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

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

  1. technodevotee

    technodevotee MDL Senior Member

    Sep 18, 2015
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    @pashyperpon22

    I believe there is a new version of WMC in the pipeline from @Kévin Chalet that will address all the issues we currently face.

    I too live in hope.

    As for V13, my add-ons and utilities, they were only ever meant to be a stop-gap solution and I have decided to stop providing them due to security concerns.
     
  2. technodevotee

    technodevotee MDL Senior Member

    Sep 18, 2015
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    how do you mean? you have guide data but can't search or you don't have guide data to search?

    either way, this can probably be resolved.....
     
  3. Kévin Chalet

    Kévin Chalet MDL Member

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    #10243 Kévin Chalet, Aug 29, 2020
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2020
    Haha, perfect timing: I just finished working on an updated 8.8.5 installer that contains the 4 Microsoft SQL CE DLLs and a RestoreSqlCe.reg file with all the corresponding COM registrations (it is automatically imported by the main installer BAT, so no additional step is required).

    I'm looking for volunteers to test it. If you're interested, let me know.
     
  4. technodevotee

    technodevotee MDL Senior Member

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    I've started a conversation....
     
  5. Bigal

    Bigal MDL Senior Member

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    I'm always willing to help
    let me know what u want need me to do
     
  6. Kévin Chalet

    Kévin Chalet MDL Member

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    #10246 Kévin Chalet, Aug 29, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2020
    Yeah, it's very unfortunate Remi decided to shut windowsmediacenter.fr down. It was one of the last sites that was entirely dedicated to WMC (luckily, TGB and MDL are still here).
    I briefly chatted with him and suggested copying all the content from windowsmediacenter.fr to a dedicated GitHub repo (so that all his work could still be accessed by those interested). No idea whether it will happen or not.
     
  7. Kévin Chalet

    Kévin Chalet MDL Member

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    FWIW, restoring the 4 DLLs in System32 and all their COM registrations in the registry is the approach I've adopted in 8.8.5. I initially tried with a custom assembly manifest, but this approach was more complicated than I had anticipated:
    - There are tons of WMC executables that directly use the WMC database (and thus would need to have an application manifest for the 4 SQLCE .dlls).
    - I hit a strange issue that made WMC sluggish when loading a channel for the first time and that prevented the recording service from working properly. Not sure why as I didn't investigate much, but it's very likely related to the symptoms you described.

    In this case, restoring the 4 DLLs in System32 doesn't have any annoying downside, as they no longer ship with Windows itself, and thus don't cause any conflict (e.g they won't be flagged by the sfc tool).
    Restoring them this way also comes with a cool bonus: you can still use third-party apps that work with the WMC database (e.g like EPG123) without tweaking them to use custom manifests.
     
  8. rhahgleuhargh

    rhahgleuhargh MDL Member

    Feb 9, 2015
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    Hi Kevin,
    I'm interested ! Actually I use V8.8.4 with re enabled SQL in W10 2004 (French system with TNT), all is OK. I have an other computer that I could use for tests.
    Thanks for your work, you and technodevotee !
    A suggestion for this topic : can someone edit first post with latest WMC versions links (V13, 8.8.4). Downloading from here could avoid corrupted files/security problems.
     
  9. plplplpl

    plplplpl MDL Novice

    Jan 3, 2020
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    That would indeed be a helpful idea as it is a logical place to look, especially in a thread that already has over 500 pages.
     
  10. Kévin Chalet

    Kévin Chalet MDL Member

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    @rhahgleuhargh PM sent :)

    Once I'm 8.8.5 doesn't cause any side effect, I'll contact the OP to update it.
     
  11. Blue-Screen

    Blue-Screen MDL Novice

    Jun 1, 2020
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    Give me a notice, if you want me to try 8.8.5
     
  12. Kévin Chalet

    Kévin Chalet MDL Member

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  13. oldnav11

    oldnav11 MDL Novice

    Oct 15, 2015
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    I,d, likewize, be happy to test 8.8.5.
     
  14. cefeide

    cefeide MDL Novice

    Aug 28, 2015
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  15. technodevotee

    technodevotee MDL Senior Member

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  16. Kévin Chalet

    Kévin Chalet MDL Member

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    @technodevotee nope, not in this version, but it's something I'd like to do (we'll need to collect all the MUI files for the supported languages, tho).
     
  17. technodevotee

    technodevotee MDL Senior Member

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    Is it not just a case of removing this part of the install script (like I did in V13)
    Code:
    echo Deleting the unwanted WMC languages
    
    for /d %%G in %_mui% do (
    if not exist "%SystemRoot%\%%G\explorer.exe.mui" (
      rmdir /s /q "%SystemRoot%\ehome\%%G" >nul 2>&1
      )
    )
    echo.
    
     
  18. Kévin Chalet

    Kévin Chalet MDL Member

    Apr 11, 2019
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    I wish it was that simple, but MSVidCtl.dll didn't ship with WMC and is part of Windows, so its MUI files have never been part of the installer package. I added MSVidCtl.dll to the bundle in the 8.8.2 update, but not the MUI files.

    Note: it's likely EncDec.dll and CPFilters.dll will need a similar treatment.
     
  19. technodevotee

    technodevotee MDL Senior Member

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    Oh well, shows what I know.