WinXp driver profiles.

[HackSore]

I recently got myself a usb sound card for recording purposes.
Now i removed my old pci soundblaster and am using the usb card as my main machines soundcard, which is fine, but the reason i went with a usb soundcard is so that i can use it in conjunction with my laptop for a mobile recording solution.
Now the problem with that is i dont want to lose the onboard sound on the laptop, as i occasionally use it for stuff other then recording.
I havent tried installing the usb card drivers alongside the onboad soundcard drivers, but im guessing it will probably cause issues (i'll test it out soon though)
so i was wondering if there was any way of setting up driver/hardware profiles within XP? so i can just switch between the two.
I thought of dual boot with different drivers for each install, but surely there must be a simpler way to do it?

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

[crenn]

When you unplug the USB soundcard (don't do it while it's in use), it should revert to the onboard sound.

[XcOM]

that or you can create hardware profiles, i will do a guide when i am at home tonight for you,

[XcOM]

ok, as promised, a guide to setting up hardware profiles:

Start by going to your control panel and selecting system:

Next select the hardware tab, and click "Hardware Profiles"

Copy your current profile and name it something relevent

Now select the new profile and click properties, on there click "This is a portable computer, and dock state unknown"

Also select "Always include this profile as an option when windows starts"

Once done click ok, and ok, now you should be back here:

Click device manager and locate your USB audio device, and select properties,
Now in the drop down box at the bottom select "Disable in this profile"

Now restart and load the second profile you created for the USB audio device, load device manager and select the onboard audio device, and disable on this profile again, but enable the USB audio device on this profile.

Job done

[HackSore]

Awesome, Thanks so much for the guide XcOM!

Much appreciated!

[HackSore]

Is there any way to change the hardware profiles on the fly? or does it require a reboot to change?

[Vitz¥^]

might be a dumb over simplified solution that doesnt work for you, but i have onboad sound for gaming (headset usage) and an old crap pci soundcard for music (stereo). all i have to do to set which source any sounds come through is to go to sounds and audio device properties, audio tab, and sound playback - select the device i want. works good for me. But as i say, might be oversimplified

[HackSore]

Yeah, that might work, im guessing with the usb card switched off, it wont cause any driver conflicts, but i'll give it a go and see what happens i guess.