Is a Windows XP machine able to download maps?

[RedDog197]

Hello.

The only working Windows machine I have is running XP. Is XP too old or too obsolete to successfully download maps to update my Zumo 550? Anybody know?

If it matters, the maps I have now on the Zumo are from 2013. I have no problems with the current maps, just keep getting a nag screeen that reminds me the maps are from 2013 and I should update. So I keep hearing this voice whisper “Let sleeping dogs lie,” but there’s nobody there.

Two years ago, 2016, I drove from Los Angeles, California to Austin, Texas with the Zumo 550 sitting on the instrument panel on a Garmin-made sand bag. It was around 1300 miles and I used the same old 2013 maps that are still on the Zumo. All went well the entire trip.

I have been working exclusively with iOS machines since 2013, right after my last map update, because of work. And because I have not kept up with the Microsoft rat race to turn out as many Windows revisions as possible in as short a time as possible, my faithful old laptop only has Windows XP. That was the last time I needed to use Windows. At all.

Thus my question, does Windows XP have the horsepower to get those latest greatest map updates from Garmin? I suppose it is possible, even likely, that Garmin has joined in with the rest of the Windows-using world and banned XP to promote sales of more Windows revisions by claiming “XP incompatibility issues” or some wrinkled baloney like that. Has that happened, XP rendered obsolete by Garmin?

I get a prickly feeling on the back of my neck I’ll end up buying a Windows machine with the latest revision on it just to get new maps on my Zumo 550. Not a pleasant thing to consider. Yuk.

Any useful comments are welcome.

RedDog197
Austin, Texas

[sussamb]

The issue is not the power of your machine but whether Express or MapUpdater will work with XP. You can only try and see

[electro_handyman]

If I'm not mistaken, you can also do map updates with a Mac if that's what you have.
Either way, the map download/update can go much faster if you install to the computer 1st, then go from the computer to a SD/MICROSD card for the 550. New maps will not fit 100% in the internal memory of the 550.

[rbentnail]

I used both MapSource and BaseCamp with an XP laptop with no problems at all.

[RedDog197]

Thanks to rbentnail, electro_handyman, and sussamb. Those were exactly the sort of comments I was looking for. I’ll jump in and see how it goes with dear old XP, misunderstood and underappreciated war horse of the 2000s.

I appreciate all of you.

RedDog197
Austin, Texas

[carolinarider09]

Couple of things. I have not looked to see if it is posted here but in my next post I will provide the process I recently used to update my 550 to Garmin Maps 2019.20 on my MAC.

Second thing is that I too switched to MACs about six years or so ago. And while I still use my Windows XP Laptop (just on occasions because its in my observatory and tied to my telescope) I continue to use windows on my MAC for one purpose and that is I use Microsoft Streets and Trips for route planning.

I use VMWare fusion to emulate the DOS/Windows environment on my MAC. It works very well and I use it daily. Its an energy hog but other than that it works fine. I currently run a version of Windows 7 on the emulator.

By the way, if you decide to use VMware, set aside more than 60 Gigs for your partition. I only have a couple of applications loaded on my partition and of 60 GB I only have about 7.5 GB left for anything else.

[carolinarider09]

Here is how to update the maps on a Zumo 550 with lifetime maps. It requires an SD Card (I used an 8 gig card) and access to a computer with Garmin Express loaded and two USB connections so you can connect both the Zumo and the 8 gig card.

Garmin Express should not be "active" when you start this process.

This was done on a MAC running the most recent version of the MAC OS

You connect the Zumo (I took the SD Card out of mine) and the 8 gig card (freshly formatted in FAT 32) to the computer and copy all the files from the Zumo's memory to the SD Card. In essence cloning the Zumo's internal memory.

You now eject your Zumo 550 from the computer, leaving the SD Card connected.

Once done, you can launch Garmin Express with the SD Card still installed and it will see it as your Zumo 550.

It will ask if you want to update maps (if new maps are available) and you just tell it to go ahead (well you actually have to use the mouse)

In about two or so hours, the new maps will be updated to the SD Card.

Now you have to do the following in the Garmin Folder on the SD Card

Rename the map files (in the Garmin Folder) from gmapprom.img, gmapprom.gma and gmapprom.unl to gmapsupp.img, gmapsupp,gma and gmapsupp.unl. You will need to do this after Express has finished installing the map on the SD. The map files must remain in the \Garmin folder on the SD card.

I then deleted all the other folders (except the Garmin Folder) from the SD Card, ejected the SD Card from my computer and put it into my Zumo 550.

Start your 550 and the maps will be downloaded or should I say, linked, to your device.

I just did this and now have the 2019.10 maps for North America on my device (lower 49). I am now going to go back to the SD Card and put the Audible and MP3 folders back on the card and re-load the music I had there.

[sussamb]

Another way for those that don't want to go through this process is use Express to download the map to your mac (or PC) then use BaseCamp or MapInstall to install the map. See this FAQ https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=W ... =noProduct

[carolinarider09]

Another way for those that don't want to go through this process is use Express to download the map to your mac (or PC) then use BaseCamp or MapInstall to install the map. See this FAQ https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=W ... =noProduct

I did try to do that once and it was not as easy as I would have hoped. I just installed Mapsource on my VMWare Windows system and now need to link in the maps. Then I will have two mapping programs.