How to force MSC mode on XP with WMP 10

[mail1548074]

WMP 10 and 11 come with MTP drivers which take precedence over MSC. Unistalling WMP 10 (restoring 9) should remove the MTP drivers. If however, you want to keep WMP 10, it's possible to uninstall just the MTP drivers (i.e, WMP Portable Device Support). Standard disclaimers ... backup ... system restore ... blah ... risk ... blah

1. run "RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\inf\WPD10.inf,DefaultUninstall"
   this is the uninstall for the WMP Portable Device Support, it leaves a few things behind which are removed in steps 3-5
2. reboot
3. delete folders:
   "C:\WINDOWS\RegisteredPackages\{981FB688-E76B-4246-987B-92083185B90A}
   "C:\WINDOWS\RegisteredPackages\{981FB688-E76B-4246-987B-92083185B90A}$BACKUP$"
4. delete files:
   "C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\wpdusb.sys"
   "C:\WINDOWS\system32\CatRoot\{F750E6C3-38EE-11D1-85E5-00C04FC295EE}\WPD10.CAT"
5. delete registry key:
   "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servi ces\WpdUsb"
6. plug it in, if drives don't show up (this will happen if you've already used it in MTP mode)
7. go to device manager (check View->show hidden devices, just in case)
8. locate the Sansa device, it should have the yellow exclamation on it
9. uninstall it, through context menu
10. unplug, plug back in
11. now it should be installed as an MSC device and two removable drives will show up

[CrowdAds]

[Ross]

I followed your instructions exactly and it worked like a charm. I've since rebooted a few times and used WMP and everything is still working, so it looks like a permanent fix. Thanks.

[winwithben]

Are you wondering how to use your Sansa Express (SE) in both the default MTP mode, and in UMS(MSC) flash drive mode? Here’s how I did it, without uninstalling MTP drivers or editing the Registry. (I’m running XP SP2 with WMP11 installed, Sansa Express firmware v. 01.00.05A)

• Plug in your device. It should be recognized by the system and installed as an MTP device the first time you plug it in. (If it isn’t recognized, see my post in this thread: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...ad.php?t=12603.)
• Open Device Manager. Find your Sansa Express under Portable Devices. Right click. Update driver.
• Select: No, not this time, Next.
• Select: Install from a list or specific location (Advanced), Next.
• Select: Don’t Search. I will choose the driver to install, Next.
• Be sure to check the box beside Show compatible hardware.
• Highlight USB Mass Storage Device, Next.

Your SE screen should go dark, then light back up. Look at Device Manager. You should now see your SE listed amongst the USB Host Controllers and Root Hubs (signifying a USB mass storage device). If you got an error, Device cannot be started, ignore this. Close that window, and any Help center window that opens. Do a Hard Reset (center Select button & volume up) with SE plugged in. Your SE screen will light up. You can now use your SE as a UMS device. This will allow you, for example, to see hidden files in the SE memory. However, WMP 11 wil not see your SE while using the UMS drivers.
To return to using your SE in MTP mode, repeat steps 1-6 above, and at step 7 select MTP Device. If you want to make playlists on your Sansa Express, but don’t like the way WMP 11 does this (duplicate files, unwanted extra folders on SE) see my post in this thread: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...ad.php?t=12619.

[SloBo]

I've followed latter instructions precisely and my Sansa Express seems to work as a standard USB drive. Still my Sansa Updater doesn't allow me to update the firmware. Sansa Updater says: "Your device is in MTP mode. It can only be updated in MSC mode." What should I do to be able to update my firmware.

I wouldn't mind, but my SE actually went nuts and its player software doesn't work any more. I can access files and the USB connection seems to work, but while I try to start the device when it's not connected to my PC, a boot error happens and it shuts itself down. I had firmware 1.15F2 installed as default.

The cause for my problem is probably linked to the voice recorder. I tried it, found out that my memory was full and just turned the device off. After that it wouldn't boot any more. I've tried to free some memory but it doesn't help. I bet that some bug in my original firmware probably allowed writing over kernel while recording.

Well, I would be more than pleased to found out how to update my firmware with the Sansa Updater, which keeps nagging on me. It nagged already before my SE crashed so I don't think these things are linked to each other.

I appreciate any help you can give to me. Otherwise it'll take few nice weeks to get a replacement from the store where I bought my player. Yup, I don't want that to happen.

EDIT: My Sansa Express lives again. I just had to clear the memory. I still don't know how to upgrade the firmware.

EDIT2: Got it updated to 1.16F by digging the SansaExpressUpdater.exe from C:\Documents and Settings\*\Local Settings\Temp\~SansaPackage_05-18-2007_17-51-38

Yaahow!

[binba]

I'm really not sure what all this is about; does your SE force you to use WMP?
I have WMP11, and when I plug the Sansa in I can choose between syncing with WMP (which I never do), and accessing it with Windows Explorer like any flash drive. I've never had it mention anything DRM-related.

[kennyj]

It doesn't force you to use WMP in any case. What happens is that Microsoft installs drivers for the MTP protocol with WMP 10 and WMP 11. The Express will first try to get the computer to communicate with it using MTP if possible; if the computer can't do this, it switches to MSC, or Mass Storage Controller mode, where the player acts like a flash drive.

MTP seems on the surface to be the same as MSC, but in reality it's a completely different protocol. Windows Explorer understands it, but spend some time with it and you'll see limitations - it doesn't behave the same way it does when dealing with an actual "MSC" device. Other programs like WinAMP, MediaMonkey, Napster, Rhapsody, etc. understand MTP. It does have its advantages; for one, it's necessary for subscription music with DRM. Also, you can unplug an MTP device whenever you want, and you don't have to warn the computer first. Finally, players that have a database refresh function that kicks in after using them in MSC mode don't have to go through this process when used in MTP. So, for many users, MTP makes life quite a bit easier in terms of overall efficiency and features.

The main reason you'd want to avoid MTP mode on a computer that has it is because MTP won't let you transfer anything that the device doesn't tell the computer it knows how to handle. It also doesn't allow you to make shortcuts to any files on the player, hides a number of files or just changes the directory structure on you, has noticably slower performance when transferring files, and won't let you read or write anything while a transfer is taking place.

Most of these issues are non-issues if you use another program to manage your player for you, such as those listed above. Those who prefer to use Explorer, however, find that MTP is a major pain. So, at the end of the day, it's a power-user thing. Most people don't care, but those who do, care a hell of a lot.

What the above tricks do is either remove the MTP drivers from the computer entirely, or tell Windows to just use MSC drivers anyway. I'm not sure if the second is persistent, or if the change will need to be made every time the player is plugged in.

[catester]

Thank you so much for this post. I followed your very clear directions, everything worked perfectly the first time, and now I can use my SE just like a USB drive.

I don't use any DRM files; mostly just podcasts. And now I can just export from Ziepod to the drive like I used to with my Samsung. Life is much simpler.

[eh007h]

I joined just to thank you guys for posting. I tried to update the firmware on my SE this morning, and got hideous errors with both the software and Windows after doing exactly what the prompts said. In the end, I was locked out of my device; it would spend 30 seconds trying to build a database after powering on and then turn itself off. I used the instructions above to force MSC mode; however, the updater when run from the taskbar still told me I was in MTP mode. Rather than uninstalling MTP I followed SloBo's advice and found the updater exe in the directory he indicated. Running that successfully updated my firmware and now I have my player back. Whew!

Thanks again. I had dispatched an email to customer support but without you guys who knows if I would have been able to get my player fixed. Certainly not as quickly as I did!

[valvofolife]

Originally Posted by winwithben

Are you wondering how to use your Sansa Express (SE) in both the default MTP mode, and in UMS(MSC) flash drive mode? Here’s how I did it, without uninstalling MTP drivers or editing the Registry. (I’m running XP SP2 with WMP11 installed, Sansa Express firmware v. 01.00.05A)

• Plug in your device. It should be recognized by the system and installed as an MTP device the first time you plug it in. (If it isn’t recognized, see my post in this thread: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12603.)
• Open Device Manager. Find your Sansa Express under Portable Devices. Right click. Update driver.
• Select: No, not this time, Next.
• Select: Install from a list or specific location (Advanced), Next.
• Select: Don’t Search. I will choose the driver to install, Next.
• Be sure to check the box beside Show compatible hardware.
• Highlight USB Mass Storage Device, Next.

...To return to using your SE in MTP mode, repeat steps 1-6 above, and at step 7 select MTP Device.

The above worked in getting MediaMonkey to sync w/ my external 2GB card. However, now MediaMonkey does not recognize the internal drive with the old d_WMDM.dll plug-in. Synchronizing with the internal SE memory is now impossible since their is only one available instance of the d_USBMass1.dll plug-in and my external 2GB card is using it.

When I used your above instructions on how to return to using the SE in MTP mode I became distressed when discovering that first of all their is no Sansa Express in Portable Devices in the Device Manager like you indicated in Step #2. When I tried updating the driver for SanDisk Sansa Express USB Device in the Disk Drive section of the Device Manager it didn't give me an option to use the any other driver. I looked at all the devices I thought could give me the old driver back but none found anything.

Attached is a .gif of my Device Manager. If anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate it.

[Kilgore Trout]

You might try this:
With your SE plugged into your PC, open Device Manager.
Right Click on Sansa Express and choose Uninstall.
Do this anywhere Sansa Express appears in Device Manager.
Remove your SE and re-boot your PC.
Now when you plug in your SE, Windows should find new hardware and reinstall the original drivers.
Good Luck!

[music811]

Thanks for this thread. I accidentally unplugged my Sansa from the USB while it was updating the firmware. After I did that, my PC went buggy, so I read the instructions here and was able to use my player again
Thanks!
Brian

[valvofolife]

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

You might try this:

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

With your SE plugged into your PC, open Device Manager.
Right Click on Sansa Express and choose Uninstall.
Do this anywhere Sansa Express appears in Device Manager.
Remove your SE and re-boot your PC.
Now when you plug in your SE, Windows should find new hardware and reinstall the original drivers.
Good Luck!

Thanks, I was going to do that as last resort but tried a few other things. Copying the the device driver called d_USBMass1.dll and renaming the copy as d_USBMass2.dll in the MediaMonkey program folder finally fixed it. A new plug-in was added and after configuring the new plugin for the Internal memory I can sync both the internal and external memory. Thanks for the reply anyway. I would have used your advice next if that hadn't worked.

[NoHolyGrail]

Will MSC mode allow me to navigate my music in a file/folder organization, or is this impossible with the SE?

[kennyj]

It's not possible with any SanDisk player since the e100. So, no. It's all controlled by ID3 tags only.

[googleman12345]

Well, I JUST got the Express. Tried to put it in MSC mode by updating the driver through Device Manager. When I select the 'USB Mass Storage Device', and try to install, it errors out:

"There was a problem installing this hardware: Sansa Express An error occurred during the installation of the device The system cannot find the file specified"

It can't find my UMS driver?

Generally, it will then show as not having any driver loaded, and will be disabled. Sometimes it errors out, but then shows up under the USB Controllers heading, but with the error marking, and as I said, driverless and disabled.

I don't want to have to use MTP, but can't convince it to truly be UMS. Also, I would prefer to not have to do any regedits, or uninstall MTP. Any thoughts?

Help!

Thanks in advance.

[googleman12345]

Well, I guess I've figured it out. Indirectly, at least. I just went ahead and rolled back WMP. Now it defaults to UMS. Works fine for me, as I never use Windows Media Player, but still...seems a little strange, especially given that the documentation seems to assume the player defaults to UMS, which for most people, it probably wouldn't.

Well, doesn't seem perfect so far; now I'm off to actually try and use the thing.

[kennyj]

I've tested this with other players with "autodetect" mode on multiple machines and it works fine... I don't know why it didn't on your system. I was going to suggest just finding the USBSTOR.INF file manually. I guess rolling back to WMP 9 or lower works too, though.

[googleman12345]

Yeah, I had located USBSTOR, and had that same idea, but it wouldn't even let my choose "I Have A Disk", or whatever.

I'm fine with it now, because as I said, I have no use for WMP. Seems it might be a pain if I did care about that, though.

[tris]

My express works ONLY in MSC mode......from very first conecton.....and after few corrections in device manager.....
And I have WMP11 & XP........

I tried my sansa on 3 other PC(XP+WMP <10) always the same....SANDISKSansa mass storage......

Then I get aslo first surprise ...."no responding" ...soft restart helped...

Few minutes ago I tried to connect on my girlfriends laptop...and surprise, surprise,...everything like in manual(only on that computer !).

[aznxkpx88]

there was a point my express could read korean but sometime im not sure when it can't read it anymore. instead it reads korean letters as chinese letters. is it because i changed it to msc mode? can someone help me fix this?