WMC 8.1 running in Hyper-V Gen 2 VM

richbutler1

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WMC 8.1 running in Hyper-V Gen 2 VM

#1

Post by richbutler1 » Mon Dec 21, 2015 7:12 pm

Hi everyone, I've searched this forum and others to find steps to properly setup a WMC 8.1 VM in Hyper-V. I've tried to do this, but get hung up in the WMC live TV setup step. Here's my configuration first: Windows Server 2012 R2 running a Hyper-V role. My hardware is an Intel Xeon based server with a dedicated (pass-through) drive for only this VM. It has an Nvidia GT240 card isntalled with updated drivers. I use HDHomerun Extend network tuners tied to an OTA antenna. I created a generation 2 VM using Win 8.1 w/Media Center. I'm using the Hyper-V Manager to connect to the VM. All installed well, but when I open MC, It did not see the tuners even though I ran HDHR setup successfully prior. I get an error message, "TV Setup - You must set up TV from the Media Center PC. Then, close and restart your Extender session." I don't know how to get the tuners recognized and past this message.

Anyone sucessfully get MC running in a Hyper-V VM? I just want to use ServerWMC in the VM, not view live TV. Thanks in advance to a great community. Long time reader, first time poster.

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Crash2009

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#2

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Dec 23, 2015 12:18 am

This might help. Its over my peg rate, but it sounds similar to me.

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/thread ... ost1151963

richbutler1

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#3

Post by richbutler1 » Wed Dec 23, 2015 12:52 am

Thanks for your reply Crash2009, but that is enabling WMC in a physical server. I'm trying to use WMC normally in a Win 8.1 virtual machine on a Windows Server 2012 R2. That said, it's very interesting what they've done. I just don't want to dedicate my physical machine to do that, only VM's now. I like running a clean Hyper-V host at the physical server level. All other server builds go into VM's. Easier backup, migratability to new hardware when the time comes.
Crash2009 wrote:This might help. Its over my peg rate, but it sounds similar to me.

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/thread ... ost1151963

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#4

Post by RyC » Wed Dec 23, 2015 2:05 am

You have to get into a console session to run set up. I think people have tried with RemoteFX enabled, and it's possible in ESXi

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Crash2009

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#5

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Dec 23, 2015 3:28 am

Here is the cmd to discover tuners. Once again, I have no idea if you will need it, but here it is.

Code: Select all

c:\windows\ehome\ehprivjob.exe /OCURDiscovery
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HDHR_Discovery.JPG

richbutler1

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#6

Post by richbutler1 » Wed Dec 23, 2015 5:39 am

Crash, i ran that on the VM and no output at all showed up.

UPDATE: Changed GPU to Nvidia GT 640. Installed latest drivers. In Hyper-V settings, RemoteFX appeared and selected GPU for this. Went to VM settings and did not see RemoteFX vGPU in Add Hardware options. Closer, but hope it's not literal that I need Win 8 Enterprise as Guest OS in VM to enable RemoteFX and have a shot at WMC VM setup.

RyC, I am in a local session on the host hyper-v server, enter hyper-v manager, 'connect' to vm. Is that a console session you speak of? Not sure the semantics of remote access.

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Crash2009

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#7

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Dec 23, 2015 8:05 am

richbutler1 wrote:Crash, i ran that on the VM and no output at all showed up.

UPDATE: Changed GPU to Nvidia GT 640. Installed latest drivers. In Hyper-V settings, RemoteFX appeared and selected GPU for this. Went to VM settings and did not see RemoteFX vGPU in Add Hardware options. Closer, but hope it's not literal that I need Win 8 Enterprise as Guest OS in VM to enable RemoteFX and have a shot at WMC VM setup.

RyC, I am in a local session on the host hyper-v server, enter hyper-v manager, 'connect' to vm. Is that a console session you speak of? Not sure the semantics of remote access.
The VM cant get to the server's NIC so the tuner won't discover. Probably no internet or network either?

RyC's got me on the right track now. I had to do part of this to Win10 last week. One of the steps was... Edit termsrv.dll to allow multiple RDP sessions or use something called RDP Wrapper.

Access WMC in a VM from a VM.

Here is the original blog I was referred to is. http://missingremote.com/blog/livetv-me ... p-remotefx

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#8

Post by richbutler1 » Wed Dec 23, 2015 3:12 pm

Thanks again, but I don't need to access live tv, only to complete the setup properly. I just want the WMC services running so ServerWMC can record shows. I do have network access through the virtual switch. I can ping internal pcs on my network and google.com I can load sites within a browser on that vm.

The key is that the VM doesn't recognize that I'm running a console session, why? I'm connecting directly frmo the hyper-v server and cliciking connect on the VM. I thought that spawned a console session (vs. RDP)

I have RDS installed, license server, virtualization, remotefx. Now just can't get remotefx to show as a virtual adapter for Win8.1 Pro w/WMC client. I was reading that REmoteFX will only work with Enterprise editions as guest OS. Obi Wan, is that my only hope? If so, Enterprise does NOT have media center in it. Argghhh!!! So frustrating to try this under Hyper-V. Maybe I just go with ESXi.
RyC, your thoughts?

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#9

Post by Scallica » Wed Dec 23, 2015 3:30 pm

richbutler1 wrote:Argghhh!!! So frustrating to try this under Hyper-V. Maybe I just go with ESXi.?
Send a PM to Venom51.
HTPC Enthusiast / Forum Moderator - TGB.tv Code of Conduct

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Crash2009

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#10

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Dec 23, 2015 4:10 pm

Thanks for the morning chuckle. You might not need Live TV, but it's part of the deal when you install WMC. If internet/network is working, WMC should have a way out all ready. I think you are closer than we think.

You sound like a pretty smart guy, I'm just going to assume that everything is OK in the Hyper-V/VM area. (Venom51 could confirm that in a NY minute) Lets try a few WMC things. Maybe the drivers will tunnel a path for WMC.

This should have been first. Run the occur discover from a different workstation to confirm the tuner is discoverable. What is the status of the indicator lights on the tuner?

1) install the drivers (again) and run discover for the tuner
2) Run the (DCA) Digital Cable Advisor, its located in the Extra's. You can also download it from M$. Get a copy of PlayReady while you are there.
3) Run WMC's Custom Setup (this is the one that tests everything and tells you why it wont complete.
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SetupWMC.jpg

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#11

Post by RyC » Wed Dec 23, 2015 5:26 pm

Sorry I probably could have been a little clearer, IIRC the Hyper-V Manager tool still uses RDP to connect to the VM, and WMC restricts a bunch of things (including TV Setup) when it detects it's in an RDP session. RemoteFX is one way I read to actually get into a "local" session (the start power menu options will be Shutdown/Restart instead of Disconnect for example). I searched Google for a bit to see if there was a way to get into a "local" session without RemoteFX but I didn't find anything (but I might not have searched the right terms). Personally, I run ESXi and Windows 7 for WMC, which works great, but other people have posted about getting it running on Hyper-V so maybe we're just missing something

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#12

Post by richbutler1 » Wed Dec 23, 2015 5:38 pm

Thx, my Hyper-V/VM setup is solid. Running several VM's successfully. My steps just completed, some again:
1-Re-installed HD Homerun, tuners found and channels mapped
2-Had already installed DCA (though my HDHR is Extend , not Prime(cablecard) I have already run the DCA workaround so it passed.
3-Had already gotten and installed PlayReady after dowload from M$
4-The menu option is missing that you point out in your screenshot. May be due to my session issues (console vs. RDP) and why media center thinks I'm accessing from an Extender (see error message in post#1 when I click 'Live TV setup')

I'm at a loss with getting to setup properly as a VM in Hyper-V. After having looked at ESXi, I won't be able to run to VM managers side by side on 2012 R2 and nesting hypervisors is too troublesome and still leaves me in a mess. I won't be able stand up a separate server for ESXi as I'm trying to save power running all these machines as VM's. Have to stick with Hyper-V/Server 2012 R2 for now. All my other machines are Win7+ and they backup to an Essentials VM. Running my media server under a Win 8.1 VM also. Too much to move for just this.

All this said, I have a WMC 8.1 physical desktop machine running as an HTPC in my living room that does this stuff. Records, using MCE Buddy to transcode to MP4 and drop in a Plex TV folder. Just want to have the server (24/7) be the recorder instead. I can watch live TV OTA on the tv itself, so don't need another PC running a lot. I hope this gives some background. I just wanna be green!

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#13

Post by richbutler1 » Wed Dec 23, 2015 5:41 pm

RyC wrote:Sorry I probably could have been a little clearer, IIRC the Hyper-V Manager tool still uses RDP to connect to the VM, and WMC restricts a bunch of things (including TV Setup) when it detects it's in an RDP session. RemoteFX is one way I read to actually get into a "local" session (the start power menu options will be Shutdown/Restart instead of Disconnect for example). I searched Google for a bit to see if there was a way to get into a "local" session without RemoteFX but I didn't find anything (but I might not have searched the right terms). Personally, I run ESXi and Windows 7 for WMC, which works great, but other people have posted about getting it running on Hyper-V so maybe we're just missing something
Yep, I read the same. I installed all required server components for RemoteFx, but later found it only like Win 7/8 'Enterprise', which does not have Media CEnter and it looks like it can't be shoe horned into Enterprise either. I want to know who got WMC 7 or 8.1 running in a Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V VM successfully(just installed with guide and tuner config, don't need live tv). I feel like I'm missing a stupid step. This would keep another PC from burning fossil fuels. Help me save your children folks! :)

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#14

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Dec 23, 2015 6:31 pm

Weren't extenders removed in 8.1?

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#15

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Dec 23, 2015 7:31 pm

Couple more ideas for you all though I'm just guessing. Hope I don't throw you off course too much.

Maybe the missing step is the edit of termsrv to allow multiple RDP. I seem to have this 1 in and 1 out stuck in my head.

http://www.serverwatch.com/server-tutor ... ndows.html

During my RDP Project, I ran across the xbox hack. I was directed to the registry, tried a few things in there related to port numbers: Terminal Services WinStations/EH-Tcp and RDP-Tcp

Nothing seemed to work for me, so I used RDPwrapper. Presently I can multiple RDP but no extenders yet.

I realize this applies to extenders, but with your smarts, something might click for you. Or for someone else who is reading. HEY YOU! C'mon out of there and tell us how this works.
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#16

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Dec 23, 2015 7:50 pm

I played around with Firewall as well...
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#17

Post by richbutler1 » Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:58 am

By the way, thanks to everyone here, for trying to help me and just being you! Happy Festivus to the rest of us!

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Crash2009

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#18

Post by Crash2009 » Thu Dec 24, 2015 4:52 am

richbutler1 wrote:By the way, thanks to everyone here, for trying to help me and just being you! Happy Festivus to the rest of us!
I can relate to the just being you part...... THanks Merry Xmas!

I don't know S___ but I try to help.....

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#19

Post by Crash2009 » Thu Dec 24, 2015 5:02 am

Its all about "survival of WMC"

I do not have all the answers, my deadends are your "new beginnings"

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#20

Post by 3rob3 » Thu Dec 24, 2015 1:21 pm

I have no specific help for you, but I have seen a few threads about people running WMC inside a hyper-v. Have you read those? This one has a few tips at the bottom:
http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... f=7&t=8690

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