Rollup broke Media Center Again

tsh2000

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#141

Post by tsh2000 » Sat Aug 13, 2022 9:37 pm

Count me in as another person who still uses WMC. Though thanks to the July/August rollups perhaps not for long :roll: :roll: :roll:

I tried pulling ehtrace.dll from the Windows SxS directory but the oldest version that got me was 6.3.9600.20201. It seems like this version also breaks WMC and so I need to download the .16x version posted somewhere in this thread. Is that correct?

Bertmace

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#142

Post by Bertmace » Sun Aug 14, 2022 1:52 am

yes use them

mustpushbuttons

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#143

Post by mustpushbuttons » Sun Aug 14, 2022 5:56 pm

2 questions:

there are 4 ehtrace dll's - 2 in wow64 folder and 2 in amd64 folder.

there's 2 from 11/10/2021 and guessing these are latest working files - the version is 6.1.7601.25792

So delete and replace the new broken dll with ver .25792 in the *amd64 folder only*?

What about the other 3 ehtrace dll files - leave em?

Image

ryegrass

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#144

Post by ryegrass » Mon Aug 15, 2022 1:42 am

It appears from the file versions you are asking about that you're on Windows 7 like me. If so, Bertmace says on page 7 of this thread to replace the one in the winsxs\amd64 in addition the the one in the C:\Windows\ehome folder. Check the properties of the ones in the winsxs\amd64 folder as one of these may still be version 6.1.7600.16385 which doesn't need to be replaced. Be aware that running SFC (System File Checker) will flag and replace the files you have just manually installed unless all instances of the newer version are deleted. SFC will then still say the system has corrupt files which can not be repaired. For that reason, I personally am staying with the June Rollup for now.

Bertmace

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#145

Post by Bertmace » Mon Aug 15, 2022 5:06 am

Here is a pic of the locations on 8.1 that I replaced and ran this command dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aobe_htqVPV8s6NHlYj ... Q?e=WvhXoP System File Checker always come back with that massage all the time have winn 11 icon pack install and mediacenter theme install to

tsh2000

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#146

Post by tsh2000 » Mon Aug 15, 2022 5:14 pm

OK, this starting to drive me up the wall.

At first I thought my Media Center installation had gone correct since EPG123 hadn't run successfully, so I rebooted. I think that's when the updates hit. Since then I've been SOL.
  • I've "patched" ehtrace.dll to the original 6.2.9200.16384 version in C:\Windows\ehome\ and C:\Windows\ehome\wow
  • I've updated ehtrace in the WinSXS directory
  • I've run mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask
  • I've deleted C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\ehome
  • I've deleted the ehome directories in my local user accounts (..\AppData\Local\ and ..\AppData\Roaming)
Somehow Windows Media Center STILL remembers my "old" setup (e.g it doesn't present the initial setup "wizard" and just asks me to run Live TV Setup again), and the ****ing thing crashes everytime it tries to do the tuner setup.

Bertmace

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#147

Post by Bertmace » Mon Aug 15, 2022 5:38 pm

tsh2000 wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 5:14 pm OK, this starting to drive me up the wall.

At first I thought my Media Center installation had gone correct since EPG123 hadn't run successfully, so I rebooted. I think that's when the updates hit. Since then I've been SOL.
  • I've "patched" ehtrace.dll to the original 6.2.9200.16384 version in C:\Windows\ehome\ and C:\Windows\ehome\wow
  • I've updated ehtrace in the WinSXS directory
  • I've run mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask
  • I've deleted C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\ehome
  • I've deleted the ehome directories in my local user accounts (..\AppData\Local\ and ..\AppData\Roaming)
Somehow Windows Media Center STILL remembers my "old" setup (e.g it doesn't present the initial setup "wizard" and just asks me to run Live TV Setup again), and the ****ing thing crashes everytime it tries to do the tuner setup.
you need to run setup again with epg 123

Bertmace

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#148

Post by Bertmace » Mon Aug 15, 2022 5:43 pm

Bertmace wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 5:38 pm
tsh2000 wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 5:14 pm OK, this starting to drive me up the wall.

At first I thought my Media Center installation had gone correct since EPG123 hadn't run successfully, so I rebooted. I think that's when the updates hit. Since then I've been SOL.
  • I've "patched" ehtrace.dll to the original 6.2.9200.16384 version in C:\Windows\ehome\ and C:\Windows\ehome\wow
  • I've updated ehtrace in the WinSXS directory
  • I've run mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask
  • I've deleted C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\ehome
  • I've deleted the ehome directories in my local user accounts (..\AppData\Local\ and ..\AppData\Roaming)
Somehow Windows Media Center STILL remembers my "old" setup (e.g it doesn't present the initial setup "wizard" and just asks me to run Live TV Setup again), and the ****ing thing crashes everytime it tries to do the tuner setup.
you need to run setup again with epg 123 EPG123 Client

tsh2000

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#149

Post by tsh2000 » Tue Aug 16, 2022 5:23 am

Thank you, my weekend long ordeal with ehtrace.dll is finally over!

(I did lose all my recording settings and I'm pretty sure all my HBO recordings are now shot, but at least I can watch TV again!)

For anyone else who is having issues with Windows Media Center Play Ready initialization this thread also helped me:
viewtopic.php?t=12800
Bertmace wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 5:43 pm
Bertmace wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 5:38 pm
tsh2000 wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 5:14 pm OK, this starting to drive me up the wall.

At first I thought my Media Center installation had gone correct since EPG123 hadn't run successfully, so I rebooted. I think that's when the updates hit. Since then I've been SOL.
  • I've "patched" ehtrace.dll to the original 6.2.9200.16384 version in C:\Windows\ehome\ and C:\Windows\ehome\wow
  • I've updated ehtrace in the WinSXS directory
  • I've run mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask
  • I've deleted C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\ehome
  • I've deleted the ehome directories in my local user accounts (..\AppData\Local\ and ..\AppData\Roaming)
Somehow Windows Media Center STILL remembers my "old" setup (e.g it doesn't present the initial setup "wizard" and just asks me to run Live TV Setup again), and the ****ing thing crashes everytime it tries to do the tuner setup.
you need to run setup again with epg 123 EPG123 Client

The Mac

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#150

Post by The Mac » Tue Aug 16, 2022 1:49 pm

you might be able o recover your series settings using the epg123 transfer tool. look for a backup and they should be there.

CPizzle

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#151

Post by CPizzle » Thu Aug 18, 2022 3:48 am

Thank you guys - I love this group. I'm back up and running. People have stopped yelling at me in this house and I owe it to this group.

Bertmace

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#152

Post by Bertmace » Fri Aug 19, 2022 6:21 pm

Cannot wait for next months update oh no not that

ryegrass

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#153

Post by ryegrass » Fri Aug 19, 2022 6:25 pm

Bertmace wrote: Fri Aug 19, 2022 6:21 pm Cannot wait for next month update
I'm not even sure Microsoft knows there's a problem. It wasn't listed in either July or August's list of known problems. Image

BranButton

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#154

Post by BranButton » Sat Aug 20, 2022 1:50 am

I had a hardware failure of the motherboard, so I went from a 6th gen Intel Core i5 back to 4th Gen i7. After finally getting Microsoft to activate windows again and all the driver updates, found I had similar issue WMC.

WMC ran with no issues, unless I tried to record or edit a recording schedule. Last month I had to uninstall the July security Roll UP to even get the WMC to open, so uninstalling August security Roll UP got me back running correctly. Thanks

For those of you running Win 8.1, you can make a custom refresh image with the recimg command - recimg -CreateImage D:\\RefreshImage

Switches:
createimage <directory> :
recimg /setcurrent <directory> :
recimg /deregister :
recimg /showcurrent :

mustpushbuttons

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#155

Post by mustpushbuttons » Sun Aug 21, 2022 6:13 pm

BranButton wrote: Sat Aug 20, 2022 1:50 am I had a hardware failure of the motherboard, so I went from a 6th gen Intel Core i5 back to 4th Gen i7.
Dude biggest fear I have is mobo failure! heat is the killer (i think)

I've been running an i7 3770S on asus matx h67 mobo (all solid Japanese caps) 24 hrs a day every day since December 2010. Some periods - years - of heavy steam gaming. Sandy bridge i7's have well engineered heat spreader w/ accurate 65W TDP. Always run the lowest power/ highest performing GPU's like the nvid 1050 Ti or 1650's... Seasonic 330w psu was fine from 2006 but just replaced w/ another. frequent air blasts/ dusting. Was waaay past the psu MTBF rating @ 50C.

Backup win7 ready 6th gen mobo + low power cpu in a box just in case. Because of playready and previous experience w/ cablecard setup's... just not gonna mess with it until the wheels fall off + have monthly clone to fall back to in case of nuclear strike.

Have had great luck since 2020 with a couple SFF builds using 10th gen true 35W TDP i5 10400T's and various itx boards w/ 100w GPU's. Cheap low noise HSF in tiny case and CPU temps never get over 70C and GPU temps (1650 super and 1660Ti) stay below 85C while its hot af in July/ Aug (no AC!)

Springsteen76

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#156

Post by Springsteen76 » Mon Aug 22, 2022 9:04 pm

First thanks to everyone who has posted here. It took a couple of weeks before I even thought to check the forum: I assumed my kids were just being careless with turning the WMC on and off--which has been known to happen.

Thanks to the guidance (especially with the TrustedInstaller permissions) here, I switched out the DLL files. Unfortunately, when I rebooted the computer, WMC wouldn't open at all. I haven't had a chance to poke around much, so I thought I would ask here before wasting my time.

I did try System Restore to a point before the update, but it failed to restore. Just my luck.

EDIT: I played around and had no luck. I tried uninstalling each of the updates, with no luck. So I went back to System Restore, and by restoring point by point, starting with the most recent, I was able to get to a pre-Update status and WMC is working all right. It just dawned on me, though, that I failed to turn off automatic updates after making all these changes. . . . Thanks again for all the work people do!

pimjoosten

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#157

Post by pimjoosten » Tue Aug 23, 2022 9:55 am

I have just reported this issue via the Windows 10 feedback hub. Should have done that earlier, but I did not have the opportunity until now. It is a shame that MS did not correct this in the August update. I have now explicitly requested this to be corrected in the September update. Let's hope they take Win7/8.1 feedback via the Win10 Feedback hub seriously.

ryegrass

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#158

Post by ryegrass » Tue Aug 23, 2022 2:49 pm

pimjoosten wrote: Tue Aug 23, 2022 9:55 am I have just reported this issue via the Windows 10 feedback hub. Should have done that earlier, but I did not have the opportunity until now. It is a shame that MS did not correct this in the August update. I have now explicitly requested this to be corrected in the September update. Let's hope they take Win7/8.1 feedback via the Win10 Feedback hub seriously.
Thanks!

cvanwormer

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#159

Post by cvanwormer » Thu Aug 25, 2022 1:29 am

Update PlayReady - blue background screen problem:
I don't know what is going on, but here is what happened:

We’ve started getting failures on our Windows 11 WMC system but have not knowingly made any changes that might have caused the problem. The system has been working without problems for at least 5 months. Now, whenever we try to watch a live video, we are getting the full blue background with the message:
“Update PlayReady
The PlayReady update was incomplete. You will not be able
to watch or record protected content until the update is
successful.”
The only button on this screen is “Update”, and results in a couple of minutes of update attempts that fail with the choice of retry or exit.

After trying several restore points, I found one a few weeks back that seemed to fix the problem, allowing us to watch the same local channels without this message. After a day or two, the problem came back. Trying several restore points, again, I got the system working again and performed a system drive image backup (yesterday). After the backup, the WMC still worked (yesterday). Today it stopped working again so I did a system restore, which completed successfully, but the WMC still had the same Update PlayReady problem. The image restore of a working system didn’t fix the problem.

While trying to follow the link to Cannot Update PlayReady After Win7 EOL (viewtopic.php?t=12800), I couldn't repeat the procedure because the update link wasn't showing. I used the windows "add remove programs" and removed the PlayReady installation, planning to reinstall it. After the required reboot, WMC started working correctly, without the problem. If this success goes away (like the earlier few successes), I'll return with more of my story.

I'm still confused.

tsh2000

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#160

Post by tsh2000 » Fri Aug 26, 2022 5:28 am

For me the steps in that thread were enough, I didn't need to follow links anywhere. The quick summary is that you wait until the PlayReady install fails, then kill the WMC service, delete (I backed mine up) the PlayReady key, then go back to WMC to "continue" the PlayReady install.
Hope that helps.
1) Get to the point in media center that it says Playready failed to update, do you wish to try again?

OPTIONAL - Download the Reset DRM Tool from Microsoft, Change Compatibility Mode to Windows 7 (or lesser version of Windows), Run the Tool As Admin. It should Install and say Successful.

2) Open up Windows "Services" via Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.

3) With Media Center Open and Showing "The PlayReady update was incomplete. Do you want to try again?", go to the Services panel you just opened and scroll all the way down to "Windows Media Center Receiver Services" (ehRecvr), double click on it, then click "Stop"

4) Navigate to the ReadyPlay HIDDEN folder (C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\PlayReady) and then rename the mspr.hds file to mspr.old

5) Go back to the STILL OPEN & RUNNING, Media Center and click "Yes" and "Next" to the Update PlayReady question. It should immediately zip past and say update complete.
6) Restart Windows Media Center



cvanwormer wrote: Thu Aug 25, 2022 1:29 am Update PlayReady - blue background screen problem:
I don't know what is going on, but here is what happened:

We’ve started getting failures on our Windows 11 WMC system but have not knowingly made any changes that might have caused the problem. The system has been working without problems for at least 5 months. Now, whenever we try to watch a live video, we are getting the full blue background with the message:
“Update PlayReady
The PlayReady update was incomplete. You will not be able
to watch or record protected content until the update is
successful.”
The only button on this screen is “Update”, and results in a couple of minutes of update attempts that fail with the choice of retry or exit.

After trying several restore points, I found one a few weeks back that seemed to fix the problem, allowing us to watch the same local channels without this message. After a day or two, the problem came back. Trying several restore points, again, I got the system working again and performed a system drive image backup (yesterday). After the backup, the WMC still worked (yesterday). Today it stopped working again so I did a system restore, which completed successfully, but the WMC still had the same Update PlayReady problem. The image restore of a working system didn’t fix the problem.

While trying to follow the link to Cannot Update PlayReady After Win7 EOL (viewtopic.php?t=12800), I couldn't repeat the procedure because the update link wasn't showing. I used the windows "add remove programs" and removed the PlayReady installation, planning to reinstall it. After the required reboot, WMC started working correctly, without the problem. If this success goes away (like the earlier few successes), I'll return with more of my story.

I'm still confused.

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