INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 20 for Windows => Topic started by: 6233638 on April 21, 2015, 11:29:55 am
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Updating from 99 to 100 uninstalled the WDM driver again.
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I have the same Problem
Stefan
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Still not fixed in 103
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What OS?
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What OS?
Windows 8.1
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Hi there.
The code for the driver install is pretty straight forward.
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.
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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
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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.
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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 :)
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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)?
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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.
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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
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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.
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Uninstalled the driver again when updating to 106.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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?
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Did you check the setting for it under Options > General > Features?
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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
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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That makes sense, the Installer probably reads another users (ie. the admins) registry settings. I don't really see a way around that.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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".
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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.
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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".
That is absolutely, exactly what it is doing, and it is because of the fundamental nature of user accounts on Windows. Please, just try what Hendrik said:
You could probably fix it by running MC itself as Admin, and then changing the setting there.
He was not saying "you have to use MC as an administrative user". He was saying: Run MC once as the administrative user which you must already have and which you use to install the updates each time. Run MC once, not the installer but MC itself, as that user, and go into Tools > Options > Settings > Features and turn the thing on there.
I already explained this up above and Hendrik confirmed, I thought, but I'll try again. The settings MC uses which are accessible in Tools > Options are stored in the HKCU registry hive. The setting itself is here:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JRiver\Media Center 20\Features\DriverWDM
The administrative user you use to install MC cannot access the limited user's HKCU registry hive. It can only see its own. You turn it on on your limited user account and this key happily changes to a 1. For that user.
The default setting for MC is to have the WDM Driver disabled, so the administrative user's DriverWDM key is set to 0. The second you validate against that UAC Run As prompt to run the installer (not the one-off install that happens when you activate the setting, the installer you run next time you run an update) only "sees" its own settings. These settings say the WDM Driver feature is disabled. So, as far as the installer is concerned, it is turned off, regardless of what the HKCU registry key for your limited user's account says, because it can't see that setting.
So, fixing this is drop-dead simple. Open MC one time and make the setting not be disabled anymore. Close MC. There done.
There's really no other choice for software on Windows. The only other part of the registry both the Administrative and the Limited user can see, that would make sense to use, would be HKLM. But, I'll quote (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa965884%28v=vs.85%29.aspx):
Write Registry Virtualization
If the caller does not have write access to a key and attempts to write a value to it or create a subkey, the value is written to the virtual store.
For example, if a limited user attempts to write a value to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\AppKey1, virtualization redirects the write operation to HKEY_USERS\<User SID>_Classes\VirtualStore\Machine\Software\AppKey1.
So, the limited user cannot write a setting to the registry which your administrative user can see. It also, for the record, can't write to the Program Files directory either, so they can't even just abandon the whole registry setting system they've been using for decades for this one feature and write out an INI file in their install directory. Is there some crazy way they could rebuild the whole settings system for this one feature and make it work? Maybe, but suck it up and run it once as the admin user and check the stupid box.
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Yes, I understand that this should be a "simple fix" on my end by running MC as an admin and changing the value.
But surely I can't be the only person trying to run MC on a standard user account instead of using an admin account as a "user" account.
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No, but if they want to use the WDM Driver then they'll come here and we'll point them to this thread.
I don't see the problem. Is there something I'm missing?
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Yes, I understand that this should be a "simple fix" on my end by running MC as an admin and changing the value.
But surely I can't be the only person trying to run MC on a standard users account instead of using an admin account as a "user" account.
No, you are not. I don't think the "simple fix" would be appropriate for many ordinary users either. Most would just switch to using an Admin account all the time, which is a no-no for security reasons, or stop using the WDM Driver.
I might just try the fix and see if it works during the next upgrade.
No, but if they want to use the WDM Driver then they'll come here and we'll point them to this thread.
I don't see the problem. Is there something I'm missing?
Yes, the ordinary user experience. While a huge range of people come to the forums for answers, I've seen lots of power users come to the forum for the first time ever, to ask what are pretty basic questions. Not everybody jumps onto the forums as soon as something goes wrong, even if some important functionality appears broken. They just work around it, or stop trying to use it.
As to what the solution is, I'm wondering how those applications that ask the question;
"Do you want to install this application for all users, or just the current user?"
install their applications for all users.
I assume that they install themselves to the current machine, and therefore write to the keys under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ chain. How do they do that, if the application is installed by a limited user who enters an Admin password when asked for it by UAC? This is a common enough scenario that there must be standard Windows procedures to do it. I will have to find an example and look at what it does, if I can. I think DVDfab does it from memory, and may be a simple example.
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I had to format and reinstall Windows 8.1 (64-bit) on my Brix, before I formatted JRiver was working perfectly with the WDM Driver.
Now I have reinstalled the latest version of JRiver but the WDM driver won't install, I enable it in the settings, restart JRiver (I get the UAC prompt) and it says it's installed but no Driver is available in the Sound settings.
Is there a manual way to install the driver? I am the only user on the system and have admin privileges.
Cheers
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I had to format and reinstall Windows 8.1 (64-bit) on my Brix, before I formatted JRiver was working perfectly with the WDM Driver.
Now I have reinstalled the latest version of JRiver but the WDM driver won't install, I enable it in the settings, restart JRiver (I get the UAC prompt) and it says it's installed but no Driver is available in the Sound settings.
Did you try a reboot?
There is no manual way to install it.
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Did you try a reboot?
There is no manual way to install it.
Yeah, many times. I tried many different combinations of selected the driver, quitting JRiver, rebooting, etc.
nothing seems to work, it's as if it just doesn't install or something. I would love to just have a separate driver I can install, that way I know it installed.
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As to what the solution is, I'm wondering how those applications that ask the question;
"Do you want to install this application for all users, or just the current user?"
install their applications for all users.
The installer asks, not the application itself, obviously. The installer runs as privileged code and can write where it wants.
Lots of applications require certain actions to be performed as the admin user. For example, to use VideoReDo, you have to run the application once after installation as an administrative user so it can register its COM library. Notepad++ requires you to run as an administrative user to register for file extensions or to install shell extensions.
This is not that unusual.
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It seems obvious in retrospect, but I have less of an issue with setting the preference to enable the WDM Driver by launching Media Center via "Run as administrator" rather than actually having to log into the admin account and run the program there as I thought you were suggesting.
I guess I just didn't think of it because I normally launch Media Center via a script to enforce the default user (so that it's always "child-friendly" by default) and to set the CPU Priority and Affinity so that it only runs at a lower priority on 3/4 CPU cores (to prevent SACD playback or 4K video playback from hogging the CPU to the point that the mouse can only update once every few seconds) which meant that the "Run as administrator" command was not an option on my shortcut to launch MC.
After using "Run as administrator" and enabling the WDM Driver on the admin account, I was able to update to 20.0.113 without losing the WDM driver.
In addition, my settings seem to have been preserved!
I tested this once more by setting a custom name and icon—something I have not bothered with for quite some time—and that has also persisted, even when downgrading to 20.0.108
Has this been the root cause all along?
Even though it was not removing the driver prior to build 20.0.96, it was still removing all of my settings every time I updated.
Is it possible to detect whether MC is being run on an account with admin priviliges or not?
If it is, I would block the installation on standard user accounts.
If not, I would at least mention that the WDM Driver should be installed by first launcing Media Center via the "Run as administrator" command, instead of installing it by running MC on a standard account and granting that process elevated priviliges when enabling the WDM feature.
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If not, I would at least mention that the WDM Driver should be installed by first launcing Media Center via the "Run as administrator" command, instead of installing it by granting MC elevated priviliges.
Good idea.
+1
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Bumping for awareness.
Media Center really needs to warn against installing the WDM Driver on a non-admin account, or by granting elevated priveleges by enabling the WDM Driver while the program is running, instead of using "Run as Administrator" to launch MC and then enable it.
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I just wanted to add to this - last Saturday morning - I did my monthly maintenance on the HTPC and did a manual update to the current MC build available within the "stable" tree. Everything seemed to go fine and I did see the MC installer clearly state that it was "removing the WDM driver"...even tho I had never ever allowed it to be enabled or installed on the PC - for the life of V20 on this box.
After the new build came back up - I was satisfied that all was well - MC started correctly and went into Theater View as it normally does. So I logged off the machine (via RDP) and left it at that. Later that evening - I would pay for that casual attitude.
My son's 11th birthday was Saturday and he and his pals wanted "movie time" as part of their sleepover plans. So I fired up the HTPC on the projector, popped some corn and thought I was going to enjoy a goofy kid flick.
MC did come up and did display Theater View - but we could not get any audio whatsoever on any digital file. Kids are getting impatient, Dad is starting to sweat. Off I go troubleshooting this thing. After about 10 minutes of screwing around - I remembered that "uninstalling WDM driver" from earlier in the day and checked out the audio driver assignments and so on. Turns out - while MC came back up after the update - it decided it might be a good time to switch to some lame audio driver for my motherboard - and not the Intel HDMI audio driver that had been correctly assigned since 2013.
I had this HDMI driver assigned for almost 2 years straight with no issue. This driver was correctly assigned prior to that Saturday morning update and I would assumed that MC would have left well enough alone and left the driver assigned when the new build was installed. But no.
Any ideas on why the update would have decided to replace my working driver?
VP
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Bumping for awareness.
Media Center really needs to warn against installing the WDM Driver on a non-admin account, or by granting elevated priveleges by enabling the WDM Driver while the program is running, instead of using "Run as Administrator" to launch MC and then enable it.
BTW, if using the "right click on the icon" method to "Run as Administrator" and set the WDM Driver, first make sure to close MC and kill the MC service. The MC service will continue to run in the background when you close the MC User Interface if you have Media Network or TV Recording features turned on. Even if you don't have those features turned on the service will close by itself, but that can take a few seconds or half a minute. So in that case either wait a minute after closing the MC UI, or check that the service has closed.
Why? Well, if the service is still running when you run MC as Administrator with a right click, MC will still start with the Restricted User account settings, and won't set the correct record in the Registry.
It should also be noted that as long as people want to install the WDM Driver and leave it installed, they only have to run MC as Administrator and turn the WDM Driver Feature on in MC Options once. Then that setting will be remembered for future installations.
Any ideas on why the update would have decided to replace my working driver?
I assume that when you did the update you received MC version 20.0.115?
There have been a few changes along the line with recent versions, and some had an adverse effect on the WDM Driver installation. Also, the WDM Driver has always been installed with every release for some time. So if your PC was set to trust JRiver with all driver installs, or you clicked the Allow (or whatever it is called) button to install it, then it was there. Even if it wasn't installed, it was "uninstalled" with every version, as one step in the update process. In doing the WDM uninstall the uninstall process de-assigned the default audio driver in Windows. It should not have changed the assigned Audio Device in MC though.
The good news is that some of these issues have been fixed, and JRiver is aware of the others. For now, after each update check your Default Playback Device in Windows, and its Configuration and Properties. Then check the assigned Audio Device in MC.
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BTW, if using the "right click on the icon" method to "Run as Administrator" and set the WDM Driver, first make sure to close MC and kill the MC service. The MC service will continue to run in the background when you close the MC User Interface if you have Media Network or TV Recording features turned on. Even if you don't have those features turned on the service will close by itself, but that can take a few seconds or half a minute. So in that case either wait a minute after closing the MC UI, or check that the service has closed.
Why? Well, if the service is still running when you run MC as Administrator with a right click, MC will still start with the Restricted User account settings, and won't set the correct record in the Registry.
It should also be noted that as long as people want to install the WDM Driver and leave it installed, they only have to run MC as Administrator and turn the WDM Driver Feature on in MC Options once. Then that setting will be remembered for future installations.
Yes, that is important. I figured most people would be using the default, which is to run MC as a normal application.
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Yes, that is important. I figured most people would be using the default, which is to run MC as a normal application.
I think the reason this hasn't been an issue for more folks is that the default user account created as part of a windows installation (or pre-configured by OEMs) is an admin user. So, for good or ill, the vast majority of non-technical windows users have one user which is an admin user. For those folks, running MC as a normal application works fine (once the UAC prompt pops up, etc.).
Even for folks like me who have admin and restricted accounts, I only make system changes (to include updating MC) with my admin user, so I never saw this.
It's just an odd quirk. I agree that it could be better documented in the installer.
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I think the reason this hasn't been an issue for more folks is that the default user account created as part of a windows installation (or pre-configured by OEMs) is an admin user.
I don't think that's true for Windows 8.1 at least?
I seem to remember being asked to create an admin password and then add standard user accounts.
Of course I could be misremembering.
After years of everyone saying that you should never be using a computer on a day-to-day basis on an admin account, Windows 8/8.1 was when I finally gave it a chance.
With maybe one or two other possible exceptions (and I can't think of anything specific right now) this has really been the only trouble I've had from using a standard user account.
I agree that it could be better documented in the installer.
If there is a way for MC to tell whether it's running on an admin account or not, it should block the installation of the driver and inform the user that it needs to be installed using the "run as administrator" command rather than prompt for elevated permissions.