I can't program my ps2 I-pac in xp either.
I bought my Ipac in august of 2001. from what I understand some of the older I-pacs will work and some won't. If you have a new one it should work.
if you have an old one just boot a 98 floppy with the programming util on it then program it. Sucks though
cause I was re-programming on the fly for Z26 under 98se.
Slug54