Faulting module embedhtml.dll in virtualmidisynth v2.9.3 installer under xp mce sp3

it appears v1.17.1 might work, but something goes wrong with the installation (tried v1.16.x with the same result). the installer completes without any errors and i can run the configurator, but virtualmidisynth isn't showing up in the list of midi devices. i notice that i have 6 devices (midi - midi5) listed under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32

for some reason the installer overwrites midi2 (wdmaud.drv) instead of creating a new midi6 entry. actually, midi2 is the only entry i can't identify...everything else i can clearly trace back to a prior install. what is wdmaud.drv? is virtualmidisynth supposed to replace it or create a new entry?

for the hell of it i manually switched midi2 back to wdmaud.drv and created a new midi6 entry pointing to the virtualmidisynth.dll, but it didn't work. i tried reboots all over the place to no avail either. is my system hosed?

yeah, that information officially puts this at a dead end. thanks for helping me pursue this as far as you did.

for anyone else in the same dilemma that comes across this the next official fluidsynth precompiled xp binaries (2.2.7) will be built without sse/sse2 instructions. i was in contact with the developer and tested the build for him. also, if you scour archive.org there's another, now abandoned, bassmidi based midi driver out there similar to virtualmidisynth. i found an old versions repository and got v3.1 to install and play on my athlon winxp system.