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

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

  1. Ben Cook

    Ben Cook MDL Novice

    May 7, 2017
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    #8561 Ben Cook, Dec 16, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2017
    It look like you can no longer launch MCE with the green button on an IR remote with the fix above. Shame.
     
  2. The Stranger

    The Stranger MDL Novice

    Mar 25, 2016
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    Thank you for the response.

    I followed the steps in that message...copy the "ehome" folder...and enabled the "disable full screen optimizations".

    After these steps, WMC still will not run on my setup.

    I have not uninstalled and reinstalled... is that necessary to get this to work?
     
  3. Ben Cook

    Ben Cook MDL Novice

    May 7, 2017
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    It's worth a try.
     
  4. The Stranger

    The Stranger MDL Novice

    Mar 25, 2016
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    Yep, just needed to run uninstall script and then get clean installation...back to working fine.

    Edit: Wanted to add that yesterday I experimented with Kodi and NextPVR...it works, but WMC user interface is much nicer...so frustrating that MS stopped supporting it.
     
  5. gepi57

    gepi57 MDL Novice

    Mar 15, 2017
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    #8566 gepi57, Dec 20, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 20, 2017
    In relation to Crash's "I believe that there is NO Compatibility Tab on the ehshell within C:\Windows\Ehome"

    Mine do : win10 home on old desktop PC (no issue after reinstalling MC) and on 4k display resolution XPS15 laptop (copying ehome out of Windows folder (to C:) and ticking 'Disable full screen optimizations' in WMC shortcut Properties/Compatibility tab did the trick! pffffff!!!!....) : all have the compatibility tab (including the c:\ehome cloned ehshell.exe and the desktop shortcuts) .
     
  6. guho

    guho MDL Novice

    Jan 11, 2012
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    I have 1511 and got upgraded. Then I reverted the upgrade to go back to 1511 and WMC worked fine with cablecard but now the upgrade assistant is downloading upgrade again. How to prevent it? I am using WUMT to manage my updates but it does not seem to block upgrades.
     
  7. CZ Eddie

    CZ Eddie MDL Novice

    Mar 20, 2016
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    If I create a dedicated Win10 MCE virtual machine to do nothing but record protected content, can I then use my Win7 MCE computers around the house as extenders? Or does the Win10MCE hack still require the xbox 360/ceton as extenders for protected content?

    I do understand the Win10 will need to be the older version.
     
  8. edechamps

    edechamps MDL Novice

    Dec 29, 2015
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  9. Joni

    Joni MDL Junior Member

    May 28, 2009
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    Are green button settings entirely on the registry? You use to be able to change green button to function as win key.

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da, binary value ReportMappingTable
     
  10. technodevotee

    technodevotee MDL Senior Member

    Sep 18, 2015
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    #8572 technodevotee, Dec 26, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2017
    The problem with the green button on the remote not launching wmc appears to be related to ehtray.exe stopping soon after starting (which also means that the recording icon sometimes doesn't show up any more) because, if you start ehtray.exe and immediately press the green button it normally works.

    Another user (StefanR) posted a little script called checktray.vbs (post 8409) that starts it when a recording is in progress. Unfortunately this doesn't help with the remote issue.
     
  11. Mkwiggy

    Mkwiggy MDL Novice

    Nov 16, 2017
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    Hi All,
    I just recently found this forum while searching for hopes of somehow getting WMC back for Win 10. I downloaded it and got it working Nov. 15th, but recently noticed it wasn't opening anymore as of my latest recording on 12/15.
    I have Window 10 Home and version 1709 currently, build 16299.125. I'm not too tech savvy, but can usually figure things out. I've tried uninstalling using the "uninstaller.cmd" within the 8.8.1 folder, but WMC doesn't seam to uninstall. Not sure if I'm not using the correct thing as I'm used to the whole program/app being gone aftewards.
    Any help/advice, would be greatly appreciated.
    Thank you.
     
  12. dhjohns

    dhjohns MDL Guru

    Sep 5, 2013
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    Here is what works for me. Run _TestRights.cmd. In the window which opens paste the path to uninstall.bat which is in the bin folder. Then of course press enter. That hopefully will work for you, too!
     
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  13. StefanR

    StefanR MDL Novice

    Sep 6, 2015
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    ehtray.exe seems to close itself after around 10 seconds if ehshell.exe or ehrec.exe is not running. What I discovered is that it looks for a registry key to determine how long to wait before shutting down. If you go to REGEDIT (do this at your own risk) and navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center you can add a new Dword (32) key called EhtrayExitDelay - and set the value to the number of seconds you want ehtray to wait before it closes.

    So, depending on your usage pattern, you could set ehtray to a large value (for example, 86400) and it will stay open for up to 1 day. I'm not sure what would happen if you set it to an even larger value - but you might want to try this if you never restart your PC. Of course, you will still need to start ehtray.exe at startup, but once it is up it will remain open for the period set in the registry. Of course, if Media Center is invoked during the wait period, the clock will reset (i.e. the timeout only starts from the point at which Media Center or the recorder is not running).
     
  14. technodevotee

    technodevotee MDL Senior Member

    Sep 18, 2015
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    That is very interesting - thanks. Do you have any theories about why its behaviour changed after the update?
    I assume that there is underlying technology that either no longer exists or was changed as there seems to be a number of things that don't work the way they used to any more - not just Media Center.
     
  15. StefanR

    StefanR MDL Novice

    Sep 6, 2015
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    Sorry, I have no idea why things changed - it was when trying to understand why ehtray was shutting down (using Process Monitor) that I discovered the exit delay registry key.
     
  16. Juz

    Juz MDL Novice

    Jun 26, 2017
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    #8578 Juz, Dec 28, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2017
    Argh, latest Windows update has killed WMC for me too. I uninstalled and re-installed, and that got it working....but I had to do the trick of copying the eHome files into a different directory. However, after running it again, and having to go through my Live TV setup, PlayReady update failed, and now all my TV channels are saying "no signal". I've uninstalled and re-installed Playready, but after the install the update fails again. I've tried a few tricks on fixing playready but none seem to work. Any suggestions?

    EDIT: Decided to completely uninstall WMC, delete the programdata\microsoft\ehome directory and re-install from scratch. The PlayReady update still says it's unable to complete, but LiveTV is now working.
    Looks like I'm fully back, other than not being able to start WMC using the "Green Button" or Guide/Recorded TV buttons as I used to with my Harmony remote.
     
  17. Juz

    Juz MDL Novice

    Jun 26, 2017
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    I recently upgraded my media centre hardware setup, mostly to gain HDMI out from my motherboard directly, as I'd bought a new AV receiver with HDMI switching. So I have a setup now where I feed in my Foxtel (cable box) and Media Centre to the Pioneer receiver, then the receiver has HDMI into my plasma TV. It has really simplified my setup, but introduced a new issue...now when I use my harmony remote to turn the media centre on, it almost always starts up in 4:3 mode instead of 16:9. The "fix" is to exit WMC, the screen blanks, then the windows desktop shows up in 16:9. I press the green button to start WMC again and it starts in 16:9 and all is good. Anyone know why it's waking in 4:3 though?

    Of course this is complicated now by the fact the latest windows update seems to have killed the ability to start WMC via the green button.