How-To: Get your Olympus recorder working in Windows 7 and Vista

Software

This article applies to the VN-120PC, VN-240PC, VN-480PC, VN-960PC, VN-2100PC, VN-3100PC, VN-3200PC and VN-4100PC digital audio recorders being used on 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7.

The problem with getting your Olympus digital recorders to work with newer versions of Windows is that Olympus doesn’t provide all of the drivers you need in one place. In the hopes that I can save other frustrated users 20 minutes of wasted time, I’ve provided download links and a short guide to getting your recorder working with versions of Windows newer than XP.

1) Install the original Digital Wave Player software (Olympus link | local mirror)

Installing the original software will not get your device working, but it provides the baseline for the updates that you downloaded.

2) Install the Digital Wave Player update (Olympus link | local mirror)

This will make a green and gray digital recorder icon appear in your System Tray. (32-bit Windows users stop here.)

3) Install the 64-bit Windows drivers (Olympus link | local mirror)

After you’ve completed this step, you should be able to connect your device and transfer the audio files to your computer.




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(Optional) Install Audacity to edit your audio files.

Link. Windows 7 users should use the 1.3 beta version.

292 thoughts on “How-To: Get your Olympus recorder working in Windows 7 and Vista”

  2. Well it still works if anyone’s wondering. Install the first with windows 7 compatability mode and then the rest should work.

  7. FYI —
    Following RIANJS.Net’s instructions, I have the software and device successfully working on a Windows 10 Pro – V1511 – Build 10586.633 – 64-bit system.

  9. it still doesn’t work.
    I have downloaded the programmes, the computer says the device is working, but it doesn’t detect the files or the digital recorder itself…

  11. I’ve downloaded Digital Wave Player and that’s working fine, I plug my VN-3100PC recorder in, with the hold button off, and it says “PC” on the screen yet my computer doesn’t register the recorder. I’m on Windows Vista and can’t seem to find any help online so far. Does anybody have any tips or ideas how to get it to work?

    thanks, els.

  13. I cann,t introduce transducer of M2017 for 38DLPLUS
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  14. Windows 10…cannot find the device although all the previous steps mentioned here were succesful

  15. Getting the VN-3100PC to work on Windows 10 64bit…….

    I followed the instruction described above, and the only thing that did not want to install was the 64bit driver (there already was a newer version installed, so it would not overwrite).

    After that the VN-3100PC was not recognozed in Windows 10, the Digital Wave Player did work though.

    So, thinking that Windows always wants to restart after installing, even though no message stating it needed to be done, i decided to do so anyway, and after, when everything was loaded, the VN3100PC was still not visible as a USB source in Explorer, it was visible in Digital Wave Player, and the recorded files were accessible too.

    So getting it to work in Windows 10 64bit IS possible! :-)

    Thanks for all the info on how to…… ;-)

  16. Thanks for this. I have Windows10 v1511 and followed your instructions and installed the original software from the CD that came with my Olympus VN-1000PC (bought in Lidl some years ago now) then the latest 214 update to the software. Then the Vista+AMD update as you say and then the 64bit driver (just clicked on the exe). Running the software with the recorder attached and I did not see the device files. Then looked in Device Manager (control panel) and the VN device had an exclamation mark ! in yellow. Driver not working. So extracted the files (using 7-zip) from the VNSeries64Driver.zip which gave me one exe file -> VNSeries64Driver.exe then further extracted the files from VNSeries64Driver.exe which gave me a set of files I put in their own directory. Then back to device manager and the VN Series device listing. Now trying an auto update did NOT work. Plus the InstTool.exe in the extracted driver archive ran but said latest driver already installed. So I had to go back to windows Device Manager – find the VN Series device and then:-
    Properties
    Update Driver
    Browse my computer for driver software
    Select browse button and goto the folder with the files you extracted, namely: VNSUB.INF VNSUB.SYS WdfCoinstaller.dll
    Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer
    {you should then see Show Compatible Hardware ticked and below that
    VN Series device
    Select the Have Disk button
    Browse again to the directory where you extracted the files as above
    select VNUSB.inf

    Pronto it installed the software and when I then ran the Digital Wave Player it showed the recorder folder with the A B C folders and my recordings.

    So finally – with a manual forced update to the 64bit driver it worked.

    Thanks to all who posted before me and hope this may help some who have read all that and still had problems.

  18. Thank you so much for the downloads! Really appreciate it. Does anyone know where I can get the software download free? I bought an older Olympus digital wave player and it had no software. Thank you

  19. Good evening.

    I am in the process of reinstalling several programs onto my Windows 7 PC, among them the Olympus Digital Voice Recorder VN-960PC. I found the original installation disk, installed the program and then found your site through which I successfully installed the drivers. That being said, the system allowed me to transfer the actual “Folder A” containing nine files onto the computer; however, I am not able to open the folder itself to review and listen to the individual files. What step am I missing? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

    Thank you.

  20. Hi, again.

    Just to clarify something I said in my earlier post. After downloading the drivers and attaching the cables to the recorder and the PC, the computer accurately showed me that I had a folder containing nine files (Folder A). The system, however, would not allow me to open the files on the computer or transfer them to my PC as I thought I would be able to do. I have no way of opening the files on the computer. The only option I have for listening to the files is by attaching 3.5 mm cables to both the recorder and PC and recording them in Audacity. That of course, will take a long time and affect the sound quality. Any suggestions? Thanks again.

  21. Hi. This is a fresh query. I have an Olympus VN-5500 voice recorder which I neglected using, to the point where the batteries went flat. On replacing the batteries I can’t get any of the buttons to function. The Olympus manual is of no help, suggesting only battery replacement.

    Have I lost its operating system as well as the stored data? Is the machine now completely useless, or is there some way of restoring functionality? All I get is a permanent amber/green light. The Olympus manual doesn’t seem to state what this means. It’s confusing and frustrating, because I have/had some important recordings on it.

    – – –

    By the way, when I tried to view your home page, I got a Corrupted Content Error message “The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because an error in the data transmission was detected. Please contact the web site owners to inform them of this problem.”

    And when I tried the LexisMed link, I got “The owner of lexismed.com has configured their website improperly. To protect your information from being stolen, Firefox has not connected to this website.”.

  25. Thank you soooo much!!! Even if my recorder is VN-2000PC instead of VN-2100PC it works! I have made a previuos installation of my version of the Digital Wave Player software but it didn’t work completely. I just add the Digital Wave Player update and the 64-bit Windows drivers and finally it works on Windows 7!!
    Thank you so much!!

  26. Your link regarding making an old Olympus Voice Recorder work on Windows 10 was passed to me by a friend. Yes it worked and I thank you very much indeed. I have made the rquested donation. You richly deserve it as so many fixes on the web are rubbish!

  28. OK,

    deselect in installation driver setup (view compatible hardware) !!!

    try another USB

    make unhold on recorder

    thnx

  29. Worked for VN-3100PC, Great Thanks :D. Noticed the “HOLD” button on the side of the recorder have to be set up.

    Made a donation after a long time since my last donation to anywhere. Because Your request $2 is humble tried to donate more. Should have to make multiple donations but am a bit lazy right now, sorry.

  30. Very frustrated. Feel dumber than a rock. Don’t know what is installed and what isn’t. I am trying to move audio files from my Olympus VN-4100PC to files on my windows 7 pc 32 bit. My objective is to have files on my computer I can play back and also want to then use transcribe software to print them out. I have never done this before and would very much appreciate anyone’s help on this matter. When plugged in to the USB port the recorder displayed PC or flashing PC. I have never seen the green/gray thing on the computer.
    Objective
    #1 Get all files moved into a computer folder .
    #2 Be able to play said files .
    #3 Transcribe file to print file using free software available.
    PLEASE HELP ME get this done as I have spent several hours trying to figure this out. Also not sure what is meant about being in the system tray????
    Guess that shows what a novas I am about doing this. kcar11705@yahoo.com

  32. having an issue with the VNSeries64Driver when I unzip it it shows the .exe however when I try to install the .exe he gives me an error.

    “windows cannot access the specified device, pat, or file. You not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.”

    I have tired running in compatibility mode and using admin credentials..

    any advice?

  33. Big thanks to rianjs.net and AndyT!!!

    I had the same problem as AndyT, “VN Series Device” with yellow exclamation point under Control Panel->System. Mine only worked after “Uninstalling Device” with the “Delete Driver” box checked, then “Scan for new hardware” and pointing it the unzipped driver folder as AndyT instructed.

    OS: Windows 10 ver. 1903

  34. Amazing! Thank you so much. Was trying to retrieve my 95 year old father’s recordings from years ago on an old Olympus VN-960pc. This worked!

  36. Thanks a lot, worked like a charm (Windows 10 Pro 1909 18363.592)!

    If you have problems running the first install file, move the contents of the folder “R0990_40 (D)” to something like “C:\OLYMPUS”, it seems that it doesn’t like long paths or spaces in it. I was getting a “path not found” for the installation of ikernel.exe until I used a shorter, more easily available path.

  38. Does anyone have these files to share? It looks like Olympus and the local mirror are no longer working. :(

  39. Does anyone have these files to share? It looks like Olympus and the local mirror are no longer working. :(

    The local mirror works fine.

  40. Hello,

    I am currently trying to get my olympus VN-4100PC work under windows 10, but it doesn’t work, do you have a way to solve this?

    I followed your links but cannot find any softwares…

  41. dows anyone know where i can download 2.1.4 version of VN3100pc? the olympus limks and web pages are not useful (especially Olympus does not even bother to update their info and links). Thanks for any help. I need that version (have 2.1.0) to amke it work in w10

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