Boot into media center

[killer8]

Hi,

I'm running windows 8 on my workstation since august and got the media center pack yesterday. I would like to upgrade my htpc(it's running windows 7 currently) but I've seen that the option to boot straight into windows media center is gone in windows 8. Is there any way to let my htpc still boot straight into windows media center when I update to windows 8?

Thanks in advanced

[adam1991]

Wh do you wanta to upgrade your 7MC box to Win8?

I'm always curious to know what people are thinking when they want to take an appliance that just works and upgrade it, especially when there's zero additional functionality involved--not to mention the taking away of functionality, like booting into MC.

[killer8]

Because in my experience it's running faster and more stable then windows 7. I also think the metro interface can be quite good as an addition to media center to navigate through with a remote. But I would like to have media center to boot as default

[justjax]

I was thinking about this. I only recently set my W7 Media Center to boot to WMC so probably not a huge deal if I loss this function, but surely you can just pop this into the Startup menu or does that no longer exist in W8?

[killer8]

I've tried that but doesn't work like it should. First, it takes a while to start since metro starts instead of the startup folder. Second, it starts behind the metro interface so you have to press the desktop tile first to see media center. This isn't really what I'm searching for. I preferre to make windows 8 boot into media center instead of metro.

[foxwood]

This post suggests that you can use Task Scheduler to start WMC at logon.

[WarrenH]

Not using Win8, tho isn't there still a start up folder to drop MC into?

[elgordo123]

There is an opensource utility called ClassicShell. http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/ I have it on my windows 8 box and it completely skips the terrible full screen start menu ui. When I start my computer it goes immediately to the desktop without starting the start menu tiles screen. This might work for you.
I want to upgrade my MCE to 8 but holding off until everybody else works the kinks out.

[foxwood]

There is an opensource utility called ClassicShell. http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/ I have it on my windows 8 box and it completely skips the terrible full screen start menu ui.

Why did you upgrade to Windows 8 if you don't like the Start screen?

(So far as I can tell, Hyper-V is the only correct answer to that question).

[slowbiscuit]

LOL, I love all these 'because it's new and shiny' reasons to 'upgrade' to 8MC when all that results is having to workaround issues to get exactly what you had before (actually less if you count the broken or missing stuff).

I'm sure Win8 is faster in some respects than 7 (and benchmarks bear that out), but more stable? The jury is still way out on that one.

[mdavej]

+1

I had to upgrade because it's slightly faster and looks different. Nothing else works, but it sure is fast.

I don't buy the stability thing either. When's the last time Win 7 totally locked up on you? I can't remember either. Win 7 isn't unstable at all.

[kc8emd]

I think it is a great idea to upgrade to windows 8, however I personally am not going to right away on my media center. That is why I am glad people on this forum are solving these issues for me now.

Eventually I am going to buy a surface, the windows pro one, and I am going to want all my pc's running the same version of windows. That is my main reason to upgrade.

Also I use my media center as a server, which I remote into regularly, and I really like the idea of having Hyper-v. I just wish remote fx was functional.

Thank you all for taking on solving these issues.

[elgordo123]

Why did you upgrade to Windows 8 if you don't like the Start screen?
(So far as I can tell, Hyper-V is the only correct answer to that question).

Not sure why every specific Win8 question has to end up in a discussion about Windows 8 itself. No wonder the old Green Button went away. It makes the board almost useless to find any information. My response to you is "Why did you change your desktop background", or "Why did you paint your bedroom in your house"? I'm sure you liked the house, you just didn't like the color on the walls...

[adam1991]

no, it's more like "why did you move off of the cul-de-sac to where you are now, if you don't like that it's a four lane major highway?"

Moving from Win7 to Win8 is not "painting the walls a different color".

"...And such small portions, too."

[foxwood]

Why did you upgrade to Windows 8 if you don't like the Start screen?
(So far as I can tell, Hyper-V is the only correct answer to that question).

Not sure why every specific Win8 question has to end up in a discussion about Windows 8 itself.

I think it's legitimate to ask someone who complains about one of the fundamental features of Windows 8 why they upgraded. I fully intend to migrate my own desktop over to Windows 8 as soon as I get the chance, but I don't understand the mentality of those who jump through hoops to make Windows 8 look like Windows 7, unless there's a very specific feature of Windows 8 that they need (such as the aforementioned Hyper-V). Maybe there are other "must have" features that I hadn't really thought about, hence the question. (For example, I haven't heard anyone extolling the virtues of drivespace, or whatever it's called).

Elgordo123 didn't say why he upgraded, just that he didn't like the Start screen - hence the question, why bother?

More to the point, do you really want to take advice from someone who only upgraded because of "shiny, shiny"?

[kc10boom]

In my opinion if you just use your Windows 7 HTPC to watch and record TV don't upgrade.

[Diverge]

Not using Win8, tho isn't there still a start up folder to drop MC into?

There is, but startup folder shortcuts don't start until like 20-30 seconds after windows boot. Using Task Scheduler to run them at login is much faster.

[killer8]

I finally found out how to make windows media center start when windows start. I wrote a short tutorial about it: http://www.christian-web.nl/sections.ph ... s&news=169

[gcoupe]

The issue is that just starting WMC using a Task that is triggered on startup results in WMC running behind the Start screen.

If you don't want to install third party apps, such as Start8, ClassicShell or Skip Metro Suite, then a simple batch file will suffice. For example:

start /min %windir%\explorer.exe
start /max %windir%\ehome\ehshell.exe

saved as a batch file. Then just add a Task in Task Scheduler to run the batch file. Running Windows Explorer first switches to the traditional desktop, then WMC will run over that...

Hat tip to vinnied, over at the My Movies forum.

[cw-kid]

After the experience of Windows 8 on my laptop I don't think I will be upgrading any of my HTPC's to Windows 8.