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More => Old Versions => Media Center 16 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: i2k on August 30, 2011, 09:28:32 pm

Title: MC 16 auto start
Post by: i2k on August 30, 2011, 09:28:32 pm

Hi,
I'm auditioning MC16 to be used as uPNP/DLNA server/library & renderer. It works perfectly on the first try. What remains is that I want to have the MC server to run automatically when Windows start. My machine is a Win 7 Home PC used only for dedicated music server and I control the library & renderer using Android uPNP app.

I know that there is startup option but in my case the server will only start after a user is logon to the machine. Having to logon is a big problem for me as the machine doesn't have a keyboard & screen. Of course I can configure the machine to have automatic logon to run MC server but it is not a secure way.

Before I used Foobar and I managed to run it as service that will start when Windows start regardless there's user logon or not. I tried to do the same on MC but it failed (wrap "mc16 /mediaserver" command as service using svcman utility). I can see that the process is active but it cannot be accessed (doens't appear on my uPNP client browser - tested with Linn's Kinky Desktop & Android's BubbleuPNP).

So could somebody points a workaround or I miss some configuration ?

Title: Re: MC 16 auto start
Post by: JimH on August 31, 2011, 07:10:24 am

Welcome to the forum.  You can tell MC to run Media Server on Windows startup.  It's in Tools/Options/Startup.

There are utilities that can run any program as a service.

Title: Re: MC 16 auto start
Post by: i2k on September 01, 2011, 02:39:15 am

Quote from: JimH on August 31, 2011, 07:10:24 am

Welcome to the forum.  You can tell MC to run Media Server on Windows startup.  It's in Tools/Options/Startup.

There are utilities that can run any program as a service.

Thanks Jim,
I've applied that option but MC can only receive uPNP query after a user is logged on.
I also tried to launch MC server ("mc16.exe /mediaserver") as service with the same result. I uses srvman utility to launch the program as service, it works perfectly with foobar.
I don't know is there's something to do with Win 7 Home Basic edition which has lot of limitation compared to other Win 7 edition. Or is there any possibility that I call the wrong MC executable as the service ?

Title: Re: MC 16 auto start
Post by: JimH on September 01, 2011, 06:49:50 am

I believe Windows can auto-login.

Title: Re: MC 16 auto start
Post by: MrHaugen on September 02, 2011, 03:00:14 am

It should be quite possible, yes. It's built into latest Windows versions. Not totally sure about the very limited basic versions though. Might need to do a registry edit or two?
Try this first: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/make-windows-vista-log-on-automatically/ (http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/make-windows-vista-log-on-automatically/)

By the way. Which executable IS used? It's not the one in Program Files\J River Media Center 16\ right? At least it was not the case a version or two ago I think.

Title: Re: MC 16 auto start
Post by: mlagase on September 02, 2011, 06:12:51 am

Try AutoLogon from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963905

Title: Re: MC 16 auto start
Post by: i2k on September 03, 2011, 11:20:26 am

Thanks guys, but autologon is the solution I use for the moment even before I started this tread.
I run some datacenters with hundred servers for living, so I was trained to keep computer security in mind and autologon = huge security hole. That's why I keep on searching more secure solution. I don't want to wake up one day only to find that somebody easily tap into my music server and removed my entire music collection.

Anyway I'll try to install MC16 to another computer and see if MC can accept uPNP query on Windows startup (not on Windows log-on). I'll let you know the result.