[AddOn] Media Center 2005 (English) January 24 2012

[guliwer]

Hi, my MCE shows this error

[ricktendo]

Hi, my MCE shows this error

Please dont just post a screenshot of your error I am not psychic, say how you integrated it, if you integrated .net 1.1 sp1

[George King]

Please dont just post a screenshot of your error I am not psychic, say how you integrated it, if you integrated .net 1.1 sp1

He customized your fully working addon...

[ricktendo]

You cannot patch ehshell.exe without having trouble, if you have patched it with a Vista icon or something run this utility with the following command

sn.exe -Vr ehshell.exe

Do the same if you moddified RegisterMCEApp.exe

sn.exe -Vr RegisterMCEApp.exe

[George King]

Rick, i got Windows XP SP3 OEM MSDN... Would you like update your addon to SP3? Can i upload you or post download links?

[ricktendo]

No I have it already, the media center in XP MCE SP3 OEM MSDN is the 2004 version

SP3 and the 2005 Media Center have nothing to do with each other, believe it or not this addon IS! as updated as it can get...Its taken from a Windows XP Media Center 2005 Edition with SP2 integrated then SP3 installed on it and this Media Center addon you see right here is what you get

You can verify what I say by installing XP MCE 2005 with SP2, update rollup 2 & the other hotfixes I list on the 1st page and XP SP3

Once installed save the ehome folder from it

Then integrate & install my addon into regular XP SP3 and take the ehome folder from that

Use Beyond Compare to check the two folder's files side by side and you will see no difference

Edit: The reason for this Microsoft lazyness is the 2005 Media Center requires WMP10 and .NET Framework 1.1 sp1 neither of which SP3 updates or adds, here are some screenshots:

[Mr_Smartepants]

Wow, very interesting. Nice work Rick.

[Provolino]

Hello Rick,

any news about localized versions of this addon?

P.S.

Merry Christmas and happy 2009

[ricktendo]

Yes, addon makers from your language will have to do it...I cant

[Hlafordlaes]

Very common bug the 2002 version issue, you can view the Media Center version in the about of the Media Center

I realize this is a non-issue from anything but the purist, dogged-perfectionist mindset... which many end users making slipstreamed installs seem to have. I do, lor help me :-)

(After all, in the age of DSL high speed downloads, the slipstreaming effort, at least with respect to Windows Update, is hardly as worthwhile as when we were all having modem drop-outs after a Win98SE install and wishing for a local, up-to-date source.)

But I seem to be a niggler and cannot resist trying to get my slipstream to be rabidly up to date, including downloading any WU hotfixes detected when testing my integration in a VM and manually adding them to my svcpack. So, thought I might obsessively ask: How did Orbit_30 get his addon to show 2005? Is there a dll hexedit hack or something I might try to reproduce that magic 2005 number? (Heard of the registry edit to ver4.0, but that does nothing seemingly.)

Or is this "As Good As It Gets" for us O-C sickoes?

Edit: spelling

Edited January 10, 2009 by Hlafordlaes

[ricktendo]

2002 is the version of XP the media center is v2005

But what orbit30 reshacked was probably sysdm.cpl

180	Microsoft Windows XP

188 64-Bit Edition

189 Incrustado

190 Home Edition

191 Profesional

192 Servidor

193 Advanced Server

194 Datacenter

195 Versi

[Hlafordlaes]

2002 is the version of XP the media center is v2005...

Edit: Confirmed it is sysdm.cpl

Ahhhh.... Now I can stop kicking the dog. We both thank you!

O sea, muy agradecidos los dos.

Edit: didn't want to repeat the image, nixed it.

Edited January 10, 2009 by Hlafordlaes

[Hlafordlaes]

Away Mode Woes

I tested and retested my integration with this Addon in MS VM until everything was flawless. Burned to DVD, installed, and... panic time!!

The MS doc on Away Mode states that only computers with a compatible BIOS can use it, and warns that many systems may not be, which is why the functionality was not released to the gen public as an addon or update. Guess I'm one of the unlucky ones, which is why I am posting in case this happens to anyone else.

Symptom:

The Away Mode device appeared in Device Mgr (OK), but no matter what I did with chipset etc drivers, my system could not detect my SATA DVD burner, and Explorer was showing some of the OS protected files with that option turned off in Folder Options. Scary!

Solution:

Unfortunately, without access to the burner, there was no way to adjust anything and do another burn. Had to quicky re-install my previous slipstream to avoid any possible disc corruption and to be able to take another crack at slipstreaming. Aaarghh.

Now going thru the addon to check for all the .cat, .cabs and what-not to see if I can't get a successful install...

[JohnyRock]

Ricktendo64,

I borrowed an XP PRO SP3 CD from a friend and created a new install CD using nlite, the dotnetFx all-in-one addon and your XP PRO to MCE addon. Everything works perfect!! Every single Media Center component is installed and everything works perfect without a single error message. Your patch is a terrific piece of work!!

However, I have a legally purchased copy of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2 into which I have been trying to integrate SP3. The integration of SP3 into XP MCE 2005 succeeds but MCE is downgraded from 3.0 to 2.8 and during the GUI setup phase of the windows installation, setup gives error messages that files are missing. Windows installs but a few components are missing each time.

Since integrating SP3 into XP MCE fails, I was wondering if there is a way to convert my XP MCE CD to an XP PRO CD, then slipstream SP3 into that XP PRO CD and then apply your XP PRO to MCE addon? That should work since your addon works terrific on XP PRO. So is there a way to convert XP MCE to XP PRO? There is a lot of ingenuity in your XP PRO to MCE addon, so I figured you must have an idea how to do the XP MCE to XP PRO conversion. Thanks

Edited January 20, 2009 by JohnyRock

[ricktendo]

No, do not use my mce addon on your mce disk...because I change things around in sysoc.inf so that the media center installs on regular XP (this is not needed for original mce)

As for making a addon that will fix what is broken after sp3 slipstream into xp mce 05, that seems like allot of work and testing...not enough time to do it

[JohnyRock]

No, do not use my mce addon on your mce disk...because I change things around in sysoc.inf so that the media center installs on regular XP (this is not needed for original mce)

As for making a addon that will fix what is broken after sp3 slipstream into xp mce 05, that seems like allot of work and testing...not enough time to do it

Thanks for replying. I understand. I just thought there would be an easy way to do it. For now, I will just stick to the XP PRO SP3 with your addon. Things are working great. a huge thank you for all your work.

[ricktendo]

Updated: just a few minor edits to a couple INF files...also preparing for the English version of the Vista Media Center that I will release in the next couple of days (big thanks to AMIRZ, bober and fediafedia for their contributions)

BTW whoever wants to remove Away Mode here is how you can do it...

1- Unpack the MCE addon (extract to subdir) and delete the following files:

aracpi.inf
aracpi.sys
arhidflt.inf
arhidflt.sys
arkbcflt.inf
arkbcflt.sys
armcex.dll
armouflt.inf
armouflt.sys
arpolicy.inf
arpolicy.sys
arpower.dll
arpwrmsg.exe
arsvc.exe
devcon.exe

2- Replace the Entries_XP_to_MCE05.ini with this one

3- Repack the MCE addon with either .rar, .cab, .zip or .7z

4- Done

[v3jqv6mhl9bn]

Ricktendo, I know this isn't important, but your update says last updated in January 21 "2008", not 2009 :oops:

[Hlafordlaes]

Updated: just a few minor edits to a couple INF files...also preparing for the English version of the Vista Media Center that I will release in the next couple of days (big thanks to AMIRZ, bober and fediafedia for their contributions)

BTW whoever wants to remove Away Mode here is how you can do it...

1- Unpack the MCE addon (extract to subdir) and delete the following files:

aracpi.inf
aracpi.sys
arhidflt.inf
arhidflt.sys
arkbcflt.inf
arkbcflt.sys
armcex.dll
armouflt.inf
armouflt.sys
arpolicy.inf
arpolicy.sys
arpower.dll
arpwrmsg.exe
arsvc.exe
devcon.exe

2- Replace the Entries_XP_to_MCE05.ini with this one

3- Repack the MCE addon with either .rar, .cab, .zip or .7z

4- Done

Thanks for that, Ricktendo. In my own attempts I had identified all of those, plus awaymode160.cat in the svcpack folder, but I thought if I left devcon it would be OK (isn't devcon just the cmd line equivalent of device mgr?). However, and the reason for my post, is a small issue: I do not see an autorun.inf in the unpacked addon nor a reference in the entries file. Isn't that a typo?

Can't speak to the MCE-specific integration results yet. My modded and repacked addon hasn't been working for me, but every indication is that there is a problem with some other stuff I am adding. Should know soon enough.

One issue for me has been to maintain a stellar .Net1.0 install (apparently important for MCE or TabletPC), get .Net1.1 installed at T-13 for this addon, and still add .Net2.0-3.5. Latest test shows that a hand-rolled .Net1.0SP3 plus the DotNetFx_All_In_1_Addon_v2.3.7z from RyanVM.net, installed in order at T-13, all show up fine in my VM tests. Using Aaron Stebner's .Net Verifier tool, one still gets missing file error flags for 3.0 and a couple of other SPs, since the XamlViewer files that 3.0 adds are uninstalled by later fixes or 3.5, don't remember which.

I extracted these files from 3.0:

XamlViewer_v0300.exe.manifest

XamlViewer_v0300.xbap

XamlViewer_v0300.exe

and stuck them in $OEM$\$$\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\WPF just to see if that was the only issue. Sure enough, with that "cheat" the Verifier reports 100% OK on all frameworks after a fresh install (I am keeping the files there; hope that doesn't bite me later).

[ricktendo]

Correct, thats my fault I extracted it to the root of a XP CD folder the autorun.inf is not part of the addon

Are you by any chance using Spanish XP and the Spanish version of this addon?

Because I have a .NET 4 in 1 with Spanish lang packs

Edit: tell me your process of what you do to your XPCD

[Hlafordlaes]

Correct, thats my fault I extracted it to the root of a XP CD folder the autorun.inf is not part of the addon

Are you by any chance using Spanish XP and the Spanish version of this addon?

Because I have a .NET 4 in 1 with Spanish lang packs

Edit: tell me your process of what you do to your XPCD

Even though I am in Spain, I use the English version software. (Como soy un expatriado, pu

[LeeFoWeapon]

Just curious if this will work with RyanVMs latest 1.0.3 hotfixes?

Great addon, think this is what I's using in Orbit30s pack, AWESOME!

[ricktendo]

Yes its best if used with the updatepack, it also requires at least wmp10 and a .net 1.1 sp1 svcpack install

[trippinferret]

Hi ricktendo64, I just downloaded and tried out you latest MCE2005 Addon but came back with a couple of errors, what I did was first slipstream RyanVM 1.0.3 updatepack then your MCE2005 pack and then booogy's media player 11 with all updates, all on a clean XP SP3 CD and it displayed "cannot find ICFGNT.DLL, Internet Explorer Configuration Utility" and also that media player 11 does not install but would on a clean XP disc with RyanVM pack, Internet Explorer 7 and media player 11.

I understand a lot of work has gone into this pack and thank you for it but could you please give me a solution.

Thanks

[ricktendo]

You are not the first to report having trouble with mce addon and wmp11 slipstreamer, btw did you use nLite to slipstream it?