That describes my main problem right now. Ever since I installed Vista over XP Media Center Edition, most things have been working fine except this.

I go to install drivers for let's say... my Lexmark printer (which is supported in Vista) or Nintendo WiFi USB Connector (not REALLY supported in Vista, but enough people have gotten it to work that I should be able to as well) or whatever. Many times the installation of a new driver will hang right in the middle. It'll bring up a prompt from Windows Security asking if it's OK to install this driver or some crap. Click yes. Sometimes it just freezes up there. In the case of my audio card before (which I finally got working somehow), it would just keep looping that question prompt over and over every 30 seconds or so.

In the case of the USB Connector, it actually installed OK, I set the compatibility to XP Service Pack 2, and it "runs".. until I try to connect to it through my Wii, then the program brings up a "Windows is closing this program, there's an error, blah blah" prompt.

I've actually been getting a lot of that in Vista as well. IE will shut down quite a bit for no reason, the Nintendo WiFi Connector does the same, etc.

But yeah. I have the appropriate driver files for (as an example) my Lexmark printer. I have the Vista file. But it won't finish installing correctly because it just hangs up near the middle. I tried installing them other ways (using Vista to find the Lexmark drivers and try to install them, automatically use what Vista thinks are the best drivers, etc. etc.). None of them work.

Should I reinstall Vista? Could this help?If you reinstall vista do a full reload not an upgrade. There may be ISSUES with the old xp drivers still being in the system. I have ALSO HEARD of problems running the WII networking but there is a bunch of workarounds I am sorry i don't remember them off of the top of my head. I can do some searching when i get home from work.If you have the Lexmark installation CD with Vista drivers, uninstall any drivers for Lexmark. Disconnect the printer cable. Disconnect the printer power. Shut down. Reconnect the printer cable and power, be sure the printer is turned on. Reboot. When windows DETECTS new hardware, cancel out. After boot up completes, insert the Lexmark CD and run the installation program.I do not have a Lexmark CD with Vista drivers. I do have an installation CD, but it's older (for XP). So I've tried multiple things.. installing using this CD (doesn't work), installing using the newest Vista drivers from the website (won't finish installing), etc.

This goes for nearly anything I've tried to install after I've installed Vista. Drivers have major problems. Hangs right in the middle of installation nearly all the time.

*censored*, I EVEN have a problem uninstalling older drivers for devices, because it hangs during uninstalling them as well. Vista does have a major problem with drivers. If it was me, I'd dump Vista in a heartbeat.What version of Vista is this is ? ?
RC1...RC2...
Or maybe an "ahem" version from the web ? ?I.. uhh.. have no clue what version of Vista it is (besides Home Premium). It's certainly not an ahem "web" version, I can tell you that much.A re-install may help but a few things to check first.

Are you getting hangs when doing any other tasks or just with driver installs/uninstalls ?

How was the machine prior to Vista..any of the same symptoms ? ?

How much RAM in this machine ? ?

Was MCE erased with the Vista install ? ?To anwer your questions:

Nope, no other noticeable hangs during other tasks.. none that I can think of right now, anyways.

Prior to Vista, I actually had a different problem.. the PC would run out of available memory quickly.. I would have like 6 tabs of IE (or Firefox) open and I'd get a popup about my memory being low.. this was even with the add-on disabled version of IE.. Vista took this problem away but gave me a new one, it seems..

There is 1 gig of RAM.

Not sure about MCE being erased.