Ceton Echo With Ported WMC in Win10

Discussion of getting WMC to work on Windows 10 (unsupported)
User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#41

Post by Crash2009 » Mon Jan 18, 2016 10:56 am

Might be one more piece to the puzzle.....Try adding %appdata%\WMC\Configuration to each Extender Account. This was copied from Emby

Tikuf OFFLINE
Obsolete User
Members
3906 posts
Local time: 09:34 PM
658
Astounding
Posted 27 November 2013 - 08:49 PM Best Answer

Try copying the configurations folder from
%appdata%\MediaBrowser-Classic\Configurations

to each of your extender accounts
C:\Users\Mcx1-XXXXXXXX\AppData\Roaming\MediaBrowser-Classic\Configurations
C:\Users\Mcx2-XXXXXXXX\AppData\Roaming\MediaBrowser-Classic\Configurations
etc
Crash2009, ebr and jcain like this
Unlike
Top
Quote

User avatar
DavidinCT

Posts: 1556
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:45 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#42

Post by DavidinCT » Mon Jan 18, 2016 11:47 am

Did you get any place with it ? Any progress to report ?
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#43

Post by Crash2009 » Mon Jan 18, 2016 12:45 pm

Echo errors out with Mcx2prov..... Security Negotiation..... and therefore unable to create the mcx account.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/lib ... s.10).aspx

Here are the Windows Media Center Extender Service "Dependencies"

http://www.blackviper.com/windows-servi ... r-service/

Any of those "Parts" missing from Win10?

User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#44

Post by Crash2009 » Sun Jan 24, 2016 1:27 pm


User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#45

Post by Crash2009 » Tue Jan 26, 2016 2:12 am

Do you think this might reset MCX accounts 1-6 ?

http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360/ ... tion-error
Attachments
XboxHack006.jpg

User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#46

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Jan 27, 2016 12:24 am

Comparison of a working Win7 MCX account to a similar Win 10 account. Seems to be a lot missing.
Attachments
Mcx_Win7_Account001.JPG

User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#47

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Jan 27, 2016 1:37 am

The closest we got....was with this.... Regedit and change a couple Port numbers. And this is with an xbox not an Echo.
Attachments
XboxHack004.jpg
XboxHack001.jpg
XboxHack002.jpg

User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#48

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Jan 27, 2016 1:59 am

You might also need RDPWrap-v1.6 for concurrent RDP Sessions in Win10. or, you can get out your HEX editor and edit Termsrv.dll those instructions are everywhere.
Attachments
RDPwrapper005.jpg

User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#49

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Jan 27, 2016 7:14 pm

Here are the details of the Mcx2Prov AppCrash

Code: Select all

Version=1
EventType=APPCRASH
EventTime=130954796693434346
ReportType=2
Consent=1
UploadTime=130954796707214836
ReportIdentifier=d828da3e-aaa4-11e5-bac4-180373a4f0b5
IntegratorReportIdentifier=c872388f-221e-43bd-95f1-f312a6c7a216
NsAppName=Mcx2Prov.exe
Response.BucketId=30230de74e246d4ce6bad890778d0746
Response.BucketTable=4
Response.LegacyBucketId=120354182623
Response.type=4
Sig[0].Name=Application Name
Sig[0].Value=Mcx2Prov.exe
Sig[1].Name=Application Version
Sig[1].Value=6.3.9600.16384
Sig[2].Name=Application Timestamp
Sig[2].Value=5215e514
Sig[3].Name=Fault Module Name
Sig[3].Value=FunDisc.dll
Sig[4].Name=Fault Module Version
Sig[4].Value=10.0.10586.0
Sig[5].Name=Fault Module Timestamp
Sig[5].Value=5632d71d
Sig[6].Name=Exception Code
Sig[6].Value=c0000005
Sig[7].Name=Exception Offset
Sig[7].Value=0000000000002be1
DynamicSig[1].Name=OS Version
DynamicSig[1].Value=10.0.10586.2.0.0.256.48
DynamicSig[2].Name=Locale ID
DynamicSig[2].Value=1033
DynamicSig[22].Name=Additional Information 1
DynamicSig[22].Value=89a2
DynamicSig[23].Name=Additional Information 2
DynamicSig[23].Value=89a2f61727971460908cf4ad1fa804b5
DynamicSig[24].Name=Additional Information 3
DynamicSig[24].Value=132c
DynamicSig[25].Name=Additional Information 4
DynamicSig[25].Value=132c8cabaf22c8daea32b41c76327f30
UI[2]=C:\Windows\ehome\Mcx2Prov.exe
LoadedModule[0]=C:\Windows\ehome\Mcx2Prov.exe
LoadedModule[1]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
LoadedModule[2]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\KERNEL32.DLL
LoadedModule[3]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\KERNELBASE.dll
LoadedModule[4]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\ADVAPI32.dll
LoadedModule[5]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\msvcrt.dll
LoadedModule[6]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\sechost.dll
LoadedModule[7]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\RPCRT4.dll
LoadedModule[8]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\USER32.dll
LoadedModule[9]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\GDI32.dll
LoadedModule[10]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\ole32.dll
LoadedModule[11]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\combase.dll
LoadedModule[12]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\bcryptPrimitives.dll
LoadedModule[13]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\OLEAUT32.dll
LoadedModule[14]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\CRYPT32.dll
LoadedModule[15]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSASN1.dll
LoadedModule[16]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\NETAPI32.dll
LoadedModule[17]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\SETUPAPI.dll
LoadedModule[18]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\CFGMGR32.dll
LoadedModule[19]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\USERENV.dll
LoadedModule[20]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHLWAPI.dll
LoadedModule[21]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\profapi.dll
LoadedModule[22]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHELL32.dll
LoadedModule[23]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\windows.storage.dll
LoadedModule[24]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\kernel.appcore.dll
LoadedModule[25]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\shcore.dll
LoadedModule[26]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\powrprof.dll
LoadedModule[27]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\WS2_32.dll
LoadedModule[28]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WTSAPI32.dll
LoadedModule[29]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\HTTPAPI.dll
LoadedModule[30]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\sqmapi.dll
LoadedModule[31]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\REGAPI.dll
LoadedModule[32]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\deviceassociation.dll
LoadedModule[33]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\LLTDAPI.DLL
LoadedModule[34]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WMI.dll
LoadedModule[35]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\IPHLPAPI.DLL
LoadedModule[36]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\NETUTILS.DLL
LoadedModule[37]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\SAMCLI.DLL
LoadedModule[38]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\wmiclnt.DLL
LoadedModule[39]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\IMM32.DLL
LoadedModule[40]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\clbcatq.dll
LoadedModule[41]=C:\WINDOWS\eHome\ehTrace.dll
LoadedModule[42]=C:\Windows\eHome\ehProxy.dll
LoadedModule[43]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\SspiCli.dll
LoadedModule[44]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\uxtheme.dll
LoadedModule[45]=C:\Windows\System32\GPEdit.dll
LoadedModule[46]=C:\Windows\System32\GPAPI.dll
LoadedModule[47]=C:\Windows\System32\dsuiext.dll
LoadedModule[48]=C:\Windows\System32\DSSEC.dll
LoadedModule[49]=C:\Windows\System32\ACTIVEDS.dll
LoadedModule[50]=C:\Windows\System32\framedynos.dll
LoadedModule[51]=C:\Windows\System32\adsldpc.dll
LoadedModule[52]=C:\Windows\System32\AUTHZ.dll
LoadedModule[53]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\WLDAP32.dll
LoadedModule[54]=C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.10586.0_none_8c15ae12515e1c22\COMCTL32.dll
LoadedModule[55]=C:\Windows\System32\DSROLE.dll
LoadedModule[56]=C:\Windows\System32\logoncli.dll
LoadedModule[57]=C:\Windows\System32\MPR.dll
LoadedModule[58]=C:\Windows\System32\NTDSAPI.dll
LoadedModule[59]=C:\WINDOWS\System32\npmproxy.dll
LoadedModule[60]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CRYPTSP.dll
LoadedModule[61]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\rsaenh.dll
LoadedModule[62]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\bcrypt.dll
LoadedModule[63]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DPAPI.dll
LoadedModule[64]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CRYPTBASE.dll
LoadedModule[65]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ncrypt.dll
LoadedModule[66]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\NTASN1.dll
LoadedModule[67]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\FirewallAPI.dll
LoadedModule[68]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\fwbase.dll
LoadedModule[69]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\FWPolicyIOMgr.dll
LoadedModule[70]=C:\Windows\System32\FunDisc.dll
LoadedModule[71]=C:\Windows\System32\XmlLite.dll
LoadedModule[72]=C:\Windows\System32\fdproxy.dll
LoadedModule[73]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\propsys.dll
LoadedModule[74]=C:\Windows\System32\ActXPrxy.dll
LoadedModule[75]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\NSI.dll
LoadedModule[76]=C:\Windows\System32\fdPnp.dll
LoadedModule[77]=C:\Windows\System32\ATL.DLL
LoadedModule[78]=C:\Windows\System32\DEVOBJ.dll
LoadedModule[79]=C:\Windows\System32\taskschd.dll
LoadedModule[80]=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DEVRTL.dll
LoadedModule[81]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\WINTRUST.dll
LoadedModule[82]=C:\WINDOWS\system32\dwmapi.dll
State[0].Key=Transport.DoneStage1
State[0].Value=1
FriendlyEventName=Stopped working
ConsentKey=APPCRASH
AppName=MCX2 Provisioning library
AppPath=C:\Windows\ehome\Mcx2Prov.exe
NsPartner=windows
NsGroup=windows8
ApplicationIdentity=732E81355E0871B426508C64B01F71A1
Some info on FunDisk.dll Otherwise known as "Function Discovery"

The fundisc.dll file's details

Filename: fundisc.dll

Version: 10.0:10240.16384

Size: 122 kB (124928 B)

Internal name: FunDisc

Original filename: FunDisc.dll

Description: Function Discovery Dll

Company:Microsoft Corporation

Product: Microsoft Windows Operating System

Product version: 10.0:10240.16384 (Microsoft Windows 10)

Self registration: disabled
Attachments
EchoHangsOnSetup003.jpg

User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#50

Post by Crash2009 » Sun Jan 31, 2016 9:56 pm

Fully Working WMC in a Remote Desktop Session. Starts out with some guy that accidentally made it work. About 7 or 8 posts down an analyst Teamviewers in and figures out how the first guy made it happen.

How do you make a Hooker..... App? I don't know but it sounds like fun.

How do you make a 10 PC go into S3?

How do you Force WMC to use dx9 instead of GDI?

https://softsled.codeplex.com/discussions/267751

Code: Select all

RDP Session with Full Working Media Center by Random 
  
 
 Wiki Link: [discussion:267751]  
 
 



 DanB_DE


Aug 4, 2011 at 10:56 AM
 
Hi

today I observed an Interesting behavior. I have an open RDP Session from Win 7 SP1 to Win7 SP1 with a full working Media Center incl. Animations and Video/Live TV.

I made a Video of it and try to keep the System to this State as long as possible. So if its interesting for one of the Softsled Developers , you more than welcome to check out the system.

Please contact me over this thread.

DanB
#
 

 
 


 yman235

Coordinator

Aug 4, 2011 at 10:59 AM
 
I'm very interested by this! We stopped the original implementation due to legal issues regarding DRM.

Any chance you could put up the video on youtube or something? :)
 

 
 


 DanB_DE


Aug 4, 2011 at 11:49 AM

Edited Aug 4, 2011 at 11:53 AM
 
#30332d; font-size:10pt">i have send the video link to yman235. actually the video is also showing my dev machine and maybe some stuff that is not ready for the public. (NDA)

#30332d; font-size:10pt">so let’s see what #30332d; font-size:10pt">??#30332d; font-size:10pt"> yman235 thinks about the video and if he want to access the system. ;-)
 

 
 


 jlambert

Coordinator

Aug 4, 2011 at 12:58 PM
 
I would be interested in hearing what you have to say about it, yman235.  I assume this is using the RemoteFX functionality.  Here is a link to some talk about it... http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1318195
 

 
 


 DanB_DE


Aug 4, 2011 at 1:08 PM
 
Native RemoteFX functionality requires Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 as host . In this Case its only W7 SP1 (RDP ) to the MC Host in Windows 7 Embedded Standard SP1 both on real HW.
 In this network are no servers other than only 1x WHS V1.

I didn’t hear from yman325 yet, I hope he is messaging soon, I still have the connection open.
 

 
 


 yman235

Coordinator

Aug 4, 2011 at 1:42 PM
 
I had a look at the video - very interesting.

I'm trying to work out how this is even possible. RemoteFX as Dan mentions is only possible from Server 08 R2 (plus high end graphics card). Even then it only works from the console session.

I remember reading that Microsoft was going to bring DirectX RDP redirection. However it was only ever targeted for DirectX 10 (MC is 9 I think) and the functionality/support was canned in the end. However it looks like MC is rendering through some sort of DirectX redirection. On non-embedded Windows Media Center decides which rendering path to use on start up. It'll either use GDI (for normal RDP), Xenon (when rendering to the Xbox 360) or DirectX9 when connected to the console. I'm intrigued to work out how this is happening. Surely if this was default out-of-the-box behaviour other users of MC Embedded would have discovered this?
 

 
 


 DanB_DE


Aug 4, 2011 at 1:49 PM
 
yes, the out-of-the-box behavior is the same as on Retail W7. i use this RDP connection every day the same way. 
 i also didn’t change anything on the system the last days. i guess it was a timing issue. waking up from S3 and RDP into it.

I may have to leave the house for an hour. I don’t know if I can keep the system till tomorrow.

Are there any steps I can do for you, or should we work out a time, where you can log in with Teamviewer ?
 

 
 


 yman235

Coordinator

Aug 4, 2011 at 1:53 PM
 
 

Interesting that it's the (default) same as retail. You are probably right that it's some sort of strange timing issue. If we can pinpoint it I can write a hooker application to trick Media Center :)

 

Any time which is suitable for you and I can try Teamviewer
 

 
 


 DanB_DE


Aug 4, 2011 at 1:57 PM
 
yes, lets get a hooker app ;-)
 ok, I will leave now, I ping you when i am back. (60 - 90 min)
 

 
 


 DanB_DE


Aug 4, 2011 at 3:53 PM
 
ok, i am ready, just give me a sign, and i send you immediately the credentials for teamviewer.
 

 
 


 yman235

Coordinator

Aug 4, 2011 at 4:02 PM
 
Ok, I've installed teamviewer.
 

 
 


 yman235

Coordinator

Aug 5, 2011 at 4:57 AM

Edited Aug 5, 2011 at 5:01 AM
 
Ok, so I had a look at Dan's machine. It appears that due to a timing issue (system 3 standby) Media Center thought it was rendering to the console and hence was rendering with directx9 and allowed video. Video was 98% - dropped a couple of frames. We disconnected and reconnected the RDP session only to find out Media Center was back to its old self (GDI rendering/no video). I tried the undocumented ehshell.exe /dx9 flag to force DirectX9 rendering within the RDP session. Crazily it worked! The animations are 97% fluid. Turns out that this flag also works on Windows 7 Retail. I don't know why I never tried this flag on retail windows (I guessed I thought it didn't work). It seems there's no DirectX remoting - it's just sending the full bitmaps over the wire but it's fast enough to look decently native. There was however no video when we reconnected as MC complained about trying to watch video inside an RDP session. We tried video in Dan's Windows Media Player and it was fine. I think RDP Video Redirection was happening there (video is rendered on the client). I imagine this was happening (by accident) within Windows Media Center for the first time - Media Center was rendering to directx and was using the Windows Media Player stack to render video which was redirecting the video onto the client. I imagine this must have been happening as RDP is not quick enough for 25FPS video?

Edit:

It should be possible to create a shim/hooker application to trick Media Center that it's not running in RDP mode.

Edit2:

I think the /dx9 mode only works when MC is windowed i.e. not full screen. Probably due to the fact than when MC is full-screen it takes exclusive control of the graphics context.
 

 
 


 DanB_DE


Aug 5, 2011 at 12:14 PM
 
I try it today several times with different timings, but it was not possible for me to get the system in this state again. Animations are working when using the /dx9 switch and MC is in window mode. this is also good news for me as MCML developer. 

for the record / the setup was :

- W7 Emb Standard with SP1 / No Updates
 - mst.exe Tool used as alternative Shell instead explorer.exe , starting ehshell.exe with an 5 second delay after waking up from S3.
 - the mst tool from slicksolutions is using the following way to start media center: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb188947.aspx
 - this might also responsible for the behavior we observed yesterday.

 

 
 


 yman235

Coordinator

Aug 6, 2011 at 1:44 PM
 
I've been able to programmatically trick Media Center into thinking it's not running in a Remote Desktop session. So, video is now playing - though not really watchable. I'm going to see if I can get RDP Video Redirection working. Also, audio is working on it.
 

 
 


 yman235

Coordinator

Aug 6, 2011 at 3:53 PM

Edited Aug 6, 2011 at 3:55 PM
 
Ok, so I made an image of Windows 7 Ultimate so I could play around with RDP Video Redirection. Unfortunately the video redirection isn't working inside Media Center. There is definitely something weird happening as the viewport gets redraw issues. I think the video is being sent over redirected RDP but we're not sending the clipping information i.e. where the RDP Client should superimpose the video over the bitmap. Playing the same video in WMP works fine (clipping information sent). Interestingly it doesn't seem that WMP Video Redirection even works for WTV files - just hangs for me. 

So, currently we are able to get decently-native DirectX now inside a Remote Desktop Session. Also, we are now able to play video via Media Center inside RDP - albeit shoddy jittery video. Potential idea is that we could get a reference to the Media Center Direct Show Running Graph, stop a playing graph and insert our own network/HTTP based rendering filter and restart the graph. Media Center would then render any video over the network. A custom client could then superimpose the video over the RDP. This method would not bring any legal issues re DRM, but it would be a bit of a hack - clipping the video around the Media Center UI. Would be a bit ugly - but would likely work.  

Any ideas on this?
 

 
 


 yman235

Coordinator

Aug 12, 2011 at 10:03 AM
 
Dan, I've responded through the codeplex contact to you. You've been missing my emails as I'm getting bounced for some reason. 
 

 
 


 bpppete


Sep 29, 2011 at 9:22 PM
 
Has anyone considered using or experimented with the Media Center Extender driver that comes with Windows 7? Is there any way to emulate the extender by altering the existing extender?

I was hoping that MC would recognize the extender and the extender would show the setup code. It doesn't, but maybe there's a way to initiate it?

Thoughts?

Peter
 

 
 


 bpppete


Sep 29, 2011 at 9:40 PM

Edited Sep 29, 2011 at 9:41 PM
 
OK, so I continued to mess around with the built in extender driver.

In case you don't know where to find it:
 Load up Device Manager
 On the root node, right-click and select "add legacy hardware," select manual installation.
 One of the options will be Media Center Extender.

After I installed it, I inspected the properties of the device (found under "System Devices")
 It revealed a URL and port. In my case:

http://192.168.0.195:3391/XD/DeviceDescription.xml

In this XML file, I found a node called UDN. I used the last fragment as the setup key. I entered only the digits (there were 8, so I figured I'd give it a try). The MC extender process accepted the setup key, and proceeded to install. However, eventually, it said that it could not find the extender. I'm posting this in case this information helps.

Edit: I went back into the device manager to look for the Media Center Extender, and it's gone... it was there before I ran the setup on MC! 

Peter
 

 
 


 xk2600

Developer

Oct 11, 2011 at 11:58 AM
 
Of note:

The default shell for an extender is: C:\Windows\eHome\McrMgr.exe

However, when attempting to RDP to a box utilzing this as the shell, it simply logs you back out. I'm wondering if there is already the 'extender/mce' wrapper and we just need to get the Registry HIVE configured correctly for that user? Or maybe there is an add'l exchange that goes on beyond the initial rdp session that establishes the remote endpoint as an extender as opposed to a desktop.

Also, maybe there is some magic we can do with mstsc.exe in order to accomodate this. I'm guessing the extender is nothing more than a CE box with a special load of the RDP client utilizing these 'technologies' we are trying to make work anyhow. Especially since we know you can playback video with media player through RDP utilizing video redirection. Maybe that's the difference? McrMgr.exe makes some different calls to setup Media Center for playback through an RDP Redirect Graph, and turns on and off some of these switches everyone is using to customize their MCE boxes. I just can't imagine MS spent that much more time writing add'l protocols/etc for extenders when RDP already does what they want it to do.

Anyhow, when I get a second, I'll try diving into this executable to see what lies beneath.

 
 

 
 


 xk2600

Developer

Nov 14, 2011 at 9:02 AM
 
Ok. I'm on the right track. I've begun the process of sifting through and labeling the decompile of mcrmgr.exe and it's looking promising. I think there is a possibility we may be able to just ignore the check to determine if the user is an RDP user as opposed to an extender. This would allow the following to happen:
1.mcrmgr.exe is placed as the default shell for a user, or just launched by an RDP user. 
2.mcrmgr.exe launches ehExtHost.exe and wmplayer.exe. 
3.wmplayer.exe allows playback of video by using the "RDP DShow Redirection Filter". 
4.ehExtHost.exe displays the WMC overlays on top of RDP.  

More info soon.
 

 
 


 ayersey


Dec 9, 2011 at 9:52 AM
 
I'm not sure if this has been suggested by anyone else but http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ I have just installed their software on my HTPC and it looks amazing. It's free and it allows streaming to an unlimited number of other PCs. It is definitely worth checking out. I know most of you are pretty deep in this project, but Microblow screws us so hard and regularly by not giving us basic functionality like using another PC as an extender that I thought I would give another software a shot. Give it a try, if nothing else it will give you a solution until the right work around is found or it could remove the need for one. This software is already miles ahead of MC and open source to boot so if you want something it doesn't have you can add it and post about it on their forum.
 

 
 


 david_marvin


Mar 20, 2012 at 11:07 PM
 
@ayersey - mediaportal doesn't support digital cable (e.g. ceton infinitv).

@xk2600 - any updates to your work with mcrmgr.exe?
 

 
 


 bipstik


May 22, 2012 at 2:09 PM
 
yman235 wrote:

I've been able to programmatically trick Media Center into thinking it's not running in a Remote Desktop session. So, video is now playing - though not really watchable. I'm going to see if I can get RDP Video Redirection working. Also, audio is working on it.


 Hi, I'm just wonderinghow are you able to trick Media Center into thinking it's not running in RDP session.  Can you please shed me some light?  I know this is old topic but I'm just curious.
 

 
 


 yman235

Coordinator

Jun 2, 2012 at 6:04 PM
 
Hi

 

Sorry for the late reply. MC pinvokes GetSystemMetrics (If I remember correctly), specifying some parameter which states whether the current session is a TS/RDP session. I used EasyHooks to hook this call. I could probably find the src if I looked hard enough. Why are you interested, out of interest? :)
 

 
 


 bipstik


Jun 13, 2012 at 2:47 PM
 
I don't know if you've heard of the software called Betwin by ThinSoft.  It's pretty nice software that uses RDP.  It basically allows a single computer to be be used by multiple users simultaneously.  It uses the additional physical video card exclusively to a session connected to it. So you basically benefiting the use of 3D acceleration on the video card.  Just basically like the new RemoteFX feature on Windows 2008 R2.  I'd like to be able to use the MCE with this program.

Thanks

Link to Article:

softsled.codeplex.com/discussions/267751
 

 

User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#51

Post by Crash2009 » Mon Feb 01, 2016 12:00 pm

Crash2009 wrote:Do you think this might reset MCX accounts 1-6 ?

http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360/ ... tion-error
This was tested, and defiantly resets all the accounts so your first install is back to MCX1, however due to unfamiliarity with running the reset the test resulted in the first account becoming MCX2 instead of MCX1.

User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#52

Post by Crash2009 » Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:19 am

Figured out how to run WMC in DX9 mode today. DX8 as well. I was trying to duplicate the setup in post 50 Post 1 is the guy that accidentally made it work. Video, Post 10 is the analyst reviewing how the guy did it . WMC got fooled into thinking the video was playing on her, but in reality the video was playing on the other end of a Remote Desktop Session. Maybe my test machine doesn't do S3, I just thought of something, Ill try setting S3 in the BIOS. then re-run the test. I tried to set it up in the GUI, but I'm not sure what I ended up with, spacebar wakes it up. Any suggestion on forcing S3 in Windows? Maybe Power???Something, I forget the name


edit the WMC shortcut and add a switch ....

ehshell /d3d9.dll for DX9
ehshell /d3d8thk.dll for DX8

Didn't make a difference for WMC, but the Remote desktop Session was more responsive and WMP played great. No protected though.
Attachments
SoftSled003.jpg

User avatar
DavidinCT

Posts: 1556
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:45 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#53

Post by DavidinCT » Tue Feb 09, 2016 2:40 pm

Crash2009 wrote:Figured out how to run WMC in DX9 mode today. DX8 as well. I was trying to duplicate the setup in post 50 Post 1 is the guy that accidentally made it work. Video, Post 10 is the analyst reviewing how the guy did it . WMC got fooled into thinking the video was playing on her, but in reality the video was playing on the other end of a Remote Desktop Session. Maybe my test machine doesn't do S3, I just thought of something, Ill try setting S3 in the BIOS. then re-run the test. I tried to set it up in the GUI, but I'm not sure what I ended up with, spacebar wakes it up. Any suggestion on forcing S3 in Windows? Maybe Power???Something, I forget the name


edit the WMC shortcut and add a switch ....

ehshell /d3d9.dll for DX9
ehshell /d3d8thk.dll for DX8

Didn't make a difference for WMC, but the Remote desktop Session was more responsive and WMP played great. No protected though.
Correct me if I am wrong but, Doesn't WMC REQUIRE Directx to run anyway ?

I have been doing some testing to figure out why the voulme shows up every time I do something in WMC. This got me back to an ORGINAL Windows 7 RETAIL ISO with No updates slipstreamed. Windows 7 didn't come with Directx by default, it was always installed by a game or other software that reqired it.

If you try to run WMC with out directx installed, video is almost unwatchable, choppy, freezing, and most time, it would play video with a frozen screen but, audio playing, then finally give the error "missing files to play video" error. After a few reboots and trying again with the same results, I installed Directx (Microsoft's installer), and rebooted, After that WMC runs smooth as silk. This is with a modern CPU and a GTX750ti video card, only 3rd party driver installed was NVIDIA's driver.

If your looking for S3 sleep, this is set via the BIOS and Windows uses it. I set mine to wake via USB device, so the remote can wake up the system. If you dont have it in your bios, you must have a really old system or a custom system that you are using for your test box. My old single core P4 CPU I was using YEARS ago, supported s3 sleep..
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#54

Post by Crash2009 » Tue Feb 09, 2016 8:15 pm

This dx s3 thing is obsolete now. Thanks to Graznok, Abbodi, and TS.

User avatar
DavidinCT

Posts: 1556
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:45 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#55

Post by DavidinCT » Tue Feb 09, 2016 10:39 pm

Crash2009 wrote:This dx s3 thing is obsolete now. Thanks to Graznok, Abbodi, and TS.
I hear ya, they are all the BEST things to happened to Windows Media Center in a LONG time... The way they are going it might be worthy to use Windows 10 on a HTPC at some point. Some things that Microsoft could never do, even though they have been BEGGED to do...

Know what would be nice (As they are working on RDP sessions), is to actually logon to the Xbox 360 account and log into the media center session. If this was the case, someone could get RDP terminals for each TV.... they are cheap and they would make perfect extenders. Wouldn't this break the limits on Extenders if you could open up unlimited sessions ?

I have seen those RDP boxes go on ebay for $15...
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#56

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Feb 10, 2016 2:17 am

DavidinCT wrote:
Crash2009 wrote:This dx s3 thing is obsolete now. Thanks to Graznok, Abbodi, and TS.
I hear ya, they are all the BEST things to happened to Windows Media Center in a LONG time... The way they are going it might be worthy to use Windows 10 on a HTPC at some point. Some things that Microsoft could never do, even though they have been BEGGED to do...

Know what would be nice (As they are working on RDP sessions), is to actually logon to the Xbox 360 account and log into the media center session. If this was the case, someone could get RDP terminals for each TV.... they are cheap and they would make perfect extenders. Wouldn't this break the limits on Extenders if you could open up unlimited sessions ?

I have seen those RDP boxes go on ebay for $15...
You might want to have a look at....

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/thread ... ost1203551

RDP is only limited by the bandwidth, and number of tuners.

Correct me if I am wrong but, Doesn't WMC REQUIRE Directx to run anyway ?

Probably, but I was using the switch to force WMC to use a different Version of DX. It uses DX12 or whatever as a default. If you open the WMC shortcut and add /d3d9.dll to the ehshell path this forces her to use DX9. It was just a little experiment to see if I could get closer to the softsled fluke.

%windir%\ehome\ehshell.exe /d3d9.dll for DX9
%windir%\ehome\ehshell.exe /d3d8thk.dll for DX8

I think there is a picture up there somewhere that shows the Windows location of the DX files.....System32 and SysWow64 folders

User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#57

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Feb 10, 2016 3:51 am

Here is the latest progress....

3 Remote Desktop Sessions, using 3 different channels, Protected only plays for a couple seconds then gives Display Driver Error. un and re-install PlayReady doesn't change anything. Non Protected plays forever.

Yeah, I know, I have a signal Problem +10, and the network is near saturation at times.
Attachments
RDP_PatchProject012.jpg
RDP_PatchProject013.jpg

User avatar
DavidinCT

Posts: 1556
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:45 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#58

Post by DavidinCT » Thu Feb 11, 2016 2:57 am

Nice, I was going to test the Windows 7 RDP drivers but, my 120gb SSD just died in my HTPC.... crap (while shows were recording). Glad I have weekly backups going, so I captured my Windows 8.1 partition in backup from the weekend. So stealing a 60gb SSD from a laptop I have and dropping in there till I can get another 120gb SSD...(dual boot with 7/8.1)
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

User avatar
Crash2009

Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

HTPC Specs: Show details

#59

Post by Crash2009 » Thu Feb 11, 2016 5:06 am

DavidinCT wrote:Nice, I was going to test the Windows 7 RDP drivers but, my 120gb SSD just died in my HTPC.... crap (while shows were recording). Glad I have weekly backups going, so I captured my Windows 8.1 partition in backup from the weekend. So stealing a 60gb SSD from a laptop I have and dropping in there till I can get another 120gb SSD...(dual boot with 7/8.1)
Looks like you found the cause of those clouds of bugs. I never had much faith in a dual boot HTPC. I ran 8.1 for a week and dumped it. I think I will keep 10 around for awhile.
What does 8.1 do for you that 10 cant? What is the advantage of dual boot on a "Production Machine"?

Tried to make this little I3 puke tonight. 3 live, and 2 recorded.
Attachments
RdpPatch027.JPG

User avatar
DavidinCT

Posts: 1556
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:45 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#60

Post by DavidinCT » Thu Feb 11, 2016 2:19 pm

Crash2009 wrote:
DavidinCT wrote:Nice, I was going to test the Windows 7 RDP drivers but, my 120gb SSD just died in my HTPC.... crap (while shows were recording). Glad I have weekly backups going, so I captured my Windows 8.1 partition in backup from the weekend. So stealing a 60gb SSD from a laptop I have and dropping in there till I can get another 120gb SSD...(dual boot with 7/8.1)
Looks like you found the cause of those clouds of bugs. I never had much faith in a dual boot HTPC. I ran 8.1 for a week and dumped it. I think I will keep 10 around for awhile.
What does 8.1 do for you that 10 cant? What is the advantage of dual boot on a "Production Machine"?

Tried to make this little I3 puke tonight. 3 live, and 2 recorded.
Well, I tried 8.1 because of the issues of the my volume pop up every time video stops (You can see that issu on mydigitallife, trying to get it disabled). I got 8.1 with WMC running pretty good, I needed to run a VBS to get WMC to run on startup. Also a few registry edits to get it always on top. WIth some tweaks I got it running as good as 7. 8.1's startup screen looks better (I want to rip the Windows Logo and put a WMC green button on it but, I'll get back to that at some point). 8.1 does start up faster than 7, so in WMC use, it could be better.

I tried to change the "shell" in 8.1 but, it does not load my Ceton tuners :( (I might try to load explorer after about 10 seconds after startup so the Ceton tuners drivers load)

Right now, as I was testing some issues on Windows 7(nuking and rebuilding many times), I setup 8.1 to be my stable WMC machine till I resolve the issues with 7...

I will move to Windows 10 when it's 100% plus. Extenders are still an issue (360's) but, with the RDC hack, I like the progress. Only thing I miss from 8.1 and 10 is Media Center studio, I know there are 3rd party options but, nothing I found themes as well as MCS....
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

Post Reply