Windows XP usbaudio.sys on Window Vista

Author:

phil

Created:

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

Last Updated:

Sunday, April 05th, 2009

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I recently decided to update a laptop I have, to Windows Vista. It is a bit of an older laptop, but fully capable of handling Vista. With it being an older laptop, I have an issue with the internal sound card where it just flat out doesn't work any more... (rare, but not unheard of) I read somewhere that on the particular model I have, plugging in an external set of speakers, can 'fry' the sound card if there is any static on the stereo jack... I don't know how 'true' that is, but whatever, the sound doesn't work.

This brings me to the whole reason I am writing this article. Since my sound doesn't work, I scrounged up an old MiniLink Audio USB to Stereo converter I had lying around from when I picked up a Sony MD player.

Now, Windows XP didn't have any issues with the driver for the MiniLink but for whatever reason, Vista does. I did some research on the issue and ran into this article which really helped solve a lot of my problems. However, It didn't directly help solve the problem, which is why I am writing my own article.

So, you want to fix the USB Audio problem on your Vista machine? Believe it or not, the Windows XP version will work perfectly fine on Vista and you will probably have less problems!

Basically, we have to grab the permissions of the usbaudio.sys files for both the main usbaudio.sys and within the file repository (Vista file protection) and change the ownership to ourselves. Then just replace both files. I have two different 'options', the latter is the actual one I went with, but the first option is what 'should' work though I haven't exactly tested it. (other people mention that it works)

You will obviously need access to a Windows XP system so you can grab the usbaudio.sys file, which actually turned out to be a bit interesting for me. The computer I attempted to pull the file from, doesn't use any sort of USB Audio device, therefore it didn't have the file loaded to just pull from the system directory. The file itself was actually in the sp3.cab file. So, if you can't find the file on your computer, grab XP SP3 and extract the file somewhere, then search for the sp3.cab file, open it up and grab the usbaudio.sys file out of it. (The easiest way to extract SP3 and the sp3.cab files, is to grab an open source archiving program called 7-zip.)

Option 1:

Open up command prompt as Administrator and type the following:

takeown /f C:\Windows\System32\drivers\usbaudio.sys

Then type:

cacls C:\Windows\System32\drivers\usbaudio.sys /G "(User Name)":F

(Note: Notice (User Name) | Replace with your login username.)

You will also have to do this in the File Repository or else it will replace your file. There are two different directories you might have to look out for, depending on whether you have updated Vista to SP1.

Pre Vista SP1

takeown /f C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\wdma_usb.inf_9ce240de\usbaudio.sys

cacls C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\wdma_usb.inf_9ce240de\usbaudio.sys /G "(User Name)":F

Post Vista SP1

takeown /f C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\wdma_usb.inf_93fdc0a6\usbaudio.sys

cacls C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\wdma_usb.inf_93fdc0a6\usbaudio.sys /G "(User Name)":F

Finally, we need to rename the usbaudio.sys file located in both locations. I recommend something like usbaudio.sys.default

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\wdma_usb.inf_9ce240de\

Finally, copy the XP usbaudio.sys file into both directories and you should be set! The easiest way to test is reboot and see if your audio is still working.

Option 2:

This is the way I was able to get the file replaced and get around the Vista File Protection issue. I am skipping over the step by step on how to change file permission which means you will need to know a little bit about changing the permissions of a file and taking ownership.

First off, open Windows Explorer and navigate to:

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\

Open the properties for usbaudio.sys file and take ownership of the file. Then add your main user name into the permissions box and give yourself full control.

The next step will depend on whether you are Pre or Post Vista SP1. Go to: (click your setup)

Pre Vista SP1

C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\wdma_usb.inf_9ce240de\

This is just a hair different than just taking ownership of the usbaudio.sys file. I tried doing this on just the usbaudio.sys file but ran into a bit of problems with the inherited permissions of the repository folder. Since I really don't care if a 'hacker' or 'virus' decides to go in and screw with my USB Audio drivers, I just took ownership of the entire repository folder (in my case \wdma_usb.inf_93fdc0a6 since I am on SP1) then added my user account in with full permissions (at the folder level) pushing the permissions to the sub-containers and objects.

Now that the permissions have been set, rename the usbaudio.sys file in both folders to something like usbaudio.sys.default and copy the XP usbaudio.sys into both folders.

That should do it! The best way to test is to reboot the computer.

Keep in mind that if you perform a windows update which replaces the usbaudio.sys file and the new file is causing problems, you will have to replace the new file with the XP file again.

Update: I wrote this back in September of 2008, right after switching the files around, mainly so I would remember how to do it again in the future. It is now March (10th to be exact) of 2009 and I am still running on the XP drivers on my vista laptop with updates being applied from Sept. till now and I have not had a single problem with the usbaudio.sys issue.

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Comments

Works for Windows 7

Permalink Submitted by Keith (not verified) on Tue, 2012/08/14 - 21:23

I want to thank you for taking the time to write and update this article. After installing Windows 7, my USB headset (Netcom GN9330 USB) no longer worked. The manufacturer confirmed that this headset was not firmware upgradable and was no longer compatible with Windows 7. Replacing USBAUDIO.sys with the XP version worked great. The only problem I ran into following your steps was that the "takeown" command didn't work, reporting that the logged-on user didn't have enough privileges. So I followed the steps described here and they worked.

Thanks again.

Thanks Keith

Permalink Submitted by phil on Fri, 2012/08/17 - 02:03

Thx for the update Keith! Sorry my methods for taking ownership didn't work for you... It might be some differences between the permissions of Vista & 7...

Fortunately for me, I've moved on to a better computer that actually has sound so I don't need the USB audio anymore. Cool that you made it work in Windows 7 though :)