Missing main menu items in WMC7

[thechemist]

I have previously installed WMC 7 successfully on 3 desktop PCs and on 4 laptops. I recently installed windows 7 ultimate 64 bit on a new laptop. All is working well on the new laptop however when i launch WMC and the main menu items appear, there are no menu options for Movies or TV. I can access the other menu items without difficulty and view pictures, play music and watch videos, but i have no access to movies and TV. Has anyone ever encountered this problem before and is there a fix short of a complete reinstall of Windows 7. Thanks in advance for any meaningful responses.

[STC]

I haven't heard of that before. Have you tried resetting MC?

mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask
from the windows\ehome directory.

[thechemist]

Thanks STC for your response. I am not familiar with the command you referred to. I have searched on my pc but nothing shows up using those search terms. Please provide more details on how i execute that command. Thanks again.

[holidayboy]

I guess you could try using Hide Media Center Menu Strips to see if the strips are somehow hidden?

It's a very strange issue on a fresh install.......

http://mikinho.com/wmc/start-menu-plus/ ... enu-strips

Or look at Media Center Studio to see if that sheds any light

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... f=9&t=2164

[holidayboy]

Thanks STC for your response. I am not familiar with the command you referred to. I have searched on my pc but nothing shows up using those search terms. Please provide more details on how i execute that command. Thanks again.

This will completely wipe Media Center to it's default state so use with caution!

Type cmd into the start menu, right click the cmd item and choose run as administrator, type %windir%\ehome\mcupdate.exe -mediacenterrecoverytask then press enter.

[STC]

Yes, as HB states it nukes Media Center to defaults, but I assume it's brand new and you are trying to set it up?
Loosing some paths for pics and music shouldn't be too bad.

[milli260876]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Start Menu.

you SHOULD be able to hide/unhide strips from there.
I'm at work so can't help further but i have a regedit file at home i could check/upload tomorrow

[STC]

^It's not showing from default first run though, that's the puzzling thing?

[milli260876]

Yep i know but I'd look there first!!

[milli260876]

Is it a genuine copy? Oem software?? Maybe they've removed them...??'

[thechemist]

Thanks to everyone for your input/advice. I followed your instructions exactly and the command you posted worked as expected to reset WMC to the default setup status. However when I went back through the setup once again there were no menu items listed for Movies or TV. The pictures and music menu items were there just as before. Any other thoughts as to how I might regain access to these two important menu items.

[holidayboy]

Is there a TV section in tasks|settings?

[STC]

What exact version of Windees is it and region is it set to?

[thechemist]

No there is not a selection for TV or Movies in the tasks/settings. It is a Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit version and is set to USA.

[milli260876]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Start Menu.

you SHOULD be able to hide/unhide strips from there.
I'm at work so can't help further but i have a regedit file at home i could check/upload tomorrow

did you check this registry key??

[thechemist]

Yes, I did check the reg key but did not find anything about your post to hide/unhide strips. What are "strips" anyway. I saw an entry called Hide TV with a value of '0'. I changed it to a '1' just to see what would happen but it made no difference on the menu items that appear in WMC. What should I be looking for in the reg key file? Thanks again for any help.

[barnabas1969]

Hello, Mr. Chemist.

I can't help you with your live TV problem, but I wonder if you've seen Breaking Bad.

Do you know how to cook? If so, let me know. I'm interested in new business opportunities.

Dumb question: Did you install any tuners on the new laptop? Meaning... did you install the drivers for your (what I imagine are) network tuners on that laptop?

[richard1980]

What are "strips" anyway.

The horizontal groups of menu items. The default strips in WMC are:

Extras
Pictures + Videos
Music
Movies
TV
Sports
Tasks

The strips run vertically. Within each strip, there are menu items that run horizontally.

Have you configured a TV tuner for use with the PC that is having the problems? Some menu items in the TV and Movies strips will not appear until after you have configured a TV tuner.

[barnabas1969]

Have you configured a TV tuner for use with the PC that is having the problems? Some menu items in the TV and Movies strips will not appear until after you have configured a TV tuner.

Isn't that a repeat of my question?

[richard1980]

Sort of...but he could have installed the drivers without going through live TV setup. I've seen people do stranger things.