Manual start of Desktop 2.7

[hutchca]

I had the same problem with 2.6 but with 2.7 it's a bit different.

If I remove the auto run registry entries and try to start the services manually it doesn't work. Putting the registry entries back and log off/on and everything works fine.

C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\TranscodingService.exe /auto
Works fine and the TranscodingService.exe can be seen running in the task manager.

C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\TiVoServer.exe /service /registry /auto:TivoServer
TivoServer.exe and TivoTransfer.exe start, but Tivoserver.exe quickly exits.

C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\TiVoNotify.exe /service /registry /auto:TivoNotify
TiVoNotify won't start at all, not even for a second

What am I doing wrong?
No clues in the event log.
Must be something to do with the startup environment.

I messed with this for a while under 2.6 and never could get it to work either.
Under 2.6 it was TivoTransfer that wouldn't start.

[windracer]

Here's the batch file I use to manually start TD:

@REM Start bonjour
net start "Bonjour Service"

@Rem Start the server
start C:\Progra~1\TiVo\Desktop\TiVoServer.exe /service /registry

@Rem Start the notify service
start C:\Progra~1\TiVo\Desktop\TiVoNotify.exe /service /registry /auto:TivoNotify

@Rem Start the transcoding service
start C:\Progra~1\TiVo\Desktop\TranscodingService.exe /auto

pause

Seems to work for me, though I don't use it much.

[hutchca]

Same, Same...
TivoServer.exe just exist about 1.5 seconds after it starts and leaves Tivotransfer.exe running.

If I put the same commands back in the registry, everything works fine.

[windracer]

Maybe something's blocking it? UAC? Firewall?

[hutchca]

Nope. Pretty much nothing running. WinXPSP3, Firewall Disabled
Like I said, works fine if I let the registry start 'em.
They just don't want to start manually.

My first thought was some other program interfering but there's virtually nothing else running.
Strange that manual start works for other people though and not for me.

[windracer]

Hmmm ... any clues in the various TiVo Desktop logs?

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\TiVo Desktop\Logs

[hutchca]

Logs are empty

[windracer]

I don't know what else to suggest other than an uninstall, use the TiVo Desktop Cleaner, and then a fresh install.

[moyekj]

Better yet just use the superior 3rd party tools available to get all TD+ desktop functionality plus much more: pyTivo, streambaby, kmttg
All of those you can run only when you need them instead of as services and thus no hogging of resources when not using them.

[windracer]

Ok, yeah, I should have suggested that. :)

[hutchca]

Reinstall won't help, I've tried that.
Everything works fine as long as it's started from the registry.

The only problem is that I can't start the TiVoServer manually.

[hutchca]

Update: I can start everything manually as long as the registry entries are there.
I put them back, and manual start works fine.
The server must check the registry and close if the entry isn't there.

I guess I can just make a script to stop the services after startup and then I can restart them whenever I want. Not ideal but it works.

Update2:
C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\TiVoServer.exe /stop
and
C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\TiVoServer.exe /start

Neither command works with the registry value removed, works fine as soon as it's back in the registry.

Update3:
If I edit the registry entry to remove the '/auto:TivoServer' from the end, the service doesn't start automatically, but I can start it at any time with the command C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\TiVoServer.exe /start

[windracer]

Ah! I forgot that I don't actually remove the registry entries, I just comment them out.

Try putting ## on each line in the registry and then see if you can start everything manually (without having to write a script to start them after boot up).

I'm constantly commenting out registry Run keys with this method.

[hutchca]

My final start on demand script...
Works great.:START

@REM Add Reg Values for Services
reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Run /v TivoNotify /t REG_SZ /d "\"C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\TiVoNotify.exe\" /service /registry /auto:TivoNotify"
reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Run /v TivoServer /t REG_SZ /d "\"C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\TiVoServer.exe\" /service /registry /auto:TivoServer"
reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Run /v TranscodingService /t REG_SZ /d "\"C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\TranscodingService.exe\" /auto"

@REM Start Services
sc start "Bonjour Service"
"C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\TiVoNotify.exe" /start
"C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\TiVoServer.exe" /start
start "TiVo Transcoding Service" "C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\TranscodingService.exe" /auto

@REM Remove Autorun Reg Values
reg delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Run /v TivoNotify /f
reg delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Run /v TivoServer /f
reg delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Run /v TranscodingService /f

:END

[spocko]

Thank you. This script works for me.

[hutchca]

I ended up having to split it into two scripts for start and stop.
Removing the registry entries at the end of the start script causes errors when you try to access the TiVo server properties.
So I removed the reg delete section from the startup script and created this shutdown script.
@REM Stop Services
taskkill /IM TranscodingService.exe /F
"C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\TiVoServer.exe" /stop
taskkill /IM TivoTransfer.exe /F
sc stop "Bonjour Service"
"C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\TiVoNotify.exe" /stop

@REM Remove Autorun Reg Values
reg delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Run /v TivoNotify /f
reg delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Run /v TivoServer /f
reg delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Run /v TranscodingService /f

[spocko]

Thanks for the update, works great. It's nice to be able to run the TD services as desired rather than all the time.

I will probably be sticking to the 3rd party tools most of the time, as suggested earlier by moyekj. Another good one I'd include in the recommend list is TiVoPlayList. While not quite as flexible as kmttg, it's easier to setup.