"A necessary component of Windows Media Center..."???

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Radical924

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"A necessary component of Windows Media Center..."???

#1

Post by Radical924 » Fri Aug 16, 2013 8:23 am

Hi there I have been having some issues with Windows Media Center and Xbox for some time now and everything I have tried seems to fail. I would do a full clean install but I do not have an external to backup my data so it is not an option unfortunately... Anyways so when I open the Video Library in Windows Media Center on the Xbox I receive the following error: "a necessary component of Windows Media Center did not start properly. Restart Windows Media Center". The Video Library seemed to work when I first set it up... It came up with the please wait when we add more videos so I waited ... It looked like it was working and at 41% it froze so I dash-boarded... I had to retest the Windows Media Center connection for it to connect again or else I would receive a connection error. Oh and please keep in mind my modem, router, xbox, tv and PC are literally within 4 feet of each other so it isn't an internet issue... Lastly, when I got Windows Media Center loaded up again and went into the library nothing loaded and I got the error...

I have tried many things in the past... here is one of my threads detailing my old issues of which one got fixed but only with a repair install (The audio issue did not get fixed... not even over Tversity)... http://bit.ly/14ETZYz I hope it helps... So yeah please reply with any suggestions you may have and I will respond to you detailing whether or not I have tried your suggestion or not... Thanks!

Regards, Radical924

milli260876

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#2

Post by milli260876 » Fri Aug 16, 2013 11:47 am

Reset mediacenter. Its in scheduled tasks somewhere. I'm on my phone tho so can't help u more!!!
Lee

Radical924

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#3

Post by Radical924 » Fri Aug 16, 2013 6:40 pm

milli260876 wrote:Reset media center. Its in scheduled tasks somewhere. I'm on my phone tho so can't help u more!!!
I don't know what you mean by "Scheduled Tasks".... I know you can turn Media Center on/off in Windows/Features located in "Uninstall or Change a Program" but I have tried that already it didn't help at all. However, if scheduled tasks is different than that then please do explain cause I would love to try a new method in Scheduled tasks if that is what you meant.

richard1980

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#4

Post by richard1980 » Fri Aug 16, 2013 7:44 pm

You've never heard of Task Scheduler?

Radical924

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#5

Post by Radical924 » Fri Aug 16, 2013 10:21 pm

richard1980 wrote:You've never heard of Task Scheduler?
Yeah of course I have heard of Task Scheduler I use it all the time... What I meant was I have never heard of being able to reset Windows Media Center in task scheduler... That makes no sense...

richard1980

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#6

Post by richard1980 » Sat Aug 17, 2013 3:22 am

Task Scheduler (Local) > Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > Media Center > MediaCenterRecoveryTask

Radical924

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#7

Post by Radical924 » Sat Aug 17, 2013 5:09 am

richard1980 wrote:Task Scheduler (Local) > Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > Media Center > MediaCenterRecoveryTask
Huh wow I would never have thought of that... I will try that out thanks! Will post back with my result... and I guess it does make sense if you think about it my apologies lol... Oh yeah btw I have an install disc now for Windows 7 and so I was wondering if it was possible to repair JUST windows Media Center with the install disc?

EDIT: Dang it didn't work... It made me redo the Windows Media Center Setup on the PC (not xbox) and when I tried to use WMC on the xbox the video library still freezes upon trying to open it up...

OpusthePenguin

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#8

Post by OpusthePenguin » Sun Dec 08, 2013 7:03 pm

This probably won't fit everyone's situation, but I'll tell you what worked for me. A while back I changed the default install location for program files in the registry. This did almost no good since almost all installer packages ignore it and insist on installing to C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86) anyway. So I went into regedit and switched the default locations back to where Windows originally had them. Rebooted and problem solved.

Here's what I recommend if you want to try this and don't know what you're doing:

1. Open regedit by clicking on the orb, typing "regedit" in the search box and clicking on the regedit program link that pops up.

2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

3. Click File --> Export and save a copy of this portion of the registry where you can find it later if you need it.

4. Note the values in the Data column for "ProgramFilesDir" and "ProgramFilesDir (x86)". (If you only have one of those, don't worry. I think only 64-bit Windows users will have both, but I'm not sure.)

5. If you have a standard Windows installation, the righthand column for "ProgramFilesDir" should read "C:\Program Files" and the righthand column for "ProgramFilesDir (x86)" should read "C:\Program Files (x86)". If they don't, try changing them to those values. You do this by right-clicking on the Name in the left column and selecting Modify. Copy the "correct" value from this post into the Value data field in the box that pops up. Click OK and do the same thing again for the other one (if you've got two).

6. REBOOT. This did not work for me until I rebooted.

7. Open Windows Media Center and see if the problem is resolved.

8. If it isn't, I recommend you find that saved registry file you exported in step 3. Double-click on it to import it back into the registry. (You'll have to answer "Yes" or "Ok" or something to confirm you want to do that.) Reboot and you'll be back where you started. You'll still have the original problem, but at least you won't have your registry randomly changed in a way that might not be right for your machine just because you listened to some penguin on the internet.

Radical924

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#9

Post by Radical924 » Sun Dec 08, 2013 9:18 pm

Yeah those values aren't changed for me lol... I kind have just learned to live with the problem for now because the only think that I think will work is a clean install of my OS... That is not an option for me... So I just don't use WMC or WMP on my PC... I have to use WMP on my xbox if I ever want to stream videos... Kind of a pain because then all the videos I stream need to meet the Xbox360's codec criteria which is a real pain...... But hey thank you for the reply even though it has been so long I appreciate it... Hey maybe WMC or WMP might just magically work now because it has been so long lol...

Hagrinas

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#10

Post by Hagrinas » Thu Oct 13, 2022 10:29 pm

The necessary component of Windows Media Center turned out for me to be Windows Media Player, which would not launch properly. The fix for me was to rename the Windows Media Player folder in \Program Files (x86) to something as backup, and then copy over the folder with the same name from \Program Files to \Program Files (x86).

Try starting Windows Media Player before this fix. If it works, this won't help you. If it doesn't, try this fix. There are plenty of others that didn't work for me but might work for someone else if it's Media Player related.

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