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[TristanG]

In my configuration (MC as Server - Renderer - Controler), the latest version 33.0.30 works fine on my server and my controller (Surface Book 3 as Tablet), but not on the renderer (PC with Win 7); from my tablet, I can load the server-library, but not the library from the renderer (MC has a connection and tries to do it - starts the blue progress bar - but then stops loading). So I had to switch back to MC 32 on the Renderer-PC.

[JimH]

... I can load the server-library, but not the library from the renderer ...

Configure Windows Defender on both.  Don't use another antivirus.

Firewall must also allow access.

[TristanG]

The firewall is not the problem, since I can load the Server-Library (Win 11 Pro) directly with my Tablet-PC (Surface Book 3, Win 11 Pro), also with MC32 on the Renderer-PC (Win 7), I can load the Renderer-Library - only with MC33 on the Renderer-PC, it doesn't work.

[craigmcg]

Windows 7 has no support from Microsoft whatsoever so as Awesome Donkey advised, it really should not be used. No recent version of Firefox, Chrome, or Edge will run on Windows 7 so I would expect issues with media center which has to use "browser based" functionality for some of it's functionalities. If you really must continue to use Win 7 on your pc for some reason, I'd stick with MC32 if it does still work and only expect to be able to upgrade to MC33 after upgrading to Win 11 (Win 10 loses support on Oct 14, 2025). I understand that it is really annoying to have to replace working hardware based on Microsoft OS requirements but if switching to Linux is not an option, I think that it's the lesser of evils.

[TristanG]

Thanks for advice. The point why I still use the Win 7-PC as Renderer is, that it is the PC connected with my HiFi and there is simply no Music Server PC on the market with my demands. I'm really a HiF-neard since many years and own one of the best HiFi at least here in Germany - it's simply perfect (and has several exceptional features), unfortunately with one exception: The source-PC (music server). I've read the HiFi-magazins since many, many years, but there is really no device available with my demands. Since I don't own a company and also don't know people from the HiFi industry personally, I still have to wait and to hope that one day there will be a device available with the OS and the hardware a need. So the Win 7-PC (in a black piano finish) has still to do it's job.

Jim, you're warmheartly invited to visit me, so I can show you some of the good things of my HiFi - and the point I mean concerning the source-PC!

Concerning the firewall: The configuartion is the same with MC33 as with MC32 on both PCs (Renderer and Controller). With MC32 on the Renderer, all works fine! By the way: there I have the blue progress bar while hearing/watching a music-file an skipping with the arrow-keys with a keyboard, while this doesn't work on the newer Tablet-Controller-PC with Win 11. Also with the tabs on the main view in MC as a Controller: On the Renderer (which loads the library from the Server), I have the latest Tabs (all albums, new albums etc.) after starting the program, under Win11 I always have to select them after starting - it's a littlebit annoying.

Also as I wrote in an ealier post concerning the albums in the main window: The Surface Book 3 is a Tablet PC with a pen - unfortunately, I can't scroll through the albums with the pen like in Edge or the File Explorer (see my post concerning Pen Scrolling). Furthermore, it would be nice to consider my suggestions concerning meta data tagging in mkv's like flacs and so on (see my posts). That's the reason why I still by MC each year - unfortunately these suggestions were not implemented until today (hopefully in the future since I really appreciate the software!).

[craigmcg]

Out of curiosity - what is this perfect source pc that you must keep using due to your hardware/audio requirements? I'd like to Google the specs.

Thanks.

[TristanG]

Hello alltogether,
there is still the problem, that there is no access from my Controller-PC to my Renderer-PC (latest version 33.0.70 on all PCs). Windows Defender / Firewall are not the point (same configuration since many years), since I actually have (!) access from the file explorer\network\Renderer-PC (library).
Advice would be welcome!

[TristanG]

In my opinion, it's not necessary to exagerrate the security like Microsoft does it with Win11; e.g. I'm wondering why noone found fault with the lacking menu bar (arrows up and down) in full screen mode (ctrl+3) so far!

Also, unlike with Win7, MC loses the tabs on top of the main window after restart - but that are new topics, I assume.

But the point is: Could it be that there are some adjustments required in MC to perform correctly (like it is probably concerning this topic)?

[JimH]

Hello alltogether,
there is still the problem, that there is no access from my Controller-PC to my Renderer-PC (latest version 33.0.70 on all PCs). Windows Defender / Firewall are not the point (same configuration since many years), since I actually have (!) access from the file explorer\network\Renderer-PC (library).

You probably just need to configure Windows Defender again.  It can block MC even if you configured it for a prior version.

Do not run any other antivirus.

As said above Win7 is completely unsupported.

[Awesome Donkey]

Check both the Defender antivirus (and add exclusions) and check the Defender firewall and make sure there's rules for both inbound and outbound for Media Center 33. The latter part is the most important here, if not configured correctly the Defender firewall can block Media Center 33 and issues like this can arise.

Also don't use Windows 7, seriously, even if it's not connected to the outside internet. It's not supported by a lot of software vendors (including JRiver, check the Windows system requirements page and it states Windows 8 and above though honestly Windows 8 support should be dropped too now since it's also fully unsupported, IMO) and it's a major security risk regardless, I'd recommend upgrading to Windows 10 (though support for it ends in 8 months so you'd be back in the same position) or installing a Linux distro like Ubuntu or Linux Mint on the system and using that.

[TristanG]

Thanks for answer. As I wrote before, wether Windows Defender nor the firewall are the point of issue: I have (!) access to the Win7 Renderer-PC with
a) Controller-PC (Win11): file explorer & browser
b) JRemote & Gizmo
c) MC32 on the Renderer PC.

The advantage of Win7 is - as I wrote above - that the tabs/register cards on top of the main view (e.g. one for "All Albums", one for "New Albums", one for "Artists" ...) are automatically loaded after powering on / restart - unlike as with Win10 and Win11 (that's a littlebit annoying, so I'm wondering why it seems that I'm the first one reporting this?!).

What about this thread: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,135181.0.html

[TristanG]

As I wrote before: Windows Defender and Firewall are not causing the stop - both allow access (same settings as in the past with earlier versions of MC). So what can I do?

[JimH]

Did you configure Windows Defender for MC33 if that's what you're using? 

If you're using Win7, we can't help you.

[TristanG]

Hi Jim, in the past (Win11 was new), your guys told me, I should use Win7, it's good enough. Now it's not supported any more?!
Anyway, I only would like to know the difference from MC 32 to MC 33 since in the past all updates worked well. So there must be made some changes "under the hood" of MC33. In this case, a hint in advance would be necessary to the customers; they have to decide, if they want to pay for the update or not.

[Awesome Donkey]

You have to understand as time passes, support for older (and unsupported) operating systems has to be dropped in newer versions of the software. When that was said when Windows 11 was released in 2021, it was just a year after extended support ended for Windows 7 and it was for an older version of Media Center (maybe MC28/29/30?) that was current at that point in time. Lots of software has fully dropped support for Windows 7 including popular apps like web browsers, games, etc. This happened with Windows XP and to Windows Vista. It's happening with Windows 8 now and it'll happen with Windows 10 too, since Microsoft ends support for it in October, but it likely won't be an immediate dropping of software support from software vendors. There's usually a few years of leeway before software vendors (like JRiver, Google, etc.) fully drop support for it. I can't recall when JRiver changed the system requirements officially dropping Windows 7 support, maybe for MC30 or MC31 or maybe MC32? Regardless it was a few years after all support for Windows 7 ended from Microsoft.

It's not feasible to keep supporting older operating systems after a certain amount of time. While I think JRiver has done well supporting Windows 7 and Windows 8 longer than most other software vendors have after Microsoft ended all support, they can't simply keep supporting it forever. Supporting it longer adds development time (which time is money) and requires having, using and maintaining older hardware for testing and development of those older operating systems as the user base dwindles (and yes, I'm aware it could be done in virtual machines without needing dedicated older hardware, but that's a different rabbit hole). And of course there's technical reasons for dropping support as well, for example features only available in newer operating systems are not available in older ones like Windows 7 and of course drivers for devices like GPUs dropping support for older operating systems as well.

IMHO, Jim/JRiver, I think it's close to being time to drop Windows 8 as well on the system requirements page too. Microsoft ended extended support for it in 2023 and its user base is much, much smaller than what Windows 7 was (and I guess still is for the holdouts). I don't think it'd cause too many issues dropping it too, but then again I suppose I could be wrong in my thinking. Also then again, you guys did support Windows 7 a few years longer after Microsoft dropped support so maybe Windows 8 has a year or too left for you guys?

I actually would be interested in doing a poll or something about if users are still using Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 and see if they plan on running it to the very end, switching OSes (Windows 10, Linux distro, etc.), replacing with new hardware (Windows 11 PC, Mac, etc.) or something else altogether.

[TristanG]

Hi Donkey, I'm pretty sure that actually it was you who suggusted to use Win7 further.
Once again: Anyway, since from legal side it's your turn to inform your customers if you're making changes from one version to another and a relevant feature like this would't work.
Aside this, I don't understand, why you don't answer my question: Is there made a change in MC33 who causes the stop of loading the library?
As I wrote before, I really appreciate the software - my only goal is to have a running installation with the new MC33 for which I payed for.
So why not read my posts (also concerning the tagging issue concerning MKV's) as I had them in mind: constructively, e.g. as a bug-post to solve this technical problem?

[Awesome Donkey]

Aside this, I don't understand, why you don't answer my question: Is there made a change in MC33 who causes the stop of loading the library?

I would imagine the answer is that any reported issue for the current version of Media Center (so MC33) would have to be reproducible on a PC running Windows 10 or Windows 11 and not Windows 7 because MC33 doesn't support Windows 7. It's really hard to say what issues may arise from trying to run MC32 or MC33 on Windows 7, including this potentially and I've not seen any other users report an issue like this (assuming they're running Windows 10 or 11 of course). And that means you're on your own if you have issues and you continue to use Windows 7 because, again, it's unsupported for MC32 and MC33.

Hi Donkey, I'm pretty sure that actually it was you who suggusted to use Win7 further.

I don't think it was me (I don't think I'd say anything like that because I've always been security first) and it doesn't really sound like me. I've been saying since the day (and probably before the day) Microsoft dropped Windows 7 support to stop using Windows 7 and to either upgrade to a newer Windows if possible/supported for the hardware or to switch to Linux due to security reasons.

My stance is nobody should be using Windows 7 at this point for any reason, same with Windows XP and Windows Vista. Windows 8/8.1 either, honestly. They're all dead operating systems that get no security updates whatsoever.