MCS Can No Longer Customize Menu After MCE Runs Updates

[bemarino]

I've been using Media Center Studio for several weeks to customize Media Center's start menu, and up until today, everything was working great. But today I suddenly discovered that Media Center's start menu reverted back to its defaults (all my custom icons disappeared and icons that I had previously hidden were visible again). Since this happened, nothing I've tried in Media Center Studio allows me to customize the start menu.

By restoring my machine from a backup image several times, I was able to pin the problem down to the Media Center update process. It's set to run automatically in order to update my Guide data, and until today, had never caused me any problems. I have two log file dumps from it -- one from May 17 (where it ran without a hiccup), and the one from today that's clobbering my custom menus. The only difference with today's seems to be that today's updated the MCEClientUX and MCEClientMaintenance packages, while the May 17 run skipped these. So I'm guessing one of these updates is causing the problem, but I have no idea what to do about it (I can't disable the service if I want my Guide updated).

So I'm stumped. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've attached the log files in case they're of any help.

[blobby]

Yep. much of the changes do not stick, as of today.

My W7 machine had updated itself, and MCE had reverted back to almost stock.

When I tried to rename the Movies bar and to hide the movies library and the other stuff there, it wouldn't work.

MS did something and screwed it up.

[MacBurp]

After posting this thread - Media Center Edits don't work - I checked this thread, it sems my event logs say the same as the OP. In the latest guide update it seems that MS have run something called MCEClientUX, which has rest the MCE UI to default and doesn't allow further edit from MCS.

Why do Microsoft do this?

[Advent]

Unfortunately I can't reproduce this - even after running mcupdate and making sure all windows updates are installed. Must be a geographical thing?

People are saying it "doesn't work" - what does that mean? Does that mean that it looks like it has worked but then when you start Media Center nothing has changed?

[MacBurp]

People are saying it "doesn't work" - what does that mean? Does that mean that it looks like it has worked but then when you start Media Center nothing has changed?

I first became aware of this when I logged in to MCE this am. The default view of the MCE menus were back, including links to Skyplayer etc.

So I loaded MCS, and saw my own custom MCE menu design (not the MCE default). Tried to save this, any attempt to save it had no effect. For me, MCS has stopped doing its job.

As far as the update in concerned it may well be a regional thing, as I've just noticed the MSN Internet TV add-on, which I don't think was there before.

[tschachim]

Since I read this thread this morning I really fear to come home this evening to see the mess...

So I didn't see the problem first hand and I'm just guessing here, but if I look into the zip file in this post: Media Center Edits don't work, it looks like MC Studio is modifing both the registry (Start Menu keys) and the resources of a dll (STARTMENU.XML, SM.TV.XML etc.). Perhaps the Microsoft update switched to a different dll now storing the menu configuration. To track that down, my first question for Advent would be which dll(s) are modified by MC Studio? Perhaps we can identify the new dlls, try to modify the resources manually with a resource editor and thus providing the info Advent needs to fix that, i.e. which dll(s) now need to be changed?

Cheers
Tschachim

[bigsid05]

Running into the same issue here as well. I thought I broke something so I restored to a back from a few weeks ago and it immediately started doing the same thing after I let the guide update.

Using Media Center Studio I am able to edit the extras strip but I can't change anything related to the TV or Movies strips (they are back to default) and I can't change the position of strips.

[bemarino]

People are saying it "doesn't work" - what does that mean? Does that mean that it looks like it has worked but then when you start Media Center nothing has changed?

That's exactly what I'm seeing, with one notable exception: I have MediaTube, a YouTube addon for Media Center that adds its own program group and icon to the menu when first installed. I have found that I can edit that, but I can't touch any of the Microsoft defaults in any way (it won't even allow me to hide whole sections, such as the "Sports" section that I don't use).

[bigsid05]

That's exactly what I'm seeing, with one notable exception: I have MediaTube, a YouTube addon for Media Center that adds its own program group and icon to the menu when first installed. I have found that I can edit that, but I can't touch any of the Microsoft defaults in any way (it won't even allow me to hide whole sections, such as the "Sports" section that I don't use).

Yes, exactly the same here as well. The changes show in MCS (and are saved in MCS) but are not reflected in Media Center when I start it up.

[ideaguy]

Same exact problem here. Just noticed it this morning. Can't hide any strips (usually I hide Sports and Music as I don't use these) and my custom Movies strip no longer works.

[poissony]

Today I also noticed that parts of my MCE menu had been reset. Modifications I'd made to the movies strip where no longer there. Modifications to the extras strip and the Powerdvd strip were still intact. I put this down to the MSN video player tile arriving on my MCE TV strip this morning (I'm in the UK):

http://thedigitallifestyle.com/cs/TD...ia-center.aspx

I was unable to modify the movies strip with MCS. MCS had the changes but these were not reflected in MCE. I attempted to move the MyMovies tiles (which I had placed on the movies strip) onto the extras strip as a workaround. Whilst they appeared in MCE they didn't do anything. I had to repair my install of MyMovies to get the tiles to work in the extras strip.

[alz41]

Unfortunately I can't reproduce this - even after running mcupdate and making sure all windows updates are installed. Must be a geographical thing?

People are saying it "doesn't work" - what does that mean? Does that mean that it looks like it has worked but then when you start Media Center nothing has changed?[/QUOTE]

Hi advent, the problem seems to be limited to Europe only, the update from MS add's two tiles to the TV Menu Strip (Sky and MSN Video)these two tiles are none removable via MCS. After a little digin i'v found that if ya remove "MARKUP.DLL" wich came in the update it removes the Sky and Msn Video Icon's in the menu srip. NOT fully tested for any other side efects yet but this is a start ;-)

MediaCenter Update Files

[josiah]

It's not just Europe! I am having the same problem in Austin, Texas.

[alz41]

It's not just Europe! I am having the same problem in Austin, Texas.

OK, But if ya remove 'C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\Packages\MCEClient UX\UpdateableMarkup-2\MARKUP.DLL ' then some functions of MCS work again..

[bigsid05]

I'm in New York, NY and am having the same problem so it's definitely not limited to Europe.