My Passport Essential 500Gb HDD - Not installing properly on WinXP

WD External Drives WD Portable Drives
1

I need help resolving an installation problem

This is my second attempt to install on Windows XP SP3 to back up my hard drive (@ 14:48 hrs Mon 14 Nov 2011)

  1. I followed instructions exactly as per the UserManual,
  2. On selecting Cancel at step 5, WD Drive Status on my desktop stated a problem occurred …
    I was not able to capture word for word 
  3. selecting the window, a popup window stated
    ( WD SmartWare has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. )
  4. I was in two minds to restart from scratch, but proceeded with Smartware
  5. No autoplay for Smartware, so I manually ran Smartware.exe, 
  6. I choose a full install, but an error occured nearing completion, 
  7. Status for Smartware was visible in the desktop navbar, referencing: 
    ( My Passport USB HDD [H:] Used = 1% ) with green light active
    (Locked = No, )
    ( Temperature = No )

I don’t understand why this installation is so difficult |  

  • I have check across the community boards on WD and see variety of messages from users experiencing similiar problems with installation.
  • Does WD need a specific build in WinXP ensure a successful installation ?
  • I have checked in services.msc the following files exist:
  • WD File Management Engine
  • WD File Management Shadow Engine
  • WD SmartWare Drive Manager 
  • Program Files also exist > C:\Program Files\Western Digital\WD SmartWare
  • Front Parlor 
  • WD Drive Manager 
  • What do I do now, uninstall, and try for a third time !
  • Can someone help me.
2

Dude, do you see the Passport when you go to My Computer? The Passport itself should work out of the box so you can copy and paste or use the Windows backup option, you need no software.

It sounds to me that you’re having problems with the bonus, optional Software that comes with the Passport (Smartware), which needs the Flash Player and .Net FrameWork 3.5 Sp1 to work.