ASPI 4.60 Information

Introduction:
This page was originally created out of the frustration that version 4.60 of Adaptec's ASPI layer requires a qualifying product in order to load it. Since there were no other versions at the time, Adaptec's ASPI layer was not publicly available.

Adaptec has since released versions 4.70, 4.71, and 4.71.2 (latest version released on 11/23/2002) which can be loaded freely on any Windows system (excluding Windows 95) since it does *not* require a qualifying product. I have never used a version other than 4.60, so I have no idea how stable these newer versions are.

With the above in mind, the rest of this page applies to version 4.60. Force ASPI is still a good choice to get the 4.60 ASPI layer working in Windows 2000.

Note: For a very good overview of ASPI, see the "Radified" Guide to ASPI Drivers at http://aspi.radified.com.
ASPI 4.60:
ASPI (Advanced SCSI Programmer's Interface) is a layer of software which manages communication between all kinds of software and your peripheral devices. For CD recording software to function well with CD recorders (including ATAPI / IDE recorders!), it is important that the ASPI layer be up to date.

If you are using Adaptec / Roxio software such as Easy CD Creator, it will load the ASPI layer for you. Other CDR programs may also load Adaptec's ASPI layer.

If you have an Adaptec card, run aspi32.exe to load version 4.60.1021, 09/10/1999. Run aspichk.exe to check your current version.

http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/speed/software_pc/aspi/aspi32_exe.htm also states - "Caution: Do NOT install ASPI32.EXE with Windows 2000, Windows ME, Easy CD Creator 4.x, or with Windows Media Player 7.0. If you have one of these applications (or OS), you will be using a different ASPI layer that will conflict with the one provided in this file."

I have no clue what they are talking about. In my experience, Easy CD Creator loads the exact same files in Windows 2000 that ASPI32 does. I have loaded ASPI32.EXE on every Windows 2000 installation I have had, starting with build 2031. Every application that uses ASPI seems to work fine. Pixtran has a KB article that seems to confirm this.

ForceAspi:
http://www.flexion.org/aspi/index.htm had a utility called Force ASPI, frcASPI17.zip, that would load the Adaptec ASPI layer on your PC even if you didn't have an Adaptec card. Adaptec requested that Flexion remove this utility.

Force ASPI can still be found at a number of sites, including:
  • http://www.afterdawn.com/software/cdr_software/cdr_tools/frcaspi.cfm
  • http://www.chickensys.com/bin/frcaspi17.zip
  • http://www.saunalahti.fi/~ljpp/forceaspi/frcASPI17.zip
  • http://www.doom9.org/software.htm#supportutils
    As with any other files you download, be sure to scan for viruses before running them.

    The batch files to load Force ASPI were fairly sophisticated, but basically instASPI.bat copied 4 files to your system and updated the registry. If you copy the files manually and update your registry with the appropriate settings, you can manually load the Adaptec ASPI layer yourself.

    The 4 files copied in Windows 2000 / NT are:
    File Date Size
    C:\WINNT\system\winaspi.dll 09/10/1999 5,600
    C:\WINNT\system\wowpost.exe 09/10/1999 4,672
    C:\WINNT\system32\wnaspi32.dll 09/10/1999 45,056
    C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\aspi32.sys 09/10/1999 25,244

    The registry file contained:
    REGEDIT4

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ASPI32]
    "ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
    "Start"=dword:00000001
    "Type"=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ASPI32\Parameters]
    "ExcludeMiniports"=""


    The 4 files copied in Windows 9X / ME are:
    File Date Size
    C:\Windows\system\winaspi.dll 09/10/1999 5,600
    C:\Windows\system\wnaspi32.dll 09/10/1999 45,056
    C:\Windows\system\aspienum.vxd 09/10/1999 7,743
    C:\Windows\system\iosubsys\apix.vxd 09/10/1999 22,603

    The registry file contained:
    REGEDIT4

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\APIX]
    "ExcludeMiniports"=""

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\ASPIENUM]
    "Start"=dword:00000000
    "StaticVxD"="ASPIENUM.VXD"


    Miscellaneous
    You can also try running aspi32.exe after manually installing an Adaptec SCSI adapter via the hardware wizard. I was not successful doing this under NT, but I have heard that it works in Windows 2000. When you are through, remove the "ghosted" device - http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=241257. Force ASPI is a much easier option.

    For a non-Adaptec ASPI layer, try using Nero's ASPI32 driver (WNASPI32.DLL). For details, see http://www.nu2.nu/aspi/.

    Most of the links on this page are still valid, but the information is rarely updated. This page was late updated on 02/02/2007.