SpiceFX 5.0 Compatibility with Windows 7

The Windows Live version of Movie Maker is a complete re-write of the Movie Maker program by Microsoft. Version 1.0 was released as a free download in August 2009. It is a solid start for digital movie makers, but needs much more development work before it will become a very useful tool -- or even to match many of the key capabilities of prior Movie Maker versions, such as Movie Maker 2.6 or 6.0. Fortunately, Movie Maker 2.6 or 6.0 from Windows Vista can be manually installed into Windows 7 and used successfully. If you do that, our SpiceFX 5.0 add-ons will then install and work great. (Note: Earlier versions of SpiceFX will NOT work in Windows 7. To gain compatibility and lots of new creative power and flexibility in Movie Maker, consider upgrading to SpiceFX 5.0.)

Below are the five steps to install SpiceFX 5.0 in your Windows 7 system. Altogether, they only take a few minutes to do.

1. First find out if your Windows 7 system is 32-bit or 64-bit. To see if your computer is running a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows 7, do the following: Click Start > Control Panel, choose the System and Security control panel, then click System. Under System, you can view the system type.

2. Download a version of a Vista Movie Maker. If your Windows 7 system is 32-bit, make sure it is a 32-bit version. If your Windows 7 system is 64-bit, you can use a 32-bit OR 64-bit version. This step confuses many users, because although there are numerous sources online for downloading Movie Maker, some are unclear whether it is a 32-bit or 64-bit version. There is also another system-related issue: choosing between the two Vista versions of Movie Maker 6.0 and 2.6. Version 2.6 is designed for slower computers that lack a dedicated video card. So, depending on what you found out in Step 1 above (32-bit or 64-bit), and whether your computer has a dedicated video card or not, choose from below to download an appropriate Movie Maker version:
Movie Maker 2.6 (32-bit) from Microsoft
Movie Maker 2.6 (32-bit) from download.com
Movie Maker 6.0 HD (32-bit) (for systems with a built-in video card)
Movie Maker 6.0 HD (64-bit) (for 64-bit systems ONLY)

Additional links are readily available if you don't want the above... just google "Movie Maker 6.0 32-bit" or "Movie Maker 6.0 64-bit", for example. If your computer lacks a separate video card, then google "Movie Maker 2.6".

3. Install Movie Maker. Follow the instructions from the source you got it from, then take a few moments to check that MM works fine in your Windows 7 system. If not, then step back to Step 1 or 2 to see what could be wrong. If all is good, do the following:
If you installed Movie Maker 2.6, SKIP Step 4 and proceed to Step 5 below.
If you installed Movie Maker 6.0, proceed to Step 4 below.

4. Make sure your Movie Maker 6.0 folder is properly named. Some of the MM 6.0 downloads do not name the Movie Maker folder properly in a way that our SpiceFX installer will recognize. If you installed MM 6.0 in the above step, make sure your Movie Maker folder is named simply "Movie Maker" -- NOT "Movie Maker V6" or anything else like that. Next, make sure there is a "Shared" subfolder within the Movie Maker folder. And last, make sure there is a "AddOnTFX" subfolder within the Shared subfolder.

5. Now install SpiceFX 5.0. Download our demo version here to see how everything works fine in Windows 7, or install the purchased version if you have bought it already from us. If you bought an older SpiceFX version from us and have upgraded to SpiceFX 5.0, you will need to install the older version first. It will be automatically removed by the 5.0 upgrade.

You are done! Enjoy!

back to main SpiceFX page