This post is the result of a some frustrating weeks of trying different OS’s, machines, adapters,…
Upgrading with a Virtual Machine
Given that the software part can get very frustrating, I suggest that you first focus on creating a working environment based on your stock mp3 player. This will limit the number of things that can go wrong. This whole process was tested on a Windows 11 machine (called Host from now on).
Download Virtualbox.
Use your own Windows XP SP2 image or find one (google: archive + WinXPProSP2ENG).
Download the Windows Media Player 10 updater from here
Download the Creative Zen Micro drivers and upgraders from here
Install Virtualbox.
Install Windows XP on Virtualbox – this can be a big step if you don’t have much experience in this field, but there are plenty of tutorials on how to do it – check the references below.
Now that you have your Windows XP VM (called Guest from now on) up and running, go to the Devices tab on the top of your screen and click on “Insert guest additions CD…”.
This will insert a virtual CD containing some Virtualbox drivers and you’ll get a pop up on your Guest machine.
Install them and reboot your machine.
Turn off your Guest machine.
Connect the Zen Micro to your Host machine. Your Host machine should recognize the player with no trouble.
In Virtualbox, click on your VM machine and go to settings > USB > USB2.0 > click on the ‘plus’ sign and add your device there. The name should be “Creative…”.
Connect the Zen Micro to your Host machine. Your Host machine should recognize the player with no trouble.
In Virtualbox, click on your VM machine and go to settings > USB > USB2.0 > click on the ‘plus’ sign and add your device there. The name should be “Creative…”.
Now, in the same settings menu, go to the tab “shared folders” and click on “add”. Now, choose the folder you want to share between the Host and the Guest machines. Give it a name and a mount point. I picked “sharewithxp” for all the fields, including the name of the directory on Host. Check ‘auto-mount’ and ‘make permanent’ (if it exists).
On your Host machine, copy the files MP10Setup.exe, ZenMicroPDE_PCFW_LB_1_11_01.exe and JB3MV2_PCWDRV_US_2_01_00.EXE to the shared directory you just created. Also copy MP10Setup.exe.
Turn on your Guest machine and go to “My Computer”.
You should see your shared folder in there.
Copy all the files from there to your Guest’s desktop.
Install MP10Setup.exe – this upgrades the Windows Media Player from 9 to 10. By experience, Windows Media Player 11 was problematic and apparently 9 isn’t ok either. Stick to WMP 10. This was key for me. It really didn’t work without WMP10.
Install JB3MV2_PCWDRV_US_2_01_00.EXE – these are the drivers for the Zen Micro.
Disconnect your Zen Micro from your computer.
Connect it again.
Go to devices > usb on the top menu and make sure your device is selected.
Execute ZenMicroPDE_PCFW_LB_1_11_01.exe
If everything went according to plan you should now see an “Upgrade” button.
If you see said button – congratulations because this was the most painful part of the process. I realized that when the device is correctly loaded, the executable won’t open right away – It takes a few seconds. If the device wasn’t fully recognized, you’ll see a message saying “Your player is not connected, please connect your player”.
(If you got the dreadful second message and no “upgrade” button, try to reboot your Guest machine. Disconnect and connect your player again. Make sure it appears on the devices menu.)
Now that you have a working environment, let’s move to the fun part.
Format your micro sd card (fat32 if I’m not mistaken) – I used a Sandisk Extreme 128gb (the golden ones) and it worked fine.
Insert the micro sd on your CF-to-SD adapter. I got the the only adapter I could find (red one).
Disassemble your Zen Micro – there are tutorials and videos around that show you how to do it better than I possible could – check the references below.
Remove the CF card from the mp3 player and insert the adapter.
Pay attention to the position of the old CF card. CF cards don’t have a big distinguishable difference on one side like sd cards do. It’s really easy to get mistaken and connect it on the wrong side. The only differences are the slots/openings on both sides of the CF card/adapter – one is larger than the other. When the adapter is connected and in place, its label should be visible (pointing upwards). Take a picture of the original CF card if needed or check the video in the references below.
Assemble everything back but do not insert the battery right away.
Toggle the power button to the left and hold it that position. Insert the battery.
You should now be in recovery mode.
Navigate to “format all” and click ok.
Navigate to “reboot” and click ok.
Connect your player to the computer and, in the Guest machine, make sure it is selected on the devices > usb menu.
Open ZenMicroPDE_PCFW_LB_1_11_01.exe
If everything went according to plan, the upgrade button should now be visible.
Click.
Wait.
Enjoy.
[I also tried upgrading to ZenMicroP4S_PCFW_L16_2_21_02.exe and it worked just fine. However, I realized the player needs to reboot 2-3 times and when it did, it lost connection with the machine, so I had to disconnect the cable and connect it back again and it was picked up. If it doesn’t, check if it is still selected on the devices>usb menu and try again.]
PS:
Inside the Creative Zen Micro link, there are also 2 older drivers in there – I didn’t test them.
References:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ipod/comments/18e1698/creative_zen_micro_upgraded_from_5gb_hdd_to_a/
https://www.instructables.com/Upgrade-the-Zen-Micro-5gb-to-8gb-on-the-Cheap/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VERkcCTJFyI
https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-boot-and-install-from-iso-in-virtualbox/
Upgrading without a Virtual Machine
If you find the whole VM environment too overwhelming, you can also upgrade your Creative on a machine running Windows XP natively. I found it to be way easier. I used a Zone 94 windows xp iso – it contains all the drivers needed to run Windows XP natively in a modern-ish computer. There are other options, but I haven’t tried those – google: slipstream windows xp. Once I installed Zone 94 on my 2010 laptop I simply followed the rest of the steps described in the previous section.