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[Shay_mt]

Hi
I'm using MC 17.0.68 installed on windows server 2003 standard edition
When i reboot the computer and after the computer is up and running i found the sharing service did not start up
I can't use DNLA, Remotelibrary ...
The Media Center 17 Service is set to automatic and it is started, (i checked by connected to services from second computer.)
The MC start up option set to "Media Server allow library and sharing....."
Also i tried to set other options such as "Media Center 17"

So this is a Bug or do i have miss configuration

Thanks in advance

[glynor]

Just to check, you do have Tools -> Options -> Startup -> Windows Startup set to either Media Server or MC 17 and Media Server, right?

[Shay_mt]

Hi glynor

Thanks for the quick response

Yes I have this options on "Tools -> Options -> Startup -> Windows Startup" and i tried the "Media Server" options

[glynor]

That's weird.

One last thing to check... MC is not a system service.  It runs as a user-process after login.  You can't be sitting at the Login dialog and expect MC's server to be running (you can pull this off yourself with some trickery, but it isn't supported).  So... Just to make sure, you are actually logging in a user to the Windows Server console, right?  WinInternals has a nice AutoLogin tool for Windows if you need it.

What that Option in MC does is add this command line to the "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" key in the Registry:
"C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 17\Media Center 17.exe" /Boot

Do you see that value there in your registry?  If not, do you have any kind of security software that might be preventing MC from adding a startup task?  Or, perhaps it is something specific to Windows Server edition?

Worst-comes-to-worst, you should be able to start it up manually using the MCC command and the Windows Task Scheduler.  Just add a Task that runs on Login to the Task Scheduler using that same command line listed above.

[Shay_mt]

Hi glynor

Thanks again fo your response

For your first question: No, The system wait for user to log on, (when i saw the oprion: Tools -> Options -> Startup -> Windows Startup  i thought this is a system option that can allow me to start the MC service without log on)

For your second question: (WinInternals has a nice AutoLogin tool for Windows if you need it):
Thanks but for secutiry reason i can't allow that.

The registry key is set correctly but your idea with the Windows Task Scheduler gave me idea for workaround

I will try it and update you if i'll succeed

Thanks

[Nicholas T]

Hi,

I have been frustrated with this lacking feature for ages.  I thought it was something I was doing wrong until I just saw this post.  My server reboots at night sometimes to do updates.  It's no where near my TV/PVR  (upstairs/downstairs) which connects to MC server using DLNA.  So, family gets up in the morning, I'm not around, server rebooted overnight, media can't connect, dam annoying.  If I go away for a few week then it's a more than annoying.

Long and short of it is.  Can we just have MC Server run as a system service?

Cheers,
Nicholas

[Shay_mt]

Well, so far I have not much success, tried to run MC service using service account on the MC windows service, also tried to start media center by VB scrips on background at system startup using windows scheduler, nothing works...   media center started only when I log on to server.

Can we just have MC Server run as a system service?

You right, I think it would be better if MC run as system service

[Scolex]

You may find this helpful.
run any program or script as a service

[Toytronic]

You can also use the last free version of FireDaemon Lite (v1.6) that allow the launch of a single program as a Windows service easily without having to write a single command line or messing with your registry.

It's a pretty old version, no more supported, but it work nicely with MC and we still can find it online in few places :

http://www.russgrover.com/FireDaemon-Lite-1_6-GA.exe

If you need to launch more than one program as a service, i would suggest to use the more recent Pro version which cost only 49$ for a single licence and can be found on the FireDaemon website :

http://www.firedaemon.com/

In addition to it's simplicity, working with FireDaemon also gives you 4 advantages compare to command lines tools like SRVANY :

- An UI to manage your service easily
- CPU Binding
- Process priority settings
- A more sophisticated watchdog

Few tips for the configuration :
- Launch the created service under your Administrator Account and don't forget the password
- Also don't forget to put the /MediaServer argument in the devoted field
- You can launch MC with or without desktop interaction, it will work both ways

Regards,

[Nicholas T]

Aaagh, this sound quite useful.  I will try it out.  Thanks for the post.

But, considering MC has server features it really would be nice to have this natively built into the app.

Cheers,
Nicholas

[glynor]

Make sure to disable the Auto-Updater.  That will try to run anyway, and will probably muck stuff up if you are not logged in.

People ask for this occasionally, but though there are workarounds.  Plus, running it as a real service can be meddlesome, for most users, since you do need access to the "real" server copy of MC's UI (at least occasionally for the things the client copies can't do).  So, it would be a niche user thing, and I think it is just not real high on their priority list.

I mentioned once that I'd love to see an "Advanced" or "Server" edition of MC, which could be for more money, that would offer this and other server-type features (multiple user control, for one), but they basically weren't interested in doing something like that at this time.  There are other fish in the sea that they want to catch first.

Plus... I don't know.  Not logging into a terminal is the most trivial of security precautions.  I'm not even professing to be that skilled, but... If I have unmonitored, physical access to your machine?  It could probably be owned if I put my mind to it.  Someone with skills could certainly do it (without blinking).  So, why not log it in and set it to lock the screen immediately?  If you are ultra-paranoid, use a randomly generated password (stored in something like LastPass of course) and change it regularly.  Put it inside a VM and isolate it.  I don't know... It isn't like MC is the only useful application that has this issue, so...