and he asked if it was worth taking a certification. My answer is definitely “yes”!

Why? Many reasons. You get a broader perspective of things which certainly helps you make better decisions in your daily work. You also get a broader set of technical skills and by that I mean that you gain (at least) basic knowledge of the available features of the specific product which in the future might prove to be very valuable. Taking these exams are if nothing else very good for keeping up with new technology.

Want to become certified? Look for appropriate certifications at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/cert-overview.aspx and then register at https://www.register.prometric.com.

Volume Activation changes in Windows 7 and Office 2010

A significant change in Windows 7 volume activation is that you must have 25 physical or virtual machines for the KMS (Key Management Service) to become active. This is different than with windows Vista where you needed 25 phsyical machines for the KMS to start activating your machines.

If you already have a KMS you need to install a patch for it, a patch that will be available soon. You also need a Windows 7 license and also to activate it. Read more about the KMS patch at this blog.

Starting with Office 2010 the new version of the KMS will also serve activations for Office for the first time. Office 2010 will be released some time in the first half next year.