v1.1.18 Release

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garyan2

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#61

Post by garyan2 » Wed Jan 03, 2018 6:16 pm

Make sure nothing is open that could prevent overwriting the dll file. It is possible that with the previous failures there are multiple threads still accessing the file. I think the quickest way to close all the threads is to reboot.
- Gary
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Paint

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#62

Post by Paint » Wed Jan 03, 2018 6:36 pm

garyan2 wrote:Make sure nothing is open that could prevent overwriting the dll file. It is possible that with the previous failures there are multiple threads still accessing the file. I think the quickest way to close all the threads is to reboot.
yep, you were right! I had something locking the file. by default my WMC shows 10 rows, not 7. I believe this is preventing me from allowing TweakWMC from working.

Can anyone send me the Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell.dll from Windows 7 x64?

It seems like I cannot change the number of rows via TweakWMC but I can via MCE Reset Toolbox

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#63

Post by garyan2 » Thu Jan 04, 2018 12:58 am

Alright ... been working on this for a while now with MCE Reset Toolbox in mind. Originally I was trying to find out all the changes that RTB made to "restore" them with TweakWMC, but abandoned that path. Between the changes that MCL XL make, the changes that RTB makes, and my changes ... just too much. I decided a different route which will simply start at the WMC default every time and make my changes.

What was interesting in all this is I am actually now duplicating your symptoms on my virtual Win7 with MCE Reset Toolbox installed. If you uninstall MCE Reset Toolbox, EPG123 will regain the ability to modify the guide.

I'm going to have to find out how they do that ...
- Gary
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#64

Post by garyan2 » Thu Jan 04, 2018 1:50 am

Not quite ... even after uninstalling, none of the modifications from TweakWMC are reflected in the guide. It appears that whatever state RTB leaves it is where it is at and only RTB can ever make changes to it again. Right now, I have no idea what file it is referencing to get the guide configurations.

Whoever built MCE Reset Toolbox, regardless of how impressive it is, is starting to tick me off with this "feature".
- Gary
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#65

Post by garyan2 » Thu Jan 04, 2018 4:10 am

Okay, Paint ... and anyone else in the same boat. It appears that MCE Reset Toolbox is somehow breaking the link between the dll in the ehome folder and the dll in the GAC. The global assembly cache file is what is being accessed by WMC and is why no changes TweakWMC make is ever seen.

There's probably quite a few ways to fix this, but I think the simplest, for anyone on any OS version, would be to uninstall and reinstall WMC. and to NEVER, EVER, use that feature of MCE Reset Toolbox again. The good news is uninstalling and reinstalling WMC does not harm anything. The database stays intact and you'll be back up and running quickly. The fix is really to unregister the dll and reinstall/reregister it.
- Gary
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#66

Post by Paint » Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:08 am

garyan2 wrote:Okay, Paint ... and anyone else in the same boat. It appears that MCE Reset Toolbox is somehow breaking the link between the dll in the ehome folder and the dll in the GAC. The global assembly cache file is what is being accessed by WMC and is why no changes TweakWMC make is ever seen.

There's probably quite a few ways to fix this, but I think the simplest, for anyone on any OS version, would be to uninstall and reinstall WMC. and to NEVER, EVER, use that feature of MCE Reset Toolbox again. The good news is uninstalling and reinstalling WMC does not harm anything. The database stays intact and you'll be back up and running quickly. The fix is really to unregister the dll and reinstall/reregister it.
I will try this and see if this fixes the problem.

If I uninstall WMC and then reinstall, I dont have to reconfigure my channels or tuners? Or do I have to follow the EPG123 setup guide again?

What is the path to the GAC DLL? I can replace it easily via boot disk and see if that resolves the issue as well.

EDIT: answered my own question: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/madenw ... -your-gac/

Thank you again for looking into this!

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#67

Post by garyan2 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:46 am

Paint wrote:If I uninstall WMC and then reinstall, I dont have to reconfigure my channels or tuners? Or do I have to follow the EPG123 setup guide again?

What is the path to the GAC DLL? I can replace it easily via boot disk and see if that resolves the issue as well.

EDIT: answered my own question: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/madenw ... -your-gac/

Thank you again for looking into this!
No need to do anything other than uninstall and reinstall WMC. As long as you don't touch the c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\ehome folder and all its contents (guide database), everything will be as it was.

For Win7, the GAC for the file is:
C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell\6.1.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell.dll

I've tried just copying directly over from the c:\Windows\ehome folder, but though WMC will now show the proper settings, if you change any settings the GAC does not get updated. Same situation as before, but it will just be stuck on different settings.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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#68

Post by Paint » Fri Jan 05, 2018 3:43 pm

garyan2 wrote:
Paint wrote:If I uninstall WMC and then reinstall, I dont have to reconfigure my channels or tuners? Or do I have to follow the EPG123 setup guide again?

What is the path to the GAC DLL? I can replace it easily via boot disk and see if that resolves the issue as well.

EDIT: answered my own question: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/madenw ... -your-gac/

Thank you again for looking into this!
No need to do anything other than uninstall and reinstall WMC. As long as you don't touch the c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\ehome folder and all its contents (guide database), everything will be as it was.

For Win7, the GAC for the file is:
C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell\6.1.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell.dll

I've tried just copying directly over from the c:\Windows\ehome folder, but though WMC will now show the proper settings, if you change any settings the GAC does not get updated. Same situation as before, but it will just be stuck on different settings.
Garyan2, you are the man! Thank you so much for EPG123 and your help here!

I was able to uninstall and then reinstall Media Center via the "Add and Remove Features"

I only rebooted once reinstalling Media Center and I am now able to change my guide via Tweak WMC! I also was able to keep all of my guide, channels, logos, etc. This is great news. Thank you so much and have a nice weekend!


One additional question - I now see the following menus in my Media Center:
  • Extras
    TV
    Sports
    Tasks
Previously, I had Movies and Pictures as menu items, but never Sports. The weird thing is now I dont see the Movies guide menu - In addition, in TweakWMC the "Enable Movie Guide" is grayed out.

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#69

Post by garyan2 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:36 pm

The sports will only hang around for a little while until WMC gets some updates... that feature was removed. You should have Pictures and Movies, but it sounds like you had modified the Start Menu Strips. You might find some help on this thread ... I haven't read it all to understand, but I think it is the right path (viewtopic.php?f=5&p=122304#p122223)

The option in Tweak WMC is to enable the Movie Guide, which is part of the Movies strip. Since you are a US user, it is enabled by default (button disabled) and will be visible once you re-activate the Movies menu strip.
- Gary
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#70

Post by Paint » Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:48 pm

garyan2 wrote:The sports will only hang around for a little while until WMC gets some updates... that feature was removed. You should have Pictures and Movies, but it sounds like you had modified the Start Menu Strips. You might find some help on this thread ... I haven't read it all to understand, but I think it is the right path (viewtopic.php?f=5&p=122304#p122223)

The option in Tweak WMC is to enable the Movie Guide, which is part of the Movies strip. Since you are a US user, it is enabled by default (button disabled) and will be visible once you re-activate the Movies menu strip.

thank you. Running C:\Windows\ehome\mcupdate.exe -uf resolved my issue and restored the menu items (Sports was removed).

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#71

Post by garyan2 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:50 pm

Paint wrote:thank you. Running C:\Windows\ehome\mcupdate.exe -uf resolved my issue and restored the menu items (Sports was removed).
Awesome. I figured that would remove the Sports strip but didn't think it would do anything for the missing strips! Score 1 for Microsoft.
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#72

Post by Paint » Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:52 pm

garyan2 wrote:
Paint wrote:thank you. Running C:\Windows\ehome\mcupdate.exe -uf resolved my issue and restored the menu items (Sports was removed).
Awesome. I figured that would remove the Sports strip but didn't think it would do anything for the missing strips! Score 1 for Microsoft.
Should I have Enable Automatic Updates enabled on the tray icon? Or disabled is okay?
mcupdate tray.PNG
mcupdate tray.PNG (40.91 KiB) Viewed 1479 times

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#73

Post by garyan2 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:01 pm

No harm in it for a simple WMC/EPG123 setup. I don't know if it is safe for any custom setups, though.
- Gary
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#74

Post by ppilot » Fri Jan 05, 2018 6:30 pm

I know this isn't forum to ask this question, but what's the easiest way to uninstall and reinstall WMC in windows 8.1?

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#75

Post by IT Troll » Fri Jan 05, 2018 11:08 pm

Run optionalfeatures.exe then toggle Media Center off and on again.
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

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#76

Post by Sammy2 » Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:25 pm

See what happens when I'm on vacation!

I'll need to digest this but should I skip to v1.1.19 as a roll up fix?

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#77

Post by garyan2 » Tue Jan 09, 2018 4:22 am

Sammy2 wrote:See what happens when I'm on vacation!

I'll need to digest this but should I skip to v1.1.19 as a roll up fix?

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Yah, just jump right to 1.1.19. Make sure to open the configuration GUI, check your settings and do a Save&Execute in order to see your lineup(s) in the client.

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#78

Post by nymkin » Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:33 am

I'm a little late to this party but since I used MCE Toolbox to change my themes and start menu I cannot use Tweak WMC to change my guide? I reset WMC and of course Tweak WMC worked but when i reapplied my theme, BAM! The Tweak WMC changes it was gone!

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#79

Post by Sammy2 » Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:35 am

Maybe start a brand new thread, including your epg123 trace.log.

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#80

Post by garyan2 » Thu Mar 22, 2018 6:19 am

nymkin wrote:I'm a little late to this party but since I used MCE Toolbox to change my themes and start menu I cannot use Tweak WMC to change my guide? I reset WMC and of course Tweak WMC worked but when i reapplied my theme, BAM! The Tweak WMC changes it was gone!
I'll have to check this out again. I had thought only the features to modify the guide/mini-guide rows and time span caused a problem. I didn't know applying a theme also modifies the shell dll file... should have expected it though.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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