Remote control and ehtray with 8.8.4 and 1909

Discussion of getting WMC to work on Windows 10 (unsupported)
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bjm051593

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Remote control and ehtray with 8.8.4 and 1909

#1

Post by bjm051593 » Thu Jan 02, 2020 4:20 am

I just did a clean install of 8.8.4 on 1909 and it's working perfectly (so far ;)) except for one issue... I can't get the remote to work in Windows, it works fine in WMC. I noticed that ehtray.exe does not start by default - if I start it manually, the green button works to launch WMC but then if WMC is closed ehtray.exe is closed along with it... How can I get ehtray.exe to start and stay running?

bjm051593

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#2

Post by bjm051593 » Fri Jan 03, 2020 2:35 pm

Ok, well nm... I did another install on the "official" WMC box and it's working fine... there's a little delay at startup but single GB click does indeed launch WMC now.

I'm impressed with how simple this was to get working (I'm using HDHR and EPG123) a lot of fine work by folks here for sure.

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aquadextrous

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#3

Post by aquadextrous » Fri Jan 03, 2020 3:42 pm

Glad you got it working, if you find that sometimes the remote stops working, someone came up with a way of keeping ehtray alive - which means the remote always works and things like the recording icon in the system tray also works on Windows 10.

Make a shortcut for ehtray.exe from your ehome folder
Place the shortcut in the start-up folder (C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp)
Right click the shortcut and select properties
Add "/surviveehschedtermination" to the target so it looks something like C:\Windows\ehome\ehtray.exe /surviveehschedtermination

Done- this should keep it alive. Hope this helps you and thanks to whoever came up with the solution! :)

DrBri99

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#4

Post by DrBri99 » Tue Feb 07, 2023 8:09 pm

I get this message:
The name 'C:\Program Files\Windows Media Center\ehome\etray.exe/surviveehschedtermination' specified in the Target box is not valid.

Make sure the path and file name are correct.

without the modifier it accepts it, but will not stay running.

Any tips?

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d00zah

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#5

Post by d00zah » Tue Feb 07, 2023 9:14 pm

DrBri99 wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 8:09 pm I get this message:
The name 'C:\Program Files\Windows Media Center\ehome\etray.exe/surviveehschedtermination' specified in the Target box is not valid.

Make sure the path and file name are correct.

without the modifier it accepts it, but will not stay running.

Any tips?
Try:

"C:\Program Files\Windows Media Center\ehome\ehtray.exe" /surviveehschedtermination
Last edited by d00zah on Tue Feb 07, 2023 10:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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garyan2

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#6

Post by garyan2 » Tue Feb 07, 2023 10:14 pm

Might be a typo here, but it is 'ehtray.exe', not 'etray.exe'.

But yes, entering manually you have to be careful on how windows parses and saves.

This shortcut is automatically created with 8.9.0 and 8.9.1. You shouldn't have to create another.

- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

DrBri99

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#7

Post by DrBri99 » Wed Feb 08, 2023 7:06 pm

d00zah wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 9:14 pm
DrBri99 wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 8:09 pm I get this message:
The name 'C:\Program Files\Windows Media Center\ehome\etray.exe/surviveehschedtermination' specified in the Target box is not valid.

Make sure the path and file name are correct.

without the modifier it accepts it, but will not stay running.

Any tips?
Try:

"C:\Program Files\Windows Media Center\ehome\ehtray.exe" /surviveehschedtermination
Thanks! Yes! Outside of the quote marks for the modifier works.

My typo was in the post, it was correct on my original shortcut.

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#8

Post by DrBri99 » Wed Feb 08, 2023 7:08 pm

garyan2 wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 10:14 pm Might be a typo here, but it is 'ehtray.exe', not 'etray.exe'.

But yes, entering manually you have to be careful on how windows parses and saves.

This shortcut is automatically created with 8.9.0 and 8.9.1. You shouldn't have to create another.
I did install 8.9.1 over the weekend and I was still having to run ehtray.exe before I could use the remote.

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d00zah

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#9

Post by d00zah » Wed Feb 08, 2023 8:05 pm

DrBri99 wrote: Wed Feb 08, 2023 7:06 pm
d00zah wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 9:14 pm Try:

"C:\Program Files\Windows Media Center\ehome\ehtray.exe" /surviveehschedtermination
Thanks! Yes! Outside of the quote marks for the modifier works.
The quotes around the path\command is because of the spaces in the path.

Mostly, you needed a space between the command (\ehtray.exe) & the argument (/surviveehschedtermination)... which could also have been a typo?

Glad you got it working.

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#10

Post by help-me-wmc » Fri Feb 24, 2023 12:13 pm

I used the following within a VBS script

' sort out HIM starting up, call 0 no output
set WShell = createobject("wscript.shell")
WShell.Run "C:\Windows\ehome\ehtray.exe /surviveehshedtermination" , 0
set WShell = Nothing

It did nought

is the Run line in-correct ?
do I need special privaledges if so please advise
can I get feedback from the Run ?

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garyan2

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#11

Post by garyan2 » Sun Feb 26, 2023 12:07 am

Missing a 'c'... /surviveehschedtermination.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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#12

Post by help-me-wmc » Mon Feb 27, 2023 2:18 pm

changed text to C:\Windows\ehome\ehtray.exe /surviveehschedtermination

did not apply .stop at end

run in both normal cmd and administrative mode cmd

used task manager - no media items

what I wish for is a start/powerup script that enables "Window Media Center Receiver Service" to come alive

using windows 1709

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#13

Post by help-me-wmc » Fri Mar 03, 2023 2:55 pm

problem resolved -- although ehshell with remote worked perfectly, it appeared that ehshell.exe did not fire up if green button on the remote was used to acheive the fire up

this was because the driver for the IR receiver was not initiated.
To initialise the Human Interface Device {HIM} it is necessary to invoke the
“Windows Media Center Receiver” via command (see https://revertservice.com/10/usbcir/ )
via
sc config usbcir start= demand


Then for each windows boot/restart
“C:\Windows\ehome\ehtray.exe" /SurviveEhSchedTermination
resolve the problem (I thought that capitals made legible the parameter)

The following code was added to startup.vbs to

' sort out HIM starting up, call 0 no output
set WShell = createobject("wscript.shell")
WShell.Run "C:\Windows\ehome\ehtray.exe /SurviveEhSchedTermination" , 0
set WShell = Nothing


Many thanks

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