So here's where I am... v12 is, as far as I know, exactly where I was before. During setup I wasn't shown a provider list, so it doesn't know where my signal is coming from therefore the guide doesn't have any data beyond the actual channel numbers. I seem to be able to program and record manually. Overall, not awful since right now I can't use TiVo (provider issues, they're coming tomorrow AGAIN), and in about a year I won't be able to use WMC anyway because they're going to start encrypting the signal. I looked over that list of apps, rather amazing. There are MS and HP programs that I hadn't actually installed and have no reason to replace. There are some, like Opera, which didn't delete old versions when installing updates (I tried a lot of times to delete them, never could make them go away, they're gone now). 7-Zip might go back, Chrome and Thunderbird are already reinstalled, as is Money. That's most of what's important. I haven't found all of my saved emails yet, some are there, I suppose the rest will turn up when I decide to look for them. Thanks so much for all of your time, patience and assistance, hopefully I can get it going from here.
Don't forget WMC would not even open before. You need to install the tuner driver and run the DCA at least. Digital Cable Advisor is up in the Extra's. I don't know what tuner you have.
For all that this "looks" like it did before, that's only in some ways, and there's gonna be a learning curve with all of it. My tuner is Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1255 As I said, WMC found the tuner and all the channels I should receive, but it skipped over the part where it used to ask me who my provider is. Amazing how much "junk" Microsoft (over 20) and HP (about a dozen) put on this thing, I'm glad it's gone. Yes, I'm aware of Defender, and Security Essentials too. Just as I know that there's a defrag as part of every one of their OSs. But so many people don't trust them, and have their preferences, so I asked. They're all things I have to feel my way around to locate. I tell people that technologically I exist in something of an alternate universe. My first IBM clone pc was pre Windows. It had a 40mb hard drive and 1mg RAM. Dialup speeds were measured in bps and no one had heard the word Internet yet. I've worked my way up from there. I didn't get a smart phone until last year because I almost never talk on the phone. However, I utilize SMS for texts, I don't know anyone else who does that. I'm also the only one I know personally who has either Google Voice or Ooma. IOW, I may not have the vocabulary, but I do have some knowledge and a handful of skills. I'm used to just doing it (apologizes to Nike), and doing it for and by myself. It's difficult for me to ask for help, I'm REALLY appreciative when I get it.
You forget where my journey here began... I had d/l an older version WMC and it was opening. I had added LAV filters and codecs. But setup never asked about my provider, so there wasn't any guide data. THAT was my original question here. Everyone said I needed to get a newer version, and that's what wouldn't open. I d/l DCA, I "passed". Windows has determined that the driver software for my device is up to date, that the best driver is already installed. I just looked at the green button, apparently someone there posted about the exact same issues, they'd d/l 2.1, couldn't get guide info and went off to get 12. But they didn't post anything after that, so I have no idea if they fixed it or how.l
I sure did disappear... I've been having so many concurrent issues that it's been making my head swim. A Cox tech was here for hours last week before determining that something was very wrong outside. Someone came back the next day and found multiple bad ports. That fixed some issues, but not all. So they sent me a new adaptor box to replace the one which seemed to have had issues. Problems continued. They tried to fix it remotely, made it worse (ie no TiVo at all). Someone's coming back tomorrow. So my attention to WMC has to some extent been in response to what's happening with Cox and TiVo. I'd decided to relinquish WMC in favor of the TiVo. Then when I had problems, decided having it as a backup would be advisable. But then I found out that it would only work for a matter of months because they'll be encrypting the signal, so I backed off again. Then I needed that very backup. The 2.1 version I had did come from here, it's just how I got to it that was suspect. I can't post a link, but if you search lifehacker windows media center windows 10, you'll see that they mention "you" very specifically. Gonna go check out Hauppauge now...
fyi, to get WMC to be always on top apply the following registry setting - [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\MCE.PerUserSettings] "enableAlwaysOnTop"=dword:00000001 Found it using Google. Make sure WMC is not running when you make the change otherwise, it will stay "00000000" instead of 00000001". Windows Media Center for Windows 7 has the setting under Tasks->settings->General->Startup and Window Behavior to keep WMC always on top but the setting was removed on WMC for Windows 8.
Same message, "Download failure. The new TV setup data could not be downloaded. The existing data, if available, will be uses as you continue through TV signal setup."
Might be time for a WMC Reset I just want to confirm you ran the DCA, you have installed the tuner drivers, no errors in Device Manager i. Click on Cortana ii. type in cmd right click and select “Run as administrator” iii. type the following command: %systemroot%\ehome\mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask and hit enter iv. Exit command window, and reboot the computer. Then, open up WMC and use Setup CUSTOM this will give you new everything, and might trigger the signal that has been so elusive.
For those of you who have never seen the dead comeback to life, you should be here at Quitting Time! Night shift will be here in a few minutes. Your tuner beat me today. When you mentioned that WMC was not going to work anymore because the signal was about to be encrypted in a couple months, we had the same thing here in Michigan in 2012. For us there was this thing called a CableCard Tuner which decrypted the signal and allowed WMC to continue. Look in to the HDHR-3CC. I have read about others with Cox that have them.