Q. I'm trying to install Zune Software on Windows Server 2008 or Server 2008 R2, but it fails with an unsupported operating system message. What's wrong?

A. I'm getting ready for a vacation in January, so wanted to install the Zune software on my laptop so I can update the videos on my Zune HD (and my wife's) while away. However, the Zune 4 software install on my 2008 R2 installation failed with a message saying the OS is unsupported.

The solution, which works for versions 3 and 4 of the software, is to download the Zune software then extract the files that make up the download file with the /x switch. For example,

zunesetuppkg-x64.exe /x

The extraction will prompt for a location. In that folder will be a sub-folder called packages. There are various MSI files in this subfolder, and you want to install the main MSI directly. For 64-bit OSs, you should use Zune-x64.msi. Open a command prompt and navigate to the packages folder. Install using the command

msiexec /i Zune-x64.msi

The installation won't display any dialogs, but the software will install and the Zune icon will be on the desktop and in the Start menu.

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