I’ve recently been fiddling about with multiple Audigy Vista drivers. In the quest to find the best working driver, I was experiencing issues with left over files. I didn’t fancy reinstalling Vista every time I had a new driver to test, so I consulted the Creative oracle -Daniel Kawakami. (Tsk.. I’m such a name dropper.) We then looked at Daniel’s list and compared it to our list of problem files and entries. The amount of things needing deletion (before new driver install) was quite astounding. Creative really added a whole bunch of stuff to Vista drivers. There are 2 ways to remove these files; the easy way or the hard way.
…but before we start -lets take a moment to uninstall any Creative programs that are already installed.
Ok everything Creative in add remove programs uninstalled?
Download latest driver, extract the package using 7-zip or WinRAR, navigate to Drivers folder
Here you will find setup.exe, run it and select Uninstall and Delete all shared files below. After you’re done, restart.
Ok let’s try to get things really clean now.
The Easy Way: Guru3D Driver Sweeper
The automatic uninstall method is very easy, two steps in fact. First you need to kill the CTHELPER.EXE process in Window’s Task Manager if it’s running. It’s very important as files in use cannot be removed.
Next step, we need some help from the Gurus. FnF, from the Guru3D community, kindly added our lists of the problem files and registry entries into the latest version of Guru3D - Driver Sweeper.
Guru3D - Driver Sweeper is a fast tool to remove driver leftovers from your system. It’s very important to remove your drivers on a proper way, because driver leftovers can cause problems like stability and startup problems. You can use it if you want to update/remove drivers from your system. The current supported drivers are NVIDIA (Display and Chipset), ATI (Display), Creative (Sound) Realtek (Sound), Ageia (PhysX) and Microsoft (Mouse).
The Hard Way: Manual Removal Of Files
This Manual uninstall method is quite complex and isn’t suited for most users. Always backup your valuables, registry etc. If it goes wrong, don’t blame me. It’s worth noting too that UAC should be disabled, in case anyone out there is crazy enough to be using it. I don’t recommend this way -it’s really a last resort thing.
1) Firstly begin by totally uninstalling anything with the Creative tag on it.
Control Panel > Control Panel Home > Programs > Uninstall a program
2) Next we need to remove any tricky start up entries, again anything Creative must go.
Control Panel > Control Panel Home > Programs > Change startup programs
3) Now we need to remove Creative registry entries, and there’s quite a few.
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Creative Tech
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Creative Tech
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Creative Tech
- HKEY_LOCAL_Machine\Software\ASIO
4) Remove these files/folders:
- C:\Windows\System32\BMX*.rfx
- C:\Windows\System32\Data
- C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Data *(64-bit only)
- C:\Windows\{*.BAK
- C:\Windows\{*.CDF *Under Vista, requires additional actions to be successfully deleted, see below.
- C:\Windows\CTDCRES.DLL
- C:\Windows\System32\cttele32.dll
- C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CTOSS2K.SYS
- C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CTSFM2K.SYS
- C:\Program Files\Creative (delete whole folder)
- C:\Windows\CTXFIRES.DLL
- C:\Windows\CTPRES.DLL
- C:\Windows\Updreg.EXE
To remove .CDF files, type the following two commands in the Command Prompt (requires Admin Privileges or UAC disabled)
takeown /f C:\Windows\*.CDF
and
cacls C:\Windows\*.CDF /G User:F
User is your username, which must have admin rights. Answer Y (yes) to confirm the changes.
Now close the prompt, open Windows Explorer and delete the files with filenames like these:
{00000005-00000000-00000002-00001102-00000004-20021102}.BAK
{00000005-00000000-00000002-00001102-00000004-20021102}.CDF
After all of this, restart and begin to install your software. I noticed that after using this method, my Creative driver packages would install much quicker. It even solved a few little bugs I was having. Bonus.
I’d like to say a big thanks to Daniel Kawakami and RejZoR for providing us with further information, thus allowing us to compile this list of problems better. Without their hard work and will to help, many of us would have no sound.
I’d also like to say a big thanks to FnF from the Guru3D.com community for adding the huge list of entries to the Guru3D.com Driver Sweeper, thus eliminating much work.
Praise them.
02/07/08 EDIT: Updated, adding instructions for official Creative uninstall tool. Thanks to Tarkan2467 and RejZoR from the Guru3D.com community for the improvements.
31/07/08 EDIT: Creative have changed the installer programs. Some files may not be present -there also will be some new ones…. Some of the advanced removal details may be out of date and inaccurate. We will add more info when available on the new uninstallers.
Please explain more in “removing CDF files” part.
is all i hv 2 do just open the CMD.exe then simply type (EXample)
” C:\>Document and Settings\Owner>takeown /f C:\Windows\*.CDF ”
and
” C:\>Document and Settings\Owner>takeown /f C:\Windows\*.CDF ”
is that right ??? please explain more.. thx
Run Command:
takeown /f C:\Windows\*.CDF [PRESS ENTER HERE}
cacls C:\Windows\*.CDF /G User:F [PRESS ENTER HERE}
(Replace user with your user name)
I’m not understanding what these are:
# C:\Windows\{*.BAK
# C:\Windows\{*.CDF
I’m not familiar with what the usage of { is, but I know * is basically a wild card. Anyhow… I go into C:\windows (this is on vista) and see zero files, including hidden, that are .bak or .cdf. When I do a search using {*.cdf I get a huge amount of results…. and for {*.bak I get one result which doesn’t appear to be associated with creative at all.
Can you elaborate on those 2?
I can’t elaborate more fully on those 2 entries, as I didn’t actually know much of them myself. Those entries were suggested to me and needless to say, once removed cured my bugs. I posted them here for all to try. I’m not claiming to know everything about the files. I’m just posting what I’ve learnt needs to be removed for Creative drivers and software to install fully.
If you’re uncertain of deleting any files, or perhaps you’re sensibly cautious about following home-made guides from the internet -DONT DELETE THEM.
Anyway.. Google reveals…
CDF is commonly regarded as ANDI/netCDF Mass Spectrometry Data Interchange format.
CDF files can also be used as a Netcdf Graphic file, and ASCII Format Describing VRML Worlds data file.
As for BAK, these files are often used to backup data, to be used is situations when data goes missing or gets corrupted.
Various programs use this extension; too many to list individually. Take clues from the location of the file as a possible pointer to exactly which program is producing the file. The file’s date and time can also help if you know which programs you were running when the file was written.
Hi,
Thanks for this. I had a problem removing one of the CDF files even after typing that stuff into Command Prompt. However, I was able to remove it after removing everything else on the list and restarting, so I just thought I’d share this in case anyone else has the same problem.
Ben
Thanks for sharing your findings.
I have it on good authority that the next revision of http://www.guru3D.com driver sweeper will make removal much easier.
As soon as the newer version is available, I shall post it.
Thanks again for your input.
Goat
should we hv to follow this instruction altough we hv formated the XP system n installed new fresh Vista ?? please xplain 2 us
This method will remove PREVIOUS Creative software and driver installs. New OS installs shouldn’t contain any problems, this guide is aimed at people who had the misfortune to run Creative Labs Setup.exe previously.
Basically, it’s the Creative Web Updates that refuse to uninstall properly, and leave files and entries all over the show.
As for Vista, I wish it already had a working Audigy driver on Window’s Update!
Hope this clears things up.
Hi, was wondering if someone could help me out. I have caried out EVERY SINGLE step in this guide (i.e. using the driver sweeper program and manually deleting entries) and ruthlessly eliminated any trace of Creative on this PC.
However, after I install Dan’s Unofficial software, I’m STILL getting that damn speaker selection bug. I can’t select any speaker configuration. I’m sure I had cleared EVERY single trace of Creative software before installing the new drivers, so why am I still getting this problem?
This might be related- I checked my Driver Sweeper log and I found this line:
Not deleted file (C:\Windows\{00000003-00000000-00000001-00001102-00000004-20021102}.CDF)
I tried to delete the file manually but for some reason it still says I need permission (even though I entered the two commands in command prompt).
If anyone could help me out I would GREATLY appreciate it, this problem has been driving me up the wall!
Kadero, I was having the same problem as you. I tried Driver Sweeper numerous times and couldn’t seem to get rid of those darn CDF files. I even followed the manual install method and Vista wouldn’t let me delete them even after in the two commands successfully. I tried booting into Bart’s PE and still couldn’t delete.
Here’s what finally worked: I logged into the Admin account, located the files, right clicked them and went to “properties”. Then I went to the “Security” tab and added full control to the files for the account I had logged into. *Finally* Vista let me then delete the files.
For some reason I had problems installing the Pack 2 drivers from this site after doing that. However, I let Windows find the drivers automatically, then ran through the driver removal steps again. This time they installed and I finally have the speaker selection box back! Hope this helps…if you have more questions I can try to be more specific as to my steps.
By the way, this site has been a godsend…I was about to throw my Audigy out the window and use onboard sound, I was so frustrated by Creative and the treatment of loyal fans (since 1992).
Hi, Nomore,
Thanks for your advice about removing the creative drivers. I started to delete items from the registry, but then switched to installing drive sweeper, which worked fast and fine. However, in my “add of remove programs,” all of the creative programs are still showing as named items: Creative AudioHQ, Creative Driver, Creative Jukebox Driver, Creative Playcenter, Creative Recorder, and Creative Sound Mixer. How do I get all these names to go away?
Has anyone else got a Zen player? Its hard to decide what to remove as these of course are by Creative, so I am a bit reluctant to remove all the folders (I tried to remove all but the ones I could determine were definitely Zen).
We’re on XP and it was fairly sudden that the 5-1 system suddenly went to 2-1! I tried downloading the latest Creative drivers and ended up with no sound at all.
Will let you know what happens when I find a CD to burn these drivers onto and then install them. I’ll see if the Zen files cause problems
Hi there, I am currently very stressed out due to this error, I just got crysis, had the ‘12.15.0002′ x-fi drivers installed and after a few hours my computer froze up, it has been doing this for a while with gaming applications, so I looked on the internet after I rebooted and saw there were new drivers for my sound card and it said that it resolved an issue with 4gb ram and 64-bit Vista, so I thought I would give it a go…
…as with every other time I have installed my drivers I went to add/remove programs uninstalled the control panel first, no problem, uninstalled the x-fi driver no problem, rebooted, canceled vista trying to install its own drivers, only to be welcomed by…
“Error: You have previously installed drivers without rebooting. Please reboot and try again”
…now, I can not install the new drivers, I can not install the old drivers (pretty much wont let me install anything that is creative software) I am not an expert with computers, but I know quite a lot, I built the thing and have done a lot of troubleshooting, I seem to have picked up a lot from dealing with problems -_-…
…anyhow I tried the most basic thing to see if it would work, system restore, sure enough it restores my computer with my card recognized and installed but the software is full of errors, for example I can not open the control panel because it does not think its there, and this applies to trying to get rid of it from add/remove programs…
…I have tried booting in safe mode, clean boot, and have tried to remove all traces of creative from my computer from the C: drive, windows folder, driver folders, temp folders, registry…etc, manually and with, ccleaner, driversweeper, drivercleanerpro and a few others but nothing works, I still get the same error message…
…I am pretty certain it is something to do with the creative software as there are a few others on the net I have looked at with this problem but theirs was fixed after the drivercleaner pro or ccleaner stage, everything else works in the computer, games even run when I system restored, but I can not make any changes to the sound settings, update/remove drivers, it is stuck…
…the final thing is that after I uninstalled and rebooted the first time, this appeared in my add/remove programs “Creative Soundblaster Properties x64 Edition” which when I try and remove says that the program did not uninstall properly, and I get an option of using recommended removal settings or selecting it did remove properly, however it was not there to remove in the first place…
…I really would appreciate some help, I am confident if I wipe everything to do with creative from my computer it will allow me to install the drivers again, sorry for the long post, and thanks
If you’ve got Vista, then in order to successfuly execute
takeown /f C:\Windows\*.CDF
and
cacls C:\Windows\*.CDF /G User:F
you must press Win-R, type cmd and enter those commands. Its important that you do as I said and after you type cmd (and press enter of course:)), you’ll open command prompt and find yourself in your user folder: C:\Users\User (Instead of User there’s your name). You must enter the commands from there. This is because calcs.exe works in that folder only. Now you can safely remove left CDF files.
I tried all of the above for Windows Vista Ultimate x64 with my Creative X-FI and nothing worked. MY SOLUTION: Create a new user account, grant it admin, try the install from the new account. Worked for me. you can remove the new account after you are done. apparently there are more temp files stored somewhere in the profile.
hello and first man this guy has mad skills to do this my xfi card hasnt sounded better im telling ua why cant those wankers do this anyway turning off dobly support and that whats the point if he proved it works why cant they???
and no its says adugy but read else were that these might work weith xfi cards???
but only got adugy cards listed so didnt want to try it but did find on here the old xfi drivers pack.but there is a new march 8th driver out for xfi and wanted to no if danny boy will be makeing a new pack from these????
seems these older cards have more support at mo than my new fatal1ty pro card?? but this card hasnt sounded better than with his drivers but is missing the bit software that goes in by clock to switch from music to games and controls all the options so dont ave to go in control panel which i used a lot but im sure that i cant use that with these as it says i have to wipe all my old creative software from my drive so can i use it maybe just try to install that as i could change all my settings from that panel control…like the doby i cant see that anywere apart from it sounding better i cant see any diff to my software options now but guess he made the adigy drivers better not xfi???
[...] please take a moment to read this artice on how to remove previous installations. It’s better to start with a clean slate -especially if you’re the type likely to whine [...]
these don’t display properly in firefox 2.0.14 on vista ultimate x32 for me:
{00000005-00000000-00000002-00001102-00000004-20021102}.BAK
{00000005-00000000-00000002-00001102-00000004-20021102}.CDF
so i put them in this comment in hopes of helping others…
HTH tom
[...] I was finally able to get rid of the old malfunctioning drivers and use the new Daniel K driver here. Submitted by Mark on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 22:53 Tags: [...]
Thanks Tom. As you can probably guess, I’m not a Firefox user!
Download the latest drivers from Creative.
Boot XP in SAFE MODE and install the drivers, works every time.
BigBrit: That’s the plan -but believe me that won’t fix issues like “empty speaker selection” in the Audio Console. It will just reinstall over the top -leaving many problem files behind (especially in Vista).