[DISCUSSION] Patch WMC to run on Windows 10 final & possible alternatives

Discussion in 'Windows 10' started by ricktendo64, May 8, 2015.

  1. raymondjpg

    raymondjpg MDL Novice

    Aug 8, 2016
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    #8781 raymondjpg, May 5, 2018
    Last edited: May 5, 2018
    I don't think you did anything wrong. I think you'll find that everyone has the same experience when reinstalling wmc after updating to Windows 10 1803.

    wmc can be started from the start menu or desktop shortcut with open or run as administrator, but like the behaviour first seen with Windows 10 1709 there are problems running it full screen. These can be resolved to some extent by running in compatibility mode for Windows 8, and disabling fullscreen optimization. However, even with these modifications wmc now is sluggish and in full screen mode will freeze now and then while navigating around the menus.

    With Windows 10 1709 the freezing problem in full screen was resolved by copying the ehome directory from Windows to Program Files and running wmc from there in compatibility mode and disabling fullscreen optimization. However that fix is not working with Windows 10 1803. There is no difference in behaviour between running wmc from the Windows or from the Program Files directories.

    I have gone back to 1709 and blocked feature updates for now in the hopes that someone comes up with a new fix for running wmc in full screen stably in 1803, or possibly some future windows security or feature update makes that possible.
     
  2. DatabaseWS

    DatabaseWS MDL Novice

    Dec 4, 2017
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    Same here. WMC won't launch at all.
     
  3. Singingwolf

    Singingwolf MDL Novice

    Oct 9, 2017
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    #8783 Singingwolf, May 5, 2018
    Last edited: May 5, 2018
    Hi All

    I have spent 3 days straight troubleshooting and rebuilding 10 machines and have finally solved all the issues - there are a few. Here is my experience:

    1) After upgrade to 1803, Windows Media Player stopped working. This is critical for MCE so thought OK, I better rebuild a fresh install. 3 machines later, I couldn't work out why all were being corrupted. Turns out it was because I had WMP Tag Plus 2.9 installed which has a bug that causes WMP to die. The developer does not have a fixed version of this but you can download WMP Plus 2.10 to fix the issue and then you can then uninstall and the fix remains.

    2) After that was solved, had the issue with TV not working. We all know now the "fix" for that is to replace the msvidctl.dll file.

    3) TV was still not working after this, so thought OK, I'll go back to 1709. Had a brand new build with the only thing installed the latest AMD drivers (18.4.1). TV still did not work - WTF! Rolled back AMD driver to one a year old, bang. It worked. So anyone with AMD card on this driver, it beaks TV on MCE.


    Hope the above helps. I now have a working 1803.

    Ta
     
  4. phcahill

    phcahill MDL Novice

    Feb 11, 2008
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    If mce won't start at all try deleting or renaming the folder

    C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome

    Also run the MediaCenterRecoveryTask from Task Scheduler to reset Media Center.
     
  5. crash2009

    crash2009 MDL Expert

    Dec 8, 2015
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    #8785 crash2009, May 5, 2018
    Last edited: May 5, 2018
    Rather than take ownership of the file or files, it is much easier to give yourself more power.

    You can do anything you want with the Chainsaw.

    Launch XYplorer from the TestRights window.

    Here is a link to the project....

    https://forums.mydigitallife.net/th...ible-alternatives.61061/page-288#post-1257959

    9 or 10 posts later a desktop shortcut load testrights and XYplorer
     
  6. crash2009

    crash2009 MDL Expert

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    #8787 crash2009, May 5, 2018
    Last edited: May 5, 2018
    Run as admin?
     
  7. jed1949

    jed1949 MDL Novice

    Sep 26, 2015
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    #8788 jed1949, May 5, 2018
    Last edited: May 5, 2018
    I've just upgraded to 1803 and, thanks to the experts here, have WMC working again. I'm in the UK, and ota Freeview HD and SD is fine including epg using TBS 6205 quad tuner card and 27" monitor. There's no thumbnails in recorded TV and a 5 second pause when going full screen, but I can live with that. TV recording works and old recorded shows play OK.

    My method is based on the readme's and info from the forum posts -

    before upgrade I copied MSVidCtl.dll from System32 to another drive
    after upgrade I shortened the v8 installer folder name and placed it at C:\ root
    ran uninstall and reset as admin
    did a search (using UltraSearch) for any leftover eHome folders and deleted them (ProgramData and Roaming IIRC)
    took ownership of MSVidCtl.dll, renamed it with bak, copied old version into System32
    ran test rights as admin
    ran installer as admin

    shortcut appeared on desktop and it opened WMC ok.

    I know everyone has different experiences with this 6 monthly annoyance, but this method worked for me.

    Thanks again to all concerned.
     
  8. DatabaseWS

    DatabaseWS MDL Novice

    Dec 4, 2017
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    I fixed it, had to install an alternative branch of WMC because the primary one didn't work after attempting to reinstall it in 1803.
     
  9. Jelloitsalive12

    Jelloitsalive12 MDL Novice

    Feb 20, 2016
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    I followed the steps outlined above by jed1949 to upgrade to 1803, wanted to share my experience in the hope someone may be able to shed some light.

    I have no problems launching media center and initial playback occurs without issue, guide and everything appear to run fine. Typically within a few minutes (sometimes seconds) of playback of live or recorded tv, my pc will completely lock up forcing a hard boot. I have noticed this happens when i run the hdhomerun (atsc only) view app as well.

    I am used to driver issues causing playback problems, but not to the level of my pc crashes so suddenly. Any ideas, or other information I can provide to help diagnose?
     
  10. mstarly

    mstarly MDL Novice

    Jul 3, 2016
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    Hey all,

    I've had MWC v8-v12 working on my win10 box, but there's been one consistant thing i've seen since you all started playing with it, to get it on win10, and that's the lack of ability to add an x360 extender to my wmc environment.

    Every time I try to add, it fails to find any of my extenders on my network.

    On my main MWC HTPC i rolled back to win7, because the extender functionality still works with no issue, but I's rather get it working with win10 if i can.

    have any come across similar problems and found a fix?
     
  11. Singingwolf

    Singingwolf MDL Novice

    Oct 9, 2017
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    "I followed the steps outlined above by jed1949 to upgrade to 1803, wanted to share my experience in the hope someone may be able to shed some light.

    I have no problems launching media center and initial playback occurs without issue, guide and everything appear to run fine. Typically within a few minutes (sometimes seconds) of playback of live or recorded tv, my pc will completely lock up forcing a hard boot. I have noticed this happens when i run the hdhomerun (atsc only) view app as well.

    I am used to driver issues causing playback problems, but not to the level of my pc crashes so suddenly. Any ideas, or other information I can provide to help diagnose? "


    Do you have AMD Radeon video card? Roll back to a Feb version of drivers.
     
  12. mmortal03

    mmortal03 MDL Novice

    Feb 4, 2017
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    Superior, just a heads up, that may still work on 1511 (I can't remember off the top of my head the latest version it worked on), but in later verisons you can't just disable the Windows Update service, as Windows will just re-enable it on you in the background.
     
  13. mmortal03

    mmortal03 MDL Novice

    Feb 4, 2017
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    #8794 mmortal03, May 6, 2018
    Last edited: May 6, 2018
    What is the command line output supposed to look like when running this backup? I'm getting the following (running it as admin):

    Code:
    find: '/i': No such file or directory
    find: 'RUNNING': No such file or directory
    find: '/i': No such file or directory
    find: 'RUNNING': No such file or directory
    find: '/i': No such file or directory
    find: 'RUNNING': No such file or directory
    The operation completed successfully.
    Press any key to exit.
    Edit: Nm, this was just a path issue; I had msys64's "find" accidentally taking precedence to Windows' "find".
     
  14. crash2009

    crash2009 MDL Expert

    Dec 8, 2015
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    You need to go back to page one of this thread and review the Xbox 360 information.

    The files that you need are included within the V8.8.1 installation files. I think they are in the bin folder.

    It was a long time ago that we worked on that project. Not sure if anyone has attempted Xbox on the newer versions of win 10. Review the month of February in this thread....... the links on page one will take you to the correct year.

    Might be some useful information for you if you click on the link in my signature...... extender project
     
  15. silversj

    silversj MDL Novice

    Apr 30, 2011
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    3 misc. comments:
    If you act quickly after updating Win 10, you will find the legacy dlls in the windows.old folder. I spent too much time going to backups and then found the file there.

    Before I found this thread, I found WMC would not run and uninstalled and reinstalled (using the provided scripts) and reconfigured. At that point it ran but without decoder.

    I have another problem. I cast the video to an XBOX and at this point, that freezes if I try to skip forward (and since I record commercial TV, skipping forward is important).

    -- Jeffrey
     
  16. Jelloitsalive12

    Jelloitsalive12 MDL Novice

    Feb 20, 2016
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    I have intel integrated graphics.

     
  17. crash2009

    crash2009 MDL Expert

    Dec 8, 2015
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    #8798 crash2009, May 6, 2018
    Last edited: May 7, 2018
    I never proved it, but I always thought Defender opened up some kind of back door and the update service got re-enabled.
     
  18. mmortal03

    mmortal03 MDL Novice

    Feb 4, 2017
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    There's a long thread discussing possible workarounds to it over on the TenForums. I forget where I left off on it, regarding the latest things that worked. I think a third party utility may be required on Windows 10 Home. I can't post a link to it here yet, but search Google without quotes for "ten forums enable-disable-windows-update-automatic-updates-windows-10"
     
  19. crash2009

    crash2009 MDL Expert

    Dec 8, 2015
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    #8800 crash2009, May 7, 2018
    Last edited: May 7, 2018