Installing Games/Apps
- December 18th, 2009
- By Zeek
How to put Games and Apps on you HD
Okay, so before we begin, let me say that you will need a little patience and that it may take a while to download the parts depending on your internet speed.
First you’re going to have to download and install Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition using the link below… This software will allow you to open source files as well as deploy .ccgame files (I will explain how to do this later on).
C# 2008 Express Edition (Scroll down and select the vcssetup.exe file)
Now you’re going to need to download and install Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.1 by clicking on the link.
XNA Game Studio 3.1
Now when its complete, go to the start menu and in the XNA directory click on Device Center.

Connect your Zune HD to the computer and click on Add Device,
it will find your Zune HD and add it automatically… Your now ready to move on to the next step.
Now that you have the two essential programs installed, you must download and install the Zune HD extensions for XNA Game Studio. These extensions add the various touchscreen and accelerometer functions for the XNA developers to utilize and for you guys to drool over =P
XNA Extensions for Zune HD
Now that’s it for the hard part!!!! Now starts the easy stuff, make sure your Zune HD is up to date before trying these because they may not work or give you an error.
Deploying a .ccgame File
Now sometimes Authors will go ahead and package their game as a .ccgame file… These are much easier than source codes in that all you have to do is open the file and click UnPack.
It will then be sent to your Zune HD automatically!!! And that’s all!! You are now ready to enjoy the ever expanding library of XNA games, be sure to check back often for new games and apps.
Deploying The Games with .zip/.rar extension
Now then, I will explain how to install and use the source files. Authors often times provide source code instead of compressed apps because they want others to be able to edit their work. When you have the source code on your computer, you will notice a folder and a file with a .sln extension.
Double click the file with the .sln extension to open the “solution” in Visual C# 2008.
When it opens, in the right hand pane, you will see various files and folders…
Just right click the title in the pane and click deploy.
Now before you do this you need to make sure that your Zune HD is connected and your Zune Software is NOT running. It will then deploy to your Zune and be ready to play.

does this work for windows 7 i cant get it to work if someone could help me i would greatly appriciate it i downloaded every thing but the visual thing says “
the visual thing dosent support this version of windows which is windows 7 what are te steps please help
@matthew alfonso
It supports windows 7 just fine, just if you have 64 bit windows you might have to find a different download.
Is this going to damage or make the HD slower since it resets everytime you goto the main menu?
When i try to unpack the file, it says that it doesn’t trust some of the files… how can I fix this?
@Jake P
Nope it will not affect your HD at all, if microsoft thought it would they would not have made the HD do that.
@Eric Palonsky
This is probably due to a virus scanner locking the files when it goes to unpack them. This isn’t due to a virus it just locks them down to scan them.
Eric Palonsky, make sure you have zune extensions downloaded… http://zhdapps.com/tutorialdownloads/zuneextensions.zip
I cant unpack files! When i download file with chrome, it opens with different program instead of asking if i want to unpack file! Help please!
Loaded up the software as shown, game starts unpacking to Zune but only makes it halfway and then sits there at halfway forever. Is this normal and should I keep waiting (over 20 min) or is something wrong? Does this on every game I’ve tried to load to Zune. Thanks.
I downloaded everything and tried to download a game but when i press unpack a error comes up saying the files could be harmful to the computer and quits. Any help would be amazing thx and happy holidays
@Wade
I also have the same exact problem – not sure what the answer is.