XBOX 360 Extender on MCE Windows 10

Discussion of getting WMC to work on Windows 10 (unsupported)
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Vortex7

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XBOX 360 Extender on MCE Windows 10

#1

Post by Vortex7 » Mon Oct 30, 2017 6:18 am

Hi Everyone,

I have built a new PC and setup 8.8.1 MCE on Windows 10 Pro (1607) and its setup and working well. The tuners, EPG, Scheduled recordings etc are working correctly. I am trying to get an XBOX 360 working with Win 10 and have modified the termsrv.dll file to allow an extender to connect as per https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtzKsAjH-hw. The problem I have is that when adding an extender MCE hangs and crashes. I have followed a few forums, I have attempted to delete the Media Center certificate, restarting Network List services, disabling the firewalls, factory resetting the XBOX (as it was previously joined to a MC7 install) but no matter what I do the Win 10 box gets to the 2nd tick box "searching for your extender" and Media Center locks up and hangs. I need to go to task manager and end process on ehshell.exe

I have reset the setting on MCE, uninstalled / reinstalled rebooted etc. to no avail.

Has anyone actually got a X360 extender working with 10 or am i just wasting my time trying to get this going?

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Crash2009

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#2

Post by Crash2009 » Mon Oct 30, 2017 12:09 pm

I read about editing termsrv.dll but never tried that method. Found an easier way by using RDPWrapper.....The author of RDPWrapper has a post at MDL

Check out the BinaryMaster Link (EDIT it appears to me the link is dead)

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/thread ... st-1212065

2 sets of instructions....

Meluvalli (1st version) while looking for a solution

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/thread ... st-1209614

Gareth North (2nd version) attempt to simplify the Meluvalli version

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/thread ... st-1218317

Both sets of instructions were based upon Win 10 (10586.0) 2015 version with no updates.

Check your EventViewer.....Where does the extender install hang? mc2prov? fundsk?

Last edited by Crash2009 on Mon Oct 30, 2017 12:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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#3

Post by Crash2009 » Mon Oct 30, 2017 12:23 pm

Looks like BinaryMaster deleted the old RDPWrapper post and started a new one.

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/thread ... sic.55935/

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Crash2009

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#4

Post by Crash2009 » Mon Oct 30, 2017 5:29 pm

Crash2009 wrote: mc2prov? heck?
Looks like the TGB automatic profanity filter has struck again.....

heck = function discovery

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#5

Post by Crash2009 » Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:01 am

Melluvalli Version

Mar 2, 2016 Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017

XBox 360 Extender now working!!!!

Ok, so apparently, I was a little wrong... The latest version of RDPWrapper fixes the license issue for 3390!


I was able to now setup the extender by just installing RDPWrapper first. Then install WMCv12. However, there are still a few things you must do to make it work..
Maybe we could get the install script updated to do all of this for us?


Below are the steps to get XBox 360 connected: (Tested on Windows 10 x64 Build: 10586)


1. I had to pull a new Mcx2Prov.exe file from the WindowsMediaCenter_10.0.10537.0_x64 version as the one included in the current v12 causes media center to error adding an extender right off the bat. I just placed it in the bin\MediaCenter directory before installing WMC. See link below to the Mcx2Prov file.
2. I had to add some commands to the bin\install script. (See below)
3. Install latest RDPWrapper
4. Install WMCv12
5. Reboot (THIS IS IMPORTANT!)
6. Run WMC as Administrator (MAKE SURE YOU RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR!)
7. Add extender as normal! Enjoy!!!




I had to deny the MCX users to explorer.exe through the script using the commands below. Reason being is because after 5 minutes of being connected through the XBox, it would disconnect. Looked at the logs and found that after 5 minutes, explorer.exe would launch and WMC would detect an "unapproved" application running and terminate the connection. Denying access to explorer.exe for the MCX users fixes it and prevents it from launching. We may be able to further investigate this and figure out the true cause, but for now this workaround solved the problem.


Also, there is one error in the event log that I am curious about... It says "The UPnP Digital Media Renderer failed to start." This happens every time the Xbox connects. I haven't noticed any further issues, but would wonder what is causing it for a cleaner experience :)




Code added to bin\install script: (Below windows10.0-kb3106246-x64.msi... command. Line 79)
Code:
ntrights +r SeServiceLogonRight -u "Local Service"
icacls C:\Windows\explorer.exe /deny "Performance Monitor Users":F
Downloads:
Code:
Mcx2Prov.zip (Extract and place in the bin\MediaCenter directory)
NTRights.zip (Extract and place in the bin directory)

Update: Just noticed that this work around does not work on the latest build of windows (Build: 14271). I will continue looking into this and keep you guys updated. I am not sure about any other version at this time.
Last edited by Crash2009 on Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

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#6

Post by Crash2009 » Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:03 am

Gareth North Version

Apr 1, 2016
Hi,

I thought I'd write up a clear and concise guide in one place as to how you can get Windows Media Center running with xboxs working flawlessly.

The groundwork:-

After reading all the posts for the past 20 pages it seems a lot of people are struggling with getting things working because there not starting from a clean slate and are finding weird behaviour usually because there system has gone through a long history of installs and uninstalls and now weird stuff is happening. I've never ever had these issues but then I never uninstall! If i want to start again i dump an Acronis image of my PC setup perfectly with all drivers installed and no application software. This will leave you in good stead if something goes wrong no labourious sequnce of uninstalls and reinstalls just reinstall afresh again. So it may be a good idea to spend time installing a copy of imaging software such as Acronis True Image and learning how it works and make a bootable USB stick or CD so you can image. Also make sure you use either one parition or HDD for your operating system and one for your data and that you clearly seperate the two. Then when things play up or you think you've tanked your system again you can dump a fresh image of your OS on your OS Drive.

To get Media center with Xbox's working:-

1) Download and make a copy to a USB stick of the "wushowhide.diagcab" for safe keeping later:-
support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/3073930#/en-gb/kb/3073930

2) Unplug your computer from any source of cable internet access.

3) Using your Windows 10 DVD you have made use it to reimage your HDD and let it go through setting up Windows 10 again but don't connect to any wifi or other network as part of setup.

4) Once back into Windows 10 type into the Cortana search box GPEDIT.MSC when it come up navigate in the folder structure on the left to the following key "Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update\ Then find on the right "Configure Automatic Updates" double click and dot "Disabled".
This will stop Windows 10 immeditaly grabbing updates unless you go into [ Start > Settings > Update and Security > and click "Check for updates"] which you can gladly do after step 6. After a few restarts this area should show in red the text "Some Settings are managed by your organisation". You'll need a decent vesion of Windows 10 in my case Pro where these settings are allowed to be altered to set this!

5) Ok so Windows is reimaged and at baseline version and has had no chance to update itself but lets check. So if you go to the Cortana Search box and type Winver and click on it it should show a version of windows as Version 1511 (OS Build 10586.0) which is the baseline version with no updates now you can plug your internet connection back in or establish wifi connection. If it shows a higher version then your machine grabbed some updates at some point.

6) Run the tool in step 1 and Go Next and it will detect problems / Search for updates then you hit a fork in the road choose "Hide Updates" and in the list of updates you need to tick to hide these two:-

Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3116278)(KB3140741)
Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3124262)(KB3140768)

The KB numbers may have changed again on both of these as Microsoft have altered them before but if you don't see the KB numbers you will see only two with the text above and you need to tick to hide them and next. You have now stopped Windows 10 from grabbing the updates that kill xbox's working on Windows 10 but you can go grab any others. It might be a good idea to take an Acornis image here you can go back to.

7 Download and install all the following:-

Download RDP Wrapper:-
github.com/stascorp/rdpwrap/releases/download/v1.6/RDPWrap-v1.6.zip
Install / Configure RDP Wrappr as follows:-
Run as Admin install.bat Then once installed run update.bat then once thats done run RDPConf.exe Make sure no red text make sure "Single session per user" is unticked and security mode is "Disable Security" and Session shadowing mode is "Full acces with users permissions"

Download Media Center V12 Installer:-
From the 1st page of this forum which takes you to the page where version 12 was first posted:-
Download Media Center Version 12 Installer and unpack to a folder on your system

Download the tweaks to the standard v12 installer from Post #3987 on this thread:-
Download Mcx2Prov.zip right click on it where you downloaded it to on your system and from the general tab tick the Unblock box and OK then copy the Mcx2Prov.exe file out replace the existing copy in \bin\MediaCenter. Check that there is no unblock tick box at all showing on the general tab of this file otherwse this isn't going to work,
Download NTRights.zip and copy the file inside into \bin
Download from my website the already tweaked ready to go install.bat file so you don't have to edit it bolexh16user.net/Install.bat and put it in \bin
Now run the the Media Center Installer using installer.cmd using run as admin. Once installed try and pair your xbox's
Install your Emby, DVB Link, HD Homeruns etc

All should be working. You can grab any other windows updtes now to prove you can update without killing the xboxs now the 2 files that kill them wont be comming down!

Now onto my two new problems:-

Problem 1

I'm trying to ultimately move away from accessing media center on TV's round my house on xboxs to using Intel NUC's with of course a main Desktop PC running media center with the Tuners cards in it located elsewhere.

I now have Recorded TV Manager fjdrasch.com/v4/v4start.htm succesfully shuffling any recordings made on the NUC onto the main Desktop PC after they record but I would like to try recorded TV broker that supposedly takes any request for a recording from one machine such as my NUC and puts it on the guide of the Main Desktop so it records it instead. Therefore not recording it on the NUC therefore not needing the Recorded TV manager software to shuffle. This simple app should supposely communicate and update the guide on the main one if you broker all reording from the source machine I.E. The NUC.

It seems like the program is pitched to a particualr .net framework and hasn't been updated since windows 7 i have researched the problem and found a fix that gets the app on both machines communicating via the test button whereas before i was getting a hideous error when trying the test button so they are seeing each other now. But still if i record a program on the NUC it does not appear on the Guide of the main desktop. This may be a windows 10 issue or not. I have windows 10 on the NUC and the Desktop.

I have uploaded the Windows 7 installer in this zip file. If you try it on Windows 7 you just need to install the installer. If you try on Windows 8-10 you need to drop the two included .config files into the C:\Program Files\babgvant\RecordingBroker folder as these config files which have the following in them:-

<configuration>

<startup useLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicy="true">
<supportedRuntime version="v4.0"/>
<supportedRuntime version="v2.0.50727"/>
</startup>

</configuration>

Which gets the main exes to find and work with .net framework 4 i think. This came from a discussion bizarely getting another Media center app working discussed here:-

social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/343dfefc-a26b-4f86-be1b-c0ce4861aeea/wmc-tv-archive-transfer-service-and-wmc-tv-archive-addin-wont-start

If anyone is running Windows 7 on two machines who would be able to test this and confirm it works that would be great.

Problem 2

I love the Media Center cast program that the guys behind the Guide Tool called "1geek1tool" created. I purchased an activatiion but my email address does not activate the program and emailing them to there main email results in an undeliverable bounce back. It maybe is there wbeiste and it will work but its been a few days now. If anyone has got Media Center cast to activate on windows 10 i would love to know! It workd fine during the trial period!

For Your information:-
Unfortuntely i have found depsite having play ready installed that a test DMR rights wma audio file i was told to donwload to test DMR files can work through the xboxes i have does not work. It provokes the destop PC to download DMR software to play the file in media center but it it fails to play on the xbox's for all those in the States trying to get it to work this may not be good news.

Does it seem like the Ceton Echo , Linksys DMA Extender issues are insurmountable?

Best Regards

Gareth

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#7

Post by Crash2009 » Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:08 am

Here are my efforts attempting the Ceton Echo on Win10 10586 (2015 Version) close, but no cigar. Ran out of time to eliminate barriers.

viewtopic.php?p=99409#p99409

Check your EventViewer to see if you get the same error as me. Post #35 shows mine

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#8

Post by Vortex7 » Wed Nov 01, 2017 12:26 pm

Hi Crash2009,

OK i'm getting closer, X360 now says connecting but after 5 minutes I get a configuration error on the MCE Box. The Xbox sits there with the white dots saying connecting to media center pc, i actually left it and went to bed / work and 18 hours later still on that screen so something isint quite right. As you said in your post it may be because i have installed / uninstalled various versions of MCE dozens of time now.

I followed you guide, got the extra install.bat file, used the RDPWrapper and added the NTrights and the Mcx2Prov files to the directories and I'm getting further than i did previously. The only thing i cant find is the reference to "Download the tweaks to the standard v12 installer from Post #3987 on this thread" When I looked at the mydigitallife forum I couldn't find the "tweaks" that you are referencing.

I'm thinking that 1607 may be the issue so I'm going to blow away the PC and re-install with 1511 and see if this changes anything??

Thanks for you help mate, i feel like I'm getting way closer than before -

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#9

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Nov 01, 2017 1:56 pm

Vortex7 wrote: The only thing i cant find is the reference to "Download the tweaks to the standard v12 installer from Post #3987 on this thread" When I looked at the mydigitallife forum I couldn't find the "tweaks" that you are referencing.

I'm thinking that 1607 may be the issue so I'm going to blow away the PC and re-install with 1511 and see if this changes anything??
I might have missed it, but I dont see where I mentioned anything about tweaks in Post #3987. If I said "tweaks" I might have been referencing T-S's WMCv8.8.1 which has the necessary extender files stored in the BIN folder. Then again...the problem might be with Win10 ver 1607 (2016 ?). We were testing with ver 10586.0 (2015)

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/thread ... st-1210994

However, I did see something that might improve your install.....

Originally it was on 3389, then I changed to 3390, then 3391 I believe Xbox uses a different port than Ceton Echo.

As I recall...

3389 is for Remote Desktop Connection
3390 is Xbox
3391 is Ceton Echo

Or, thrice versa.

TRY...play with the port numbers and your firewall, I think Gareth North said something about that.

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#10

Post by jachin99 » Wed Nov 01, 2017 6:33 pm

I've been toying around with the windows media center sample applications on windows 10, and visual studio 2015 and I've come across a few things to put out there that might help with all of this trouble regarding extenders, and play ready. For the extenders, I'm wondering what would happen if you used .dll files from windows 7 instead of windows 8. I've been browsing through some of the .dlls from each, and I noticed that assemblies from Win 8 are .net version 4.0, while the same files from 7 are .net 3.5. You can look at the version info for a given dll and if its version 6.1.0 then its a win 7 file while if its version 6.3.0 its Win 8 file. I'm also wondering if many of these assemblies aren't being registered correctly when a user transplants WMC onto WIn 10. I have noticed that all of my references are broken in MSVS 2015 on Win 10 when I load the WMC samples BUT when I manually register these assemblies, the warning telling me MSVS cannot find my references goes away. I wonder if something similar is happening internally with users running WMC 10.

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#11

Post by Vortex7 » Thu Nov 02, 2017 12:04 pm

Crash2009, you my friend are a LEGEND!!

I blow away my system and downloaded Windows 10 1511 and ran a clean install, I followed your guide and installed support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/3073930#/en-gb/kb/3073930 and blocked anything with Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems and anything with Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems as none of the KB numbers matched. I also selected to defer updates from settings\updates and security to try and prevent updates to 1607, 1703 or 1709.

Rebooted, ran RDPWrapper and rebooted, ran V12 Installer with Mcx2Prov.exe in the bin\MediaCenter and ntrights.exe in the bin\ directory, rebooted. Started and set to automatic start the Media Center Extender Service. Added NETWORK SERVICE and LOCAL SERVICE to the Administrators group. Disabled the firewall and ran Media Center as admin and vole added the XBOX360 as an extender!! I then shutdown the XBOX and re-enabled the Firewall and the XBOX still connects without issues. I had left RDPWrapper on 3389 and did not have to change the port numbers for an XBOX360. I need to do some more testing from the extender(S) but this is a massive step forward.

Once again THANK YOU for all your help, I will keep everyone posted re any issues I have as i will have 3X XBOX 360 Extenders.

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#12

Post by Vortex7 » Thu Nov 02, 2017 9:53 pm

Just a quick update, make sure you use the Wushowhide (support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/3073930#/en-gb/kb/3073930) tool to block the 1607 update, I believe this is the only way that you can stop 1511 upgrading to 1607 - From my testing 1607 will not work with XBOX360 Extenders - Exact same install process (above) on 1511 and Extenders work -

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#13

Post by Crash2009 » Fri Nov 03, 2017 11:04 am

Congratulations, your completion of the project makes you a legend too. Microsoft sold 80 million Xbox's. I would estimate less than 20 work with WMC in Win10. More than likely, you are one of the (first 5 worldwide) to complete the project.

Special Thanks go to BinaryMaster, Melluvalli, Graznok, Abbodi, and T-S, for their work to make this possible.

Check your TGB message inbox. I sent you a little reward.

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#14

Post by paulcarrm9mx » Sun Jul 21, 2024 9:15 am

Can you get a media center extender working by streaming from htpc to a TV one floor down from a windows 10 pc. I'm looking to get an extender to stream from my media center pc to a TV and is there a way to make it work with the modded v13 edition

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#15

Post by technodevotee » Tue Jul 23, 2024 7:15 pm

In 2020, I spent several months trying to get my Xbox 360 working with versions of WMC later than V12 and Windows 10 later than V1503 and documented my experiments here: viewtopic.php?t=12813

The result was that V13 almost worked with 1503 but wasn't reliable. Any later version of either software simply didn't work.

To the best of my knowledge, nothing has been changed in Windows 10 or Windows Media Center that would affect the situation.

So, unless you want to go back to really old versions of software and lock it down to prevent updates, extenders are a no go.

Have you considered a wireless HDMI transmitter and receiver as an alternative?

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