Changing color profiles for a monitor

I'm running Vista Home Premium on a Dell laptop with the Intel x3100 graphics
set.

When I plug my CRT monitor into the laptop with a VGA cable, Vista correctly
recognizes it, and applies the correct resolution and refresh rate. In this
configuration, the CRT external monitor is the main monitor (not running an
extended or cloned desktop).

What I'm having trouble with is the color profile. As a photographer,
accurate color is vital to me, so I build icc profiles for both the laptop
screen and the CRT monitor with an X-Rite colorimeter.

When I plug the laptop into the CRT external monitor, i go to the color
management panel and select the profile I've built for the CRT. Nothing
seems to happen - the colors aren't bad, but they are not as accurate as I'd
expect with a custom profile. With my desktop, which runs XP, the colors are
dead on using a similarly constructed profile.

So my question is - how do I get Vista to recognize and use a different
color profile for the monitor?

I've read in other posts about a known Vista bug about discarding color
profiles. I don't know if that's what is happening here or not. But on that
issue - if you're listening, Microsoft - using custom profiles is absolutely
critical to photographers, and you must fix this bug in Vista ASAP!!!

Best -
Jim