UPDATE: I've seen alot of people searching for how to run Zune on Vista, long after Vista was released. You can run Zune on Vista, and if you're having trouble, go download the latest player software at http://www.zune.net.
So it is possible! Zune can run and sync on Vista. There are some minor quirks (mostly graphical), but it works.
After hacking up the MSI (editing the MSI tables and what not) and doing some other tuning, I've gotten my brand new brown Zune to sync with the Zune Marketplace on Vista RC1. Right on!
Sure enough, while Microsoft may be worried about stablity, Zune DOES work with Vista
Quick disclaimer: I'm not responsible for you screwing your system up. Also, please note that I already plugged my Zune into a Windows XP machine and had the firmware update to 1.1. While I anticipate you can do this on Vista, I HAVE NOT tested this scenario. Firmware updates are fragile, so don't screw around with it if you don't know what you're doing. You may have a nice brown paperweight.
- Download and run orca.exe (this is a disassembler for MSI that is supplied by Microsoft). Orca is part of the Windows SDK.
- Pop the Zune CD in the drive and run d:\packages\zune\zune-x86-enu.msi
- Search your harddrive for "zune.msi" and copy it somewhere (like to your desktop)
- Open the package in ORCA and navigate to the "LaunchCondition" table. Remove the condition row that says that the MSI must be running under ZuneSetup.exe
- Navigate to the MsiDriverPackages table and remove the driver installation.
- Save your changes and run the MSI.
- Try to run Zune from the start menu, you will get an error saying that the OS is not supported.
- Right click on the shortcut, and set compatibility mode to XP SP2.
- ***You may have to restart the machine at this point***
- Run Zune again and plugin your Zune. The device should be discovered and the Zune should be ready for sync.
- If Windows doesn't auto-install the Zune, you will find the INF in "c:\program files\Zune"