Windows 10 Fall Upgrade Removes WMC

Discussion of getting WMC to work on Windows 10 (unsupported)
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whs001

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Windows 10 Fall Upgrade Removes WMC

#1

Post by whs001 » Tue Dec 15, 2015 9:00 pm

I recently upgraded a machine to the fall update build 1511 (OS Build 10586.29). Not sure if tbh there is anyway to block this from happening eventually anyways so I gave it a go.
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

Right away I noticed the removal of windows media center however I am not quite sure it was a real complete removal or not as there were still ehome folders left behind but they were butchered up and stuff deleted from them. I went ahead and ran the uninstaller that came with v10 build and of course redid the steps to put everything back on. Surprisingly the dvd player app installed was not removed or tampered with in anyway.

All this got me to thinking. Is there a way to preserve the settings and files before the upgrade so all I need to do is copy them back down and have everything working again?
I am capable of running the installer over again but can I archive my settings and add them back in. I find the big pain in the A is the setting up live tv and the guide all over again. So if that can be patched back in once upgraded that would be awesome.

I thought an in place upgrade was suppose to save all the installed applications. And for the most part it did save one, lol, Windows Media Center. I had to laugh as I typed that because I know its not supported but hell some of the apps I use now might not be supported as the os changes. I can see application developers are gonna be busy chasing OS updates just like we do with Android right now lol. Anyways if anyone has some ideas I am all ears. You guys are the best. Thank.

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Crash2009

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#2

Post by Crash2009 » Tue Dec 15, 2015 11:05 pm

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

They have been working on it all summer. Recently they got copy once to start working.

whs001

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#3

Post by whs001 » Wed Dec 16, 2015 1:38 am

@Crash2009 Much appreciate your prompt reply and I did go to the thread you suggested for answers. I'm afraid I didn't really pick up on the info you were referring very clearly and still not quite sure how that specifically refers to my issue. With one exception I did find they are up to rev 10 of the installer which is fine if you are doing it from scratch or reinstall. Maybe you can specifically show me the specific thread that mentions how to make a backup of wmc settings so they can be restored as before cause i cannot find it. though i will admit I am not a good forum savvy user as I would like to be and as such do miss a thing or two when I am looking. Please forgive me.

As for my initial thread I also will admit I am a bit wordy at times and that might have confused the issue and for that I do apologize. Here is the issue I am having in bullet form just to be clear.

1) This is the first time ever I can recall where a os upgrade was mandatory and not optional. Even with windows 8 you could choose not to install 8.1. Today's install is like installing windows 10 all over again with the in place upgrade option checked. That means it goes through and checks files before the upgrade and any specific ones that it deems not legal it can remove. Most of the time applications are not touched and on rare occasions device drivers get upgraded. For the most part things are left kinda untouched except today.

2) windows 10 forces you to do the upgrade install via windows updates. it is not optional or if so i really do not know how to block it from ever upgrading itself. (perhaps a protip on how to do this) I remember a script long time ago to block IE from loading on certain windows installs if you ran that.

3) I would like a way to back up all my windows media center settings and files. So any future mando upgrades all i need to do is plop the files and folders back in their original spots and push forward hoping nothing broke media center in the process. If I knew exactly which files and folders to copy I sure would do that right now but a script or program would make things easier. I do not program so I am very happy to just do the work the hard way as long as I know what I am doing. lol.

4) I am sure this will not be the last time we see a windows 10 forced upgrade in the future.

5) seems that this upgrade deleted some of the ehome files and forced me to reinstall the installation of wmc from scratch save the rights bat file. It seemed to still be ok. The desktop shortcut was deleted and some stuff in one of the ehome directories.

I am gonna do this whole process again on at least 2 more machines. This time I will be careful and watch the folders but again to be honest I am not entirely sure which folders to be exact to watch out for. or services or system files. I just do not know enough about the media center install process to feel like I am a good judge as to what is or is not broken during the upgrade. This forced upgrade is a new thing for me with windows operating systems. So please forgive.

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Crash2009

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#4

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Dec 16, 2015 2:27 am

Here is someone who feels the same way as you.

Couple ideas on how to stop this from happening to your other 2 pc's

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... 9c1?auth=1

I misread you I guess, I thought you did this voluntarily.

If you upgrade the other 2 machines say goodbye to WMC.

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#5

Post by volfan6415 » Wed Dec 16, 2015 6:20 am

I don't know what he means by forced win10 update? You can't stop it from downloading but it doesn't automatically install unless you tell it to.

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#6

Post by 3rob3 » Wed Dec 16, 2015 1:44 pm

I think you guys are misinterpreting it. He is not talking about going from Win7 or 8 to Win10. He was already running Win10 (and added WMC to it via the mydigitallife method), and installing the Fall update removed it. I would just look up how to back up WMC settings, do that, and then run the v10 installer again.

whs001

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#7

Post by whs001 » Thu Dec 17, 2015 6:33 am

3rob3 wrote:I think you guys are misinterpreting it. He is not talking about going from Win7 or 8 to Win10. He was already running Win10 (and added WMC to it via the mydigitallife method), and installing the Fall update removed it. I would just look up how to back up WMC settings, do that, and then run the v10 installer again.

Bingo, this guy gets it. That is exactly what I'm talking about. I forsee this happening more often than I really would like it too since MS has already made it clear they can just in place upgrade much easier now. I have delay setup now on my other win 10 boxes to put this sort of thing off for months but eventually according to MS it will force the upgrade. And it is a full upgrade install not some little patch or service pack. I saw that the other day and I was wow. WE come a long way now. But hey backup MCE is the answer I'm just not able to piece the info together to assist me in doing that right now. I have an idea and found some interesting stuff on google about how to do it but I just don't have the knowledge to quite make it all work.

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Crash2009

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#8

Post by Crash2009 » Thu Dec 17, 2015 4:41 pm

I was trying to figure out why I didn't get hit. I just installed 10 days ago. I am running the Fall Update all ready. I installed WMC 6.3.9600.16384_x64_v10 (this is the latest version) on top of the fall update. The latest WMC version wasn't released until 11/24/2015 so, if you installed WMC prior to that, you don't have v10

Latest v10 version available here....

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

I suppose you need to go to your old WMC install folder and run the uninstaller, it will probably error out on whatever was removed.

Boot, then go to your new WMC install folder have a look in the readme.txt and workaround.txt for anything that applies to your situation.

run TestRights, then Installer in the window that TestRights opens for you.

After you get back on track, type System Image into Cortana and follow the directions. System Image must be sent to a different drive than Win 10, so you might need some DVD's for a burn, or an extra USB, or an additional hard drive on your 10 box.

Here is a tidbit on the Fall Update..... I wasn't aware of this until now.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/301158 ... rrors.html

I haven't actually used it, but I have heard that Sean's WMC Backup is pretty good.

Thanks 3rob3 for making it Crystal Clear.

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#9

Post by wahoospa » Fri Jan 15, 2016 7:16 pm

Lucky me, I took the upgrade and still have Windows Media center working like it should. WMC has been running for several months now.

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DavidinCT

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#10

Post by DavidinCT » Sun Jan 17, 2016 2:37 pm

This happened to me a the other day too. In my case, it just removed the Windows\ehome folder and all shortcuts (system files). If you re-install the same version you were using, it kept all my settings next time I ran it. It didn't remove WMC's database.
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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