Vista not able to recognize Zen Touch

I have had my touch for about 2 years now and have sworn by the creative name over ipod for all of this time. Needless to say i was quite discouraged when i found that creative refused to help me via email because i had not purchased my player recently. I understand that the firmware is probably the issue that prevents vista from recognizing my mp3 player but have not been able to find a straight answer or complete solution in this entire forum. Which firmware do I need to make my zen touch work with vista? Will all of my songs be deleted from my player when i upgrade firmware? Do i have to use an xp computer to fix all of these problems?

To use the Zen Touch in Vista you need an MTP-compatible firmware, so for the Zen Touch that is firmware version 2.11.01. Unfortunately, when you upgrade to that firmware, it will format the player during that process, so back up your music first (you can transfer it back to the player once the update is complete). And yes, this firmware does need to be loaded onto the player on a Windows XP (SP1 or 2) system.

I have downloaded the firmware, and reloaded all of my songs into my player with XP. My new computer with Vista recognizes the Zen touch, but I have tried to open the player in several different programs and NONE of them will work. Windows Media Players freezes, Real Player (The program I used on my old computer to re-load the music files after upgrading the firmware) will not recognize the files and says, "Media type not supported" when I try to transfer new mp3's, and I can't even open the Creative Media Source Organizer.

Did the firmware update complete successfully on your WinXP system? You can confirm it on the unit itself; it will say the newer firmware version there. When you plug it into your Windows Vista system, you said it recognized it, but does it show up correctly or does it display an error or problem? At what point does Windows Media Player freeze?

The firmware was successful. I just tried docking the player again. This time the computer didn't recognize the player. It seems to vary. Sometimes a message will open "Creative Zen Connected" or something like that. But this time, nothing happened. I Opened WMP and it said "No player connected" even though the player said "Docked" I have tried opening the player to view the files - which is an option that Vista gives when it does recognize the player - and waited about 15 minutes while it tried to open the files - then it stopped responding. This has also happened with Real Player. If I try to sync, transfer or view the files - the program will stop responding.

I tried to download the ZenTouchP4S_PCFW_LB_2_11_01 firmware on WinXp, but it could have failed. Now my Zen touch says recovery mode when i turn it on. WinXp and Vista don’t recognize the player via windows media player, so now none of my op systems can recognize my Zen. How can i fully install the firmware ZenTouchP4S_PCFW_LB_2_11_01? I’m at my wits end, although its old, my Zen touch is still a nice piece of audio machinery. If anybody can help, please please let me know

I spent two days researching what to do to get my Zen Touch to work on a new Vista system:
1) I uninstalled WMP11 and WMP11 runtime from my old XP system
Note: none of the following steps went smoothly (i.e. the CMSP5 wouldn't install because I didn't have a compatible devise installed; then finally found the Zen Touch but froze up on the install until - out of frustration - I disconnected the Zen Touch and the install proceeded)
2) I uploaded new Creative Zen Touch PlaysForSure Firmware 2.11.01 using the XP system
(that erased all my songs on the ZT so I had to reinstall them from the XP system)
3) I installed Creative MediaSource Player/Organizer 5.10.38 onto the Vista system
4) I installed Creative PlaysForSure Devices Plugin 5.00.36 for Creative MediaSource 5 Player/Organizer onto Vista system
5) Launched CMSP5, which now sees a connected Zen Touch (i.e. ZT shows up in the Sources window)
BUT:
6) When you click on the ZenTouch, CMSP5/Vista displays the "busy" icon and fails to display the contents of the ZT
So, I'm 98% of the way to actually being able to use my ZT on the Vista system.
Can anyone tell me what the missing 2% is? That is, why doesn't CMSP5 see the ZT's contents?