Proper procedure to upgrade everything

[kid.lazer]

I'm currently in the process of updating my systems from Windows 10 to 11. At the same time, I'll need to re-install WMC which was originally installed from the old 8.8.5 zip files. I'd like to migrate to the .MSI for easier upkeep. What would be the best procedure here?

From what I can tell, uninstalling the old version of WMC and changing to the MSI should be my first step, though I'm not sure the best way to go about saving my current configuration. Can I simply treat this like an OS update and do a backup with EPG123, uninstall the old WMC package, reinstall the new MSI, then restore the backup?

Once that section is handled, I can upgrade Windows 10 to 11 and do the normal shenanigans of going through the WMC TV setup, then restoring the backup again, yes?

Any insight on the most efficient and painless way to achieve all this would be greatly appreciated.

[garyan2]

I believe this should work.

1. Use the client to create a backup.
2. Uninstall 8.8.5.
3. Upgrade to Win11.
4. Install the msi.
5. Perform a TV Setup. This is needed to create the WMC tuner entries in the registry.
6. Install EPG123.
7. Open the client and restore your backup.

Sent from my SM-G781U1 using Tapatalk

[kid.lazer]

Just to clarify, to perform the uninstall of 8.8.5 correctly, I need to use the 8.8.5 uninstaller script (and be sure to reboot after), then make sure the ehome folder is totally gone, correct? Or I suppose the Windows upgrade would nuke it regardless.

[garyan2]

Yes, to uninstall 8.8.5 correctly you need to run its uninstall batch file.

The OS upgrade will nuke everything, I think. It may leave the ProgramData\Microsoft\ehome folder with your WMC database, but I'm not sure if it will leave any registry entries behind that could cause problems moving to the msi. If the database is still there and you install the msi, you will still need to perform a TV Setup to bring the "new" tuners into WMC.

What I suggested would be the safest way, but the alternative above will probably be fine... just not as straight forward/obvious to get WMC working again.

[kid.lazer]

Awesome, thanks for your help. I will report back after some testing to confirm everything went well.

As an aside, thanks for your all your hard work keeping this project alive. I know there have been other contributors along the way, but it is much appreciated. WMC is the cornerstone of my HTPC setup.

[kid.lazer]

Welp, I've performed the procedure on my secondary systems and everything went smoothly (Windows even retained the location of my recording libraries through the update).

Those are the simple systems though. Even if everything got borked it wouldn't have mattered that much as they don't handle any schedules, and EPG123 is used in client-mode. My last system to upgrade, however, is my main HTPC with all my scheduled recordings and EPG123 in Full-mode. Hopefully it goes as well!

One new question though: For this system that has EPG123 installed in Full-mode, how should I perform the restore function? When i click "restore" then select a a backup file, it doesn't appear anything happens (no confirmation). Do I simply close the EPG123 client and that's it? I'm not changing anything in EPG123 itself so all my guide data and whatnot should remain intact, yes?

[kid.lazer]

So I did the update on my main system and everything went pretty well. I still am not sure sure if the "restore" function works as a single action, so I also clicked "rebuild database" just to be sure. Other than little things like that (and EPG123 deleting the scheduled task when upgrading from 1.7x to the latest 1.8.x), I'm up and running on Windows 11. Oddly enough, my tuner found 10 new channels when doing the setup again, so... *shrug*

[garyan2]

Rebuild is not needed after a restore. Restore creates a new WMC database with settings from the backup file while the Rebuild simply creates a new WMC database from the current settings.

[kid.lazer]

That's good to know for the future. So while it was not necessary at all, it also wouldn't hurt anything as it would be rebuilding the database with the one that was just restored.