WMC Backup

BCloud

Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 3:07 pm
Location: Missouri

HTPC Specs: Show details

#21

Post by BCloud » Wed Oct 01, 2014 3:30 am

how do you import once backedup?

Chairface

Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 7:52 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#22

Post by Chairface » Wed Oct 01, 2014 11:29 pm

BCloud wrote:how do you import once backedup?
The program checks for any schedule data that exists to determine if the "Backup" option is shown or "Restore". If you have already deleted the schedule data, yet it still shows backup option, the program can clean out the remnant info. (see screengrab below)

Image

Hope this helps!

dpohlma

Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2011 11:59 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#23

Post by dpohlma » Tue Oct 21, 2014 1:18 pm

Is there a way after deleting the channels from the guide to save it. That way in case I need to do a total reset of WMC I am not deleting the channels again. Thanks

[Moderator note: topic merged; please search before posting]

Mike88

Posts: 549
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2012 7:50 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#24

Post by Mike88 » Wed Jul 15, 2015 1:26 am

Chairface wrote:Yes, you can easily perform the backup by hand..

Check here- http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/03/backup-a ... edule.html
I'll probably use your backup software if I have to perform an mcupdate if my EPG does not get updated by this weekend.

That being said, I'm curious how to perform the backup by hand. However the hack7mc.com website appears to have gone by the wayside. Any other links on how to do the backup by hand?

Thanks in advance.

oakley516

Posts: 113
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2014 9:59 pm
Location: LI, NY

HTPC Specs: Show details

#25

Post by oakley516 » Wed Jul 15, 2015 1:50 am

I copied the text of that EPG backup article a few years ago when I was having issues.

This is it:
The ability to backup and restore your recording schedule and guide listings in Media Center is something that will be necessary at some point for almost anyone.
Unfortunately, up to this point Media Center doesn’t make it easy for the end user. On the bright side it isn’t very complicated either, you just need to know where to look.

Back ‘Em Up!

To begin with, Media Center creates backup files every time you schedule a new show or make modifications to the guide listings, you just need to find them. To get to the files you will need to enable the viewing of hidden folders, then open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome (by default).

Inside you will find a folder, or series of folders, for each tuner you have installed marked “mcepgX-X-X”. Inside each of these folders you will find a backup folder containing backup files for listings, recordings, and subscriptions.

Windows Media Center Backup Files

For each type of backup there will be a number of files inside named with a timestamp. The timestamp format is as follows:” “year month day – hour minutes seconds”. This makes it very simple to locate your most recent files. Luckily the files aren’t large at all however and you could easily backup the whole lot in most cases. For restoring the recording schedule only the latest file in recordings is needed.

Put ‘Em Back!

Once you’ve completed your reinstall of Windows 7, open Media Center and run through the setup as usual. Assuming no hardware changes or driver changes between reinstalls we should be set to continue. Retrieve your backup recordings file and copy it to your hard disk.

The file doesn’t need to be anywhere specific but placing it in the backups folder in your new “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\mcepgx-x-x” directory is probably a best practice. Now we will need to tell Media Center we’d like to load the information from the file. This is done through a program included in Windows 7 called “loadmxf” located in the "ehome” directory.

You can either open a command prompt by typing “cmd” into the start menu box or create a shortcut with the following text: “C:\Windows\ehome\loadmxf.exe -i FILELOCATION”. Replace the FILELOCATION with the location of the file to be loaded.

LoadMXF Files into Media Center

If using a shortcut, double-click to execute the command before continuing. Otherwise the recording schedule should be loaded into Media Center now. Loading lineup and subscription data from previous installs breaks things currently, so don’t do it!

Load ‘Em Up!

Once you’ve loaded the files back into Media Center you can see that your shows will be listed under series’ in Recorded TV’s Scheduled Recordings but no shows will be scheduled yet. Before we can load these you should be sure to have your channel lineup completed in the Media Center TV Guide. To get the proper times for each scheduled show you will need to reload Guide data.

To do this go to “Tasks > TV > Guide > Get Latest Guide Listings” and wait for the guide data to finish downloading. Then re-check your scheduled shows in Recorded TV. You should now see shows listed on the schedule to be recorded.

Congratulations. You have successfully backed up and restored your scheduled recordings.

Mike88

Posts: 549
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2012 7:50 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#26

Post by Mike88 » Wed Jul 15, 2015 11:11 pm

oakley516 -

Thanks for the information. You satisfied my curiosity!

Mike88

Posts: 549
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2012 7:50 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#27

Post by Mike88 » Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:03 pm

Are there any instructions on how to use Sean’s WMC Backup? I've looked quite a bit & can't find any. I'm presuming it's easy to use but I have no idea where the backed up recording schedule is supposed to be saved. Is it saved on the HDD that WMC is on? Or do I need an external HDD?

I ran it on my desktop to see what it looked like & "Ceton" appears in the upper left corner just like it's shown on Sean's website. But I don't have any Ceton tuners. What's the significance of this?

User avatar
DavidinCT

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

HTPC Specs: Show details

#28

Post by DavidinCT » Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:49 am

Mike88 wrote:Are there any instructions on how to use Sean’s WMC Backup? I've looked quite a bit & can't find any. I'm presuming it's easy to use but I have no idea where the backed up recording schedule is supposed to be saved. Is it saved on the HDD that WMC is on? Or do I need an external HDD?

I ran it on my desktop to see what it looked like & "Ceton" appears in the upper left corner just like it's shown on Sean's website. But I don't have any Ceton tuners. What's the significance of this?
It's over all pretty easy, Load it up, it shows your scheduled shows, there is a button, Backup, then it asks you where to save the file. When restoring, it needs a clean system with No scheduled shows in it, once it sees this the option for restore line up will show. Don't bother trying the Lineup backup (your channel layout), sure it will back them up but, will cause havoc when restoring them. It does not work great and can really mess up your system by using it.

He does have ads in this program so CETON shows on mine too but, I would not worry about it...
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

Mike88

Posts: 549
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2012 7:50 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#29

Post by Mike88 » Sun Jul 19, 2015 2:50 am

DavidinCT -

Thanks for the reply.WMC7 has worked really well for me so I'm a bit hesitant to make changes to it. But it looks like an mcupdate is going to be needed if a new guide doesn't happen shortly. I just want to know as much as possible about this in order to make things go as smooth as possible.

cKuR6

Posts: 186
Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2014 2:07 pm
Location: Somewhere over there

HTPC Specs: Show details

#30

Post by cKuR6 » Mon Aug 10, 2015 10:28 pm

This guide changeover has screwed up my channel lineup. I have a seans wmc backup, but it doesn't appear there is any way to use this file. Am I missing something? Is there a way to reload my edited guide, without changing anything else? I see it explained that using the tool will not be a good idea, and the detailed hack7 explanation seems to only cover recording schedule. Is there a way to do the same with the guide file?

User avatar
DavidinCT

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

HTPC Specs: Show details

#31

Post by DavidinCT » Tue Aug 11, 2015 2:36 pm

cKuR6 wrote:This guide changeover has screwed up my channel lineup. I have a seans WMC backup, but it doesn't appear there is any way to use this file. Am I missing something? Is there a way to reload my edited guide, without changing anything else? I see it explained that using the tool will not be a good idea, and the detailed hack7 explanation seems to only cover recording schedule. Is there a way to do the same with the guide file?
DO NOT use SeansWMC backup for Channel line up, lots of programs claim they do this but, will just mess up Media center beyond repair (needing to reset to factory and running first run again..)

Recording schedule is one thing, that works really well with this program.

I have tried a few apps over the years to backup channel line up, and in some cases it does work but, 95% of the time, it causes a big problem on restore and the only fix is to reset Media Center back to factory.
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

cKuR6

Posts: 186
Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2014 2:07 pm
Location: Somewhere over there

HTPC Specs: Show details

#32

Post by cKuR6 » Fri Aug 14, 2015 3:15 am

thanks for clarifying. glad i read first. another example of why this site is second only to the subaru forums on my usefulness lists.

tzr916

Posts: 445
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 11:56 pm
Location: Stockton CA

HTPC Specs: Show details

#33

Post by tzr916 » Sun Jan 17, 2016 5:53 pm

Is there some limit to the number of series the program will backup or limit to how many show up in the GUI?

I have more than 300 series and only 34 show up in the GUI. Did a backup, but don't know if only 34 series got saved or if all of them are saved???

User avatar
DavidinCT

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

HTPC Specs: Show details

#34

Post by DavidinCT » Sun Jan 17, 2016 6:04 pm

tzr916 wrote:Is there some limit to the number of series the program will backup or limit to how many show up in the GUI?

I have more than 300 series and only 34 show up in the GUI. Did a backup, but don't know if only 34 series got saved or if all of them are saved???
Go a few posts up and manually back it up, just in case. If your rebuilding, I always do a backup or clone of the OS before nuking. Just incase I missed something...
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

User avatar
WMCEnthusiast

Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2015 5:10 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#35

Post by WMCEnthusiast » Sat Sep 01, 2018 7:25 pm

How do I restore my channel lineup? I did a factory reset from within the application and restored before going through the WMC setup process again. After restoring the lineup shows up correctly in guidetool, but as soon as the tuner setup is done it gets replaced by the default channel lineup. I tried this entire procedure again with the same disappointing result.

Post Reply