The dongle driver update is free. At least it was. Viking doesn't have the service they used to!! What happened??
You have to pay for their tech support now....another reason I am not buying any more of their software.
You have to have Windows Pro to attempt this. I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows Pro and have gotten further than before, but still need to download the dongle driver....it's possible to get the software to work, but you cannot direct feed a design from computer to machine, you need to transfer it to a usb stick or usb external floppy first. Still beats paying megabucks for software upgrade. Right now I am bringing the designs up in 3D organizer and sending them to the stick....but until I get the dongle driver working cannot have full use of the software. I still have my old laptop so am making things work ok using both. My computer tech assures me it will work with Windows Pro...we'll see.
Stitchinkate - thanks for your help. I was hoping not to need any further software or upgrades, since I had to spend more than I wanted to on a new laptop. Until I can afford the upgrade, I think I will try out Embird. Have been thinking of doing that for awhile now anyway, and this will be a good time to take another software for a test run. Wish me luck!
I have a friend who is going the Embird route too. She said she can't afford the upgrades from Viking anymore. I am hoping to make 3D work...because 3D does as much as I need a software to do and I can buy a lot of quilting fabric for what an upgrade costs, lol!
Have Windows Pro on one laptop and 3D does not run successfully - the program appears to open but does not respond. I am also running Embird on it, but prefer using an old laptop which runs XP Pro; both 3D and Embird work brilliantly on it.