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[6233638]

Due to the changes in 20.0.96, the WDM driver was uninstalled, and then had to be reinstalled.
This resulted in all of my audio device ID's (I assume—I don't know the specifics of how this works) being shuffled around so that the JRiver WDM driver is no longer #2 on the list of devices, but now #5.
 
Applications I use which target a specific audio device, other than Media Center itself (which actually seems to handle it well), had to be reconfigured.
 
When MC updates and re-installs the WDM driver, this clears the settings for that device, such as the name (I use "JRiver Virtual Audio Device") custom icon, full-range setting, channel assignments (2.0/4.0/5.1/7.1) and output format. (defaults to 16/44)
 
Please stop installing the driver when unnecessary, or update it rather than replace the existing driver.
 
I find the WDM driver to be extremely useful when streaming videos, as it lets me apply processing to the audio to make it more intelligible (filtering out noise with a high-pass filter, mixing down to mono, applying dynamic range compression etc.) but it is very frustrating to use when it "misbehaves" so frequently.

[CountryBumkin]

I can see the logic in removing it as it has been a source of confusion and frustration for those that don't understand/need it. I don't use the WDM driver so removing it from (or preventing it from installing on) my system makes sense for me.

[mwillems]

I can see the logic in removing it as it has been a source of confusion and frustration for those that don't understand/need it. I don't use the WDM driver so removing it from (or preventing it from installing on) my system makes sense for me.

I don't think anyone has any concerns about uninstalling the driver when the feature is disabled; I think the problem (from my perspective) is the behavior when the driver is enabled.  Reinstalling every build constantly shifts the windows default audio device, eliminates customization, etc.  I've had to disable auto-update on several machines because the family doesn't know what a "windows default audio driver" even is, and the current system requires changing system settings after every install to avoid breakage.

I fully support removing it when folks uncheck the feature; when it is enabled though, I would also appreciate fewer reinstalls of the driver (either only reinstalling it when it changes, or creating a configuration option to prevent reinstalling it on upgrade).  

It's otherwise a really great feature, and I appreciate that we have it.  It's just a little thing that makes the feature significantly less "plug and play" than it could be because it needs to be reconfigured after every update.  

[Vocalpoint]

I can see the logic in removing it as it has been a source of confusion and frustration for those that don't understand/need it. I don't use the WDM driver so removing it from (or preventing it from installing on) my system makes sense for me.

Same here. It totally rooted itself within the Windows registry on my studio machines when we had builds that were relentless on it being "there". Now even after relentlessly ensuring it never showed itself again - I am glad this option is available and I can get clear it off once and for all.

VP

[6233638]

As mentioned in the 20.0.99 build topic, that update uninstalled the WDM driver again, even though the feature was definitely still enabled.
 
I had to disable it, confirm a UAC prompt, restart MC, re-enable it, confirm a UAC prompt again, and finally restart MC once more for the WDM device to show up.
 
It's appeared as device #4 this time, rather than #5, which means I'm having to reconfigure a lot of programs again.
And another playback device was set as the default.

[6233638]

Updating from 99 to 100 uninstalled the WDM driver again.

[The Big Labinski]

I have the same Problem
Stefan

[6233638]

Still not fixed in 103

[JimH]

What OS?

[6233638]

What OS?

Windows 8.1

[Matt]

Hi there.

The code for the driver install is pretty straight forward.

Code: [Select]

bool bInstallWDM = !g_InstallData.GetNoDriver() && !g_InstallData.GetPortableInstall() && GetProductInfo()->GetFeatureEnabled(MCF_WDM_DRIVER) && (JROs::GetType() >= JROs::VISTA);
So either you're running an older than Vista OS, or doing a portable install, or are running the installer with /NoDriver, or have the feature disabled.

[Vocalpoint]

All,

I just updated my studio machine (Windows 7 Pro) to 103 over the weekend and the installer always says Uninstalling WDM Audio Driver - even if it was already uninstalled. Did the same thing for build 100 and several prior to that. Not to mention - this driver was also gone from this box a long long time ago - way prior to any automated code via the installer.

Is this by design? I thought once gone = never to be referenced again. Or am I missing something here?

VP

[Hendrik]

It'll always say that when its disabled, but its nothing to worry about. It just checks if its installed, and removes it if needed. If its not installed, then it only did the check when the progress message comes up.

[mwillems]

All,

I just updated my studio machine (Windows 7 Pro) to 103 over the weekend and the installer always says Uninstalling WDM Audio Driver - even if it was already uninstalled. Did the same thing for build 100 and several prior to that. Not to mention - this driver was also gone from this box a long long time ago - way prior to any automated code via the installer.

Is this by design? I thought once gone = never to be referenced again. Or am I missing something here?

VP

I have a few boxes with the Driver uninstalled (i.e. my server), and I've seen that same "uninstalling" message over the last several upgrades.  I assume it just displays that when it's verifying that the driver isn't installed.  I can see no evidence that the driver is present on those machines before, after, or during the install, so I'm not sure what else it could mean?

EDIT: Hendrik beat me to it 

[Vocalpoint]

It'll always say that when its disabled, but its nothing to worry about. It just checks if its installed, and removes it if needed. If its not installed, then it only did the check when the progress message comes up.

Would be better if it said nothing - if it's already gone.

VP

[Hendrik]

Would be better if it said nothing - if it's already gone.

That won't change, sorry. The driver handling is done by an external binary (PackageInstaller), the installer itself doesn't have the information required.
The installer just shows this when it calls the PackageInstaller and waits for it to do its thing.

[Vocalpoint]

That won't change, sorry. The driver handling is done by an external binary (PackageInstaller), the installer itself doesn't have the information required.

Fair enough. Still very interested to know what is happening with 6233638 and his installs.

VP

[Hendrik]

He probably broke his setup somehow by fiddling around with too many things. We verified on several systems that the logic works just fine.
If you enable the feature in MC, then the driver is (re-)installed during Install, and if you disable it, then install will remove it.

[mojave]

I wonder if you need to turn off the WDM driver in Features, save the change, and then turn it back on. I had it off, but had to turn it back on for build .96. I haven't had any problems since then on Windows 7 or 8.1 with JRiver uninstalling the driver.

[JimH]

It'll always say that when its disabled, but its nothing to worry about. It just checks if its installed, and removes it if needed. If its not installed, then it only did the check when the progress message comes up.

If it isn't installed, could we provide a different message than "uninstalling"?  It's a little confusing.

[JimH]

That won't change, sorry. The driver handling is done by an external binary (PackageInstaller), the installer itself doesn't have the information required.
The installer just shows this when it calls the PackageInstaller and waits for it to do its thing.

How about saying nothing in all cases for the WDM driver?  Or passing back the status afterward so a message could be displayed?

[Vocalpoint]

If it isn't installed, could we provide a different message than "uninstalling"?  It's a little confusing.

Agreed. Everytime I see it - I think - "Wait a sec - didn't I remove that a while ago?"

VP

[Hendrik]

If it isn't installed, could we provide a different message than "uninstalling"?  It's a little confusing.

How about saying nothing in all cases for the WDM driver?  Or passing back the status afterward so a message could be displayed?

It shows the message before it starts doing stuff, since its a progress message, it wants to indicate what its doing right now, knowing after-the-fact what just happened is not useful in this scenario - since its also the last step, the whole window vanishes right after.
We could just not show any message for the uninstall case, and only show a message when we are installing it.

[JimH]

We could just not show any message for the uninstall case, and only show a message when we are installing it.

That seems like an improvement.

[mwillems]

I wonder if you need to turn off the WDM driver in Features, save the change, and then turn it back on. I had it off, but had to turn it back on for build .96. I haven't had any problems since then on Windows 7 or 8.1 with JRiver uninstalling the driver.

Exact same here. I had to reenable it once, and that was it.

[RoderickGI]

We could just not show any message for the uninstall case, and only show a message when we are installing it.

That seems like an improvement.

Or perhaps if the message was something like "Checking WDM driver status."

[6233638]

So either you're running an older than Vista OS, or doing a portable install, or are running the installer with /NoDriver, or have the feature disabled.

None of the above.

I wonder if you need to turn off the WDM driver in Features, save the change, and then turn it back on. I had it off, but had to turn it back on for build .96. I haven't had any problems since then on Windows 7 or 8.1 with JRiver uninstalling the driver.

When I first updated to 20.0.96 it disabled the feature. I then enabled it to install the driver.
For every update since 20.0.96 the feature remains enabled in the options, but the driver is removed.

So I have to disable the feature, confirm a UAC prompt, restart MC, enable the feature again, confirm a UAC prompt, and finally restart it once more for the WDM driver to be installed and work.

[mwillems]

None of the above.
When I first updated to 20.0.96 it disabled the feature. I then enabled it to install the driver.
For every update since 20.0.96 the feature remains enabled in the options, but the driver is removed.

So I have to disable the feature, confirm a UAC prompt, restart MC, enable the feature again, confirm a UAC prompt, and finally restart it once more for the WDM driver to be installed and work.

You mention above that you typically rename the WDM driver and change the icon, etc.?  Just a hunch, but do you see the same uninstall behavior if you don't perform any customizations at all (with a plain vanilla driver)? 

[6233638]

I haven't done that for a while now, the only thing I've done is set it to use full range 24-bit audio.
 
When there are MC updates 1-3 times a week, and updating replaces the driver entirely even when it is unnecessary to do so, it has become an exercise in futility. I've given up on things like multichannel support or actually playing nicely with other applications.
 
But that's separate from this issue where it's not being updated, it's just being removed - even though the feature is enabled.

[JimH]

When there are MC updates 1-3 times a week, and updating replaces the driver entirely even when it is unnecessary to do so, it has become an exercise in futility. I've given up on things like multichannel support or actually playing nicely with other applications.

Maybe you would be more pleased with the Stable branch.

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Updates

[6233638]

Maybe you would be more pleased with the Stable branch.

That doesn't prevent updates from wiping out the driver and its settings unnecessarily, it just reduces its frequency from 1-3 times a week to 1-3 times a month.
 
Unless I have missed something in the change logs, there haven't been any changes made to the driver in months, yet MC still insists on "upgrading" it every time.
Rather than reporting the true version, such as "1.08" or whatever it would be, it just seems to get updated every time so that the version number matches MC (e.g. "20.0.xxx") which is not helpful at all.
 
But as I said, that is a separate issue which has been there since the driver was introduced.
The issue here is that, since build 96, every time I update MC it simply removes the driver.
I have to manually disable the WDM driver feature in MC (even though the driver is not installed) and then re-enable it every time I update now.

[6233638]

Uninstalled the driver again when updating to 106.

[Hendrik]

We already answered that above. The condition is extremely simple, so my guess is that you mucked something up when messing with things you shouldn't have.

[6233638]

We already answered that above. The condition is extremely simple, so my guess is that you mucked something up when messing with things you shouldn't have.

Downgrading to any build prior to 96 still installs the driver correctly.
It has only been since the changes introduced in build 96 that this has been happening.
 
Since the installation of the driver has been working (though not in the way that I'd like) for as long as I can remember, and there were changes specifically related to the installation of the driver introduced in build 96, it seems like that could possibly be related.
Is there some way of enabling logging during the update process to try and see what is going wrong? Pointing fingers doesn't seem to be helping.

[6233638]

WDM driver seems to be missing from the 106 installer. Unpacked it and don't see it under "Media Jukebox\Drivers":
Could it be the reason why it will not show up in Control Panel even after disabling and enabling multiple times from Tools/Options/General/Features and restarting/reinstalling JRiver?

There indeed was a problem in recent builds that resulted in the driver not being packaged properly.
It'll be fixed in the next build (20.0.108 or newer). Thanks for sharing the details you found!

Well now I'm left wondering why it did apparently seem to be working for everyone else, since it was not being included with the installer.
 
And this is all the more reason to not be installing a "new version" of the driver every time MC updates, but rather show the real driver version (e.g. 1.07) and leave it alone unless there are actual changes being made.

[mwillems]

There indeed was a problem in recent builds that resulted in the driver not being packaged properly.
It'll be fixed in the next build (20.0.108 or newer). Thanks for sharing the details you found!
 
Well now I'm left wondering why it did apparently seem to be working for everyone else, since it was not being included with the installer.
 
And this is all the more reason to not be installing a "new version" of the driver every time MC updates, but rather show the real driver version (e.g. 1.07) and leave it alone unless there are actual changes being made.

I think what happened is that there was a build or two in between the build when the "uninstall if unchecked" option was introduced and the build when the driver stopped being included in the install package.  So if you re-enabled in that period of time the driver was correctly installed, and then future installs left it alone (because there was no new driver to install).

I noticed for two builds in a row that the install didn't un-default my WDM driver, and I thought maybe there had been a breakthrough, but it seems that the driver just fell out of the installation package somewhere in between .96 and .106

[6233638]

Well I guess that wasn't it, because the driver was still removed from my system after updating to 20.0.108
 
Is there no way to enable some form of logging to figure out what is going wrong with the installation process?

[JimH]

Did you check the setting for it under Options > General > Features?

[6233638]

Did you check the setting for it under Options > General > Features?

Yes, it was already enabled.
When I first updated to 96, this update disabled the feature and the driver was removed. (expected behavior)
I then enabled the feature, restarted MC and all was good.

When I have updated to every version since 96 the feature remains enabled, but the driver is still being removed.
For every version since 96 I have had to:

• Launch MC
• Disable the WDM Driver (even though it is not installed)
• Enter my password into a UAC prompt
• Restart MC
• Enable the WDM Driver
• Enter my password into a UAC prompt
• Restart MC

[glynor]

I tested this build after manually deleting the driver and it worked fine. Didn't have to do anything but check the box (not even restart MC) and it installed the driver.

[6233638]

To be clear, I have not intentionally removed the driver, I have to disable the WDM feature after updating (even though the driver was not installed) so that I can re-enable the feature, and re-enabling it causes MC to install the driver.
I don't know why disabling and then re-enabling the feature in MC after updating will install the driver correctly, but the update process itself does not.
This has only been an issue since build 96.
 
If I run the installer again and install build 108 on top of itself, the driver disappears again.
If I install a build prior to 96 (I used 78, since it's the oldest one MC has cached) right after the 108 installer removed the driver, this old build does install the driver along with MC, without requiring me to disable and then re-enable the feature.
 
So it's not that this broke a long time ago and an old version of the driver was persisting on my system just because MC previously did not remove old versions as part of the update process.
It's something specific to these new builds which is broken.

[glynor]

What do you have enabled where you have to enter your password for UAC?  Because it is typically a yes/no. Running as a limited user or something?  I wonder if that's the rub?

[glynor]

I just did it on my home server.  These were the exact steps:

0. The WDM Driver was not enabled in Tools > Options > General > Features.
1. I installed the new build.
2. When MC launched, I opened Tools > Options > General > Features and enabled WDM Driver.
3. UAC Prompted, and I said Yes.
4. The driver installed and is available in my Sound Playback Devices panel.

Didn't have to close or restart MC or anything.  Just those steps.

[glynor]

Running as a limited user or something?  I wonder if that's the rub?

Thinking about it more, I'm almost certain that's it.

If you're a limiter user, to get past UAC you have to run as a different user.  This means when it installs the driver, it can't write to your HKCU Registry hive. It writes the setting change to the admin user's HKCU Hive, not yours. So the next time you install, it removes the Driver because the setting itself never gets checked.

[Hendrik]

That makes sense, the Installer probably reads another users (ie. the admins) registry settings. I don't really see a way around that.

[6233638]

What do you have enabled where you have to enter your password for UAC?  Because it is typically a yes/no. Running as a limited user or something?  I wonder if that's the rub?

Yes, I am running a standard user account and grant the installer elevated access when prompted.
 

That makes sense, the Installer probably reads another users (ie. the admins) registry settings. I don't really see a way around that.

Any idea why activating the feature and granting MC elevated permissions seems to install the driver correctly?

[Hendrik]

When MC installs the driver, it manages the settings in the normal un-elevated process, and then only spawns an elevated process to install it (which just does what its told, and doesn't read settings at all).
The Installer on the other hand runs elevated itself, so the entire process, both the installer and the helper which installs the driver, run as the other user.

You could probably fix it by running MC itself as Admin, and then changing the setting there.

[RoderickGI]

I thought I would give the WDM Driver a go again with MC20.0.108, and test the installation process.

I run my HTPC with a limited user account on Windows 7 Ultimate SP1, and anytime an installation needs elevated rights, UAC asks for the password for my Admin account. So the installation went like this.

1. Installed MC20.0.108
2. Activated the WDM Driver in Options -> General -> Features -> WDM Driver
3. The UAC prompt popped up and asked for my Admin password, twice in a row. (That seems to be something new. Perhaps once for an update to MC, and once to install the driver.)
4. A small dialogue window popped up and asked if I wanted to install the driver. I clicked the Okay/Install button.
5. A small MC message window popped up to inform me that I needed to restart the program to activate Feature changes. OK to close the message.
6. I closed and restarted MC, but not the Media Network services.

Then I set the WDM Driver as my default audio device. I didn't set up Zones. I am using WASAPI Exclusive mode as output from MC.

Movie Trailers in YouTube played through MC successfully, as shown using the Audio Path, and the room correction I have set up in MC made them sound much better.

So I was able to install and use the WDM Driver successfully. At least in this instance. It is yet to be seen if the same thing happens when I upgrade MC to the next version. It seems there is still some unexplained difference between the process on different PCs.

If you're a limiter user, to get past UAC you have to run as a different user.  This means when it installs the driver, it can't write to your HKCU Registry hive. It writes the setting change to the admin user's HKCU Hive, not yours. So the next time you install, it removes the Driver because the setting itself never gets checked.

I don't believe that is correct. As far as I'm aware, when an installation program being run by a limited account requires and asks for elevated privileges, it still saves all settings in the limited user account's settings. I had to check that out for something else I was working on some time ago, and found a Microsoft article that explained this. I think that is what you were saying Hendrik, but missed a word;
"When the Installer on the other hand runs elevated itself, so the entire process, both the installer and the helper which installs the driver, run as the other [elevated] user."

If that caused the problem I would uninstall as the elevated user and reinstall as the limited user to fix the issue.

[6233638]

So I was able to install and use the WDM Driver successfully. At least in this instance. It is yet to be seen if the same thing happens when I upgrade MC to the next version.

I can install the WDM driver by activating the feature inside MC.
Where it is not being installed, is when updating MC to a new version. The installer removes the "old" driver and then fails to install the "new" one.

I don't believe that is correct. As far as I'm aware, when an installation program being run by a limited account requires and asks for elevated privileges, it still saves all settings in the limited user account's settings. I had to check that out for something else I was working on some time ago, and found a Microsoft article that explained this.

It sounds as though it is trying to read the state of the WDM Feature from the admin account (which they automatically disabled in build 96) instead of the limited account.
Surely there must be a better solution than "run MC on your admin account and activate it".

[RoderickGI]

I can install the WDM driver by activating the feature inside MC.
Where it is not being installed, is when updating MC to a new version. The installer removes the "old" driver and then fails to install the "new" one.

Okay, I have the same issue. I installed MC20.0.109 yesterday, and just checked the WDM Driver. The Feature is still ticked as on, but the driver is missing from my audio devices list, and my hardware sound card is selected as default again. As I said above, I am using a limited account, so this could be the cause.

It sounds as though it is trying to read the state of the WDM Feature from the admin account (which they automatically disabled in build 96) instead of the limited account.
Surely there must be a better solution than "run MC on your admin account and activate it".

A normal installer, when launched by a limited account, should never read the settings from an Admin account. As Hendrik said, only the Helper should be elevated to higher privileges to install the driver. So hopefully that is not the cause, but something is going wrong.

I won't try to fix this manually myself just yet. I'll wait for ideas from the team.