Halfway solution for adding Media Center to 10 and other random bits

Coke Robot · 06 Nov 2015

This hit my thought bubbles this past week because I'm actually trying to figure out a software solution for a Car Entertainment PC I'm building and the ONLY best solution is using Windows Media Center on the ONLY perfect version of Windows, which is 10 of which doesn't have Media Center. Kodi doesn't work that nicely for me nor do the other open source alternatives. Groove Music won't cut it either as I'm planning this CEPC to be like a mobilized HTPC to an extent.

Virtualize it.

By using VMWare Workstation or Player with Unity Mode, it technically can bring back Media Center by using Windows 7 or 8.1 with MC. It does add overhead to the system and I am still trying to figure out how to get a PCI-E based TV tuner to work in the VM (could have sworn I remember VMWare being able to do that a long time ago) as well as the FM tuner.

This has been a project I've long wanted to do of having a Windows based car PC since Windows 7 but that isn't the best OS to use. 8.1 was almost there, but 10 knocks it out of the park with SMS and call capabilities through Cortana as well as awesome speech input that is needed for something like this, among other things. I have the mini-ITX board and the PSU but still need to test those out with this set up. Friggin' a, something so easy became so much more difficult. But nonetheless, I've been tweaking WMC and have the startup sound that I've always wanted to use and it is glorious!

But there you have it! You can get Media Center to work in a VM, although it will require a lot of configuration and ideally 8.1 so you can add a host drive/folder location to the guest and network the drive out and then index it easily.

If Microsoft would have just kept Media Center as an option like they did with 8/8.1, this would have been SOOOO much easier.

tcman50 · 06 Nov 2015

older article but might be helpful:

http://lifehacker.com/build-your-own....google.com%2F

Terry

spapakons · 06 Nov 2015

Smile! There is a way to add Windows Media Center in Windows 8 and 10 as described in this German site. I give all the links here, not remember which one worked for me (MediaFire or Mega), try them. Hurry and download it as long as the links are still valid!

Link 1 (MediaFire): Windows Media Center for Windows 8 32-bit (also works in Windows 10)
Link 2 (Mega): Windows Media Center for Windows 8 32-bit (also works in Windows 10)
Link 3 (MediaFire): Windows Media Center for Windows 8 64-bit (also works in Windows 10)
Link 4 (Mega): Windows Media Center for Windows 8 64-bit (also works in Windows 10)
Link 5 (Mega): Windows Media Center for Windows 10 64-bit (didn't work for me)
Link 6: (files.fm) Windows Media Center for Windows 10 64-bit (didn't work for me)

Download the respective Windows 8 version for your system (32-bit or 64-bit) and extract the files to a folder such as C:\WMC. Click on the search icon and type CMD then right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator to open an elevated Command Prompt. Then type these commands and press ENTER to execute:

cd \wmc
_TestRights.cmd
Installer.cmd

The first command is to change the current folder to C:\WMC (rename as necessary if you extracted the files in another folder). The second command is to test if the installer has the necessary access rights. If it completes without errors, it should open an new elevated Command Prompt. Just close it and type the third command which actually installs Windows Media Center. It copies the necessary files at the appropriate folders and registers the relevant DLLs. You should then have a Windows Media Center icon on your desktop or in applications.

Drawback: If you have clean-installed Windows 10 or upgraded from any previous version other than Windows 8.1 Pro with WMC, you will not have DVD playback support. There is a Microsoft update (kb3081704) to add it, but it won't let you add it in any Windows 10 version. If you have upgraded from Windows 8.1 Pro with WMC to Windows 10 Pro, you can use the Microsoft update to add it. But you can always use a third-party application such as PowerDVD or VLC to play DVDs.

EDIT: Just checked, the DVD and Blu Ray playback option is provided by CyberLink PowerDVD, even if you didn't upgrade from Windows 8.1 Pro with WMC, as soon as you install PowerDVD 12 or later.