Hacking Windows 7 Media Center

Replace Default Movie Strip With Media Browser Strip

by Michael Healy @ 8:45 am on April 21st, 2009 in media browser, movie library, start menu strips, themes with 24 Comments

The newest version of Media Browser includes it’s own custom start menu strip! Get the start strip extras pack and read about the update here!

logo Currently, there is no way to replace the native movie library in the Movies start menu strip. Also, Windows 7 Media Center doesn’t allow for the addition of extra plug-ins to the default strips. What can we do to replace the default movie library menu strip then? We’ll remove the movie strip and simply replace it with a strip of our own creation which includes the Media Browser plug-in.

To get this done a few files have been created which can be downloaded here. The first one is a patch that will enable turning the default movies strip on and off through a registry setting. This patch has only been tested under the official Windows 7 beta 1 (build 7000) at this point but should work under any version. As always, it’s highly recommended that you backup your files (in this case C:\Windows\ehome\ehres.dll) before modifying any system files.

Update: The patch file is no longer included or necessary thanks an addition of the Movie strip identification number provided by Mikinhosoft. You can still download and use the registry files to add or remove the default movie strip or the new Media Browser menu strip to the start menu though!

Also included are a number of registry files for altering the start menu strip setup. Two of the files allow for the turning on and off of the default movies strip and another set of files for turning on and off the new Media Browser movies strip. The last registry file will remove the default strip and add the new Media Browser strip at once.

Default Movie Strip Removed

To enable using these registry files you’ll need to download and apply this patch. For the patch to be installed it’s also necessary to take ownership of the (C:\Windows\ehome\ehres.dll) file. If you haven’t already, install the “Take Ownership” registry fix by double-clicking “take ownership.reg” included in the download zip. Then you will need to right-click the ehres.dll file and select “Take Ownership”.

Once you’ve successfully taken ownership of the ehres.dll file and applied the patch file included in the download zip you can now use the registry files included in the options folder of the zip to modify whether or not the movies strip is enabled. As well as turn on or off the new Media Browser Movies strip. To both enable the new movies strip and disable the old native movies strip apply the “Add Media Browser Strip and Remove Movies.reg” file to your registry.

New Media Browser Movies Strip

Unfortunately, at this time it’s not possible to transfer the default movie trailers, play DVD or other movies strip entries to the new strip. But you can follow these directions to include other plug-ins in your new movies strip. The category for this new strip in the registry is “Media Browser”.

That’s all there is to it, now just sit back and relax knowing you’ll never need to explain to anyone why they “shouldn’t use that movie library use that one” and then where to find it.

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24 Comments


Ace
Comment #416 from Ace [Reply]

Awesome! Is there a way to also open media browser from the remote? Maybe replace My Videos or My DVDs. I have a harmony universal remote.

thanks
Ace

Comment left April 22, 2009 at 8:36 pm Permanent Link

MichaelHealy
@Reply #419 from MichaelHealy [Reply]

I believe there is a way to setup a harmony remote to open Media Browser by using a shortcut. I’ll see if I can find it.

Comment left April 23, 2009 at 7:29 am Permanent Link

Duffy
Comment #467 from Duffy [Reply]

If I apply the registry entry to remove the Movies Library will it also remove from my extender?

Or will I need to search through the registry for the MCX User?

Comment left April 27, 2009 at 8:45 am Permanent Link

MichaelHealy
@Reply #468 from MichaelHealy [Reply]

I’m afraid that this won’t remove the default movies strip from extenders but it will add the new Movie strip. I’m unsure exactly what would be involved in removing the default Movies strip from extenders at this time.

Comment left April 27, 2009 at 10:25 am Permanent Link

Amolenk
@Reply #524 from Amolenk [Reply]

To remove the default Movies strip from Extenders, follow these steps:
1. Run Regedit and select the root of HKEY_USERS
2. Select ‘Load hive’ from file menu and open the ntuser.dat file from the Extender’s user directory (for example C:\Users\Mcx1-YOSEMITE\). ntuser.dat is a protected, hidden file, so you may need to adjust your explorer view options to make it visible.
3. Regedit will then ask for a key name for the loaded hive, which can be anything as long as the name doesn’t exist yet. I usually use ‘MCX’.
4. Under the loaded MCX key, locate [Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Start Menu\]
5. Add an ‘Applications’ key.
6. In Applications, add an ‘Iternal’ key.
7. In Internal, add an ‘{d30ea221-143f-47b7-9123-983d6813a759}’ key.
8. At this point, you should have a ‘[Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Start Menu\Applications\Iternal\{d30ea221-143f-47b7-9123-983d6813a759}]‘ key. Add a new String value to this key with name ‘OnStartMenu’ and value ‘False’.
9. Select the loaded MCX key and choose ‘Unload hive’ from the file menu to save the settings and unload the hive.
10. Restart the extender.

Comment left May 2, 2009 at 9:34 am Permanent Link

Sph984
Comment #477 from Sph984 [Reply]

Tested with RC1 7100. Works fine.

Been having problems with MC not closing/hanging however – might not be related :)

Comment left April 28, 2009 at 6:47 pm Permanent Link

Tizzy
Comment #770 from Tizzy [Reply]

this doesn’t work for me, the media browser shows up on the 360 extender but gives me a “customisation error”.. any ideas?
thanks

Comment left May 6, 2009 at 10:47 pm Permanent Link

Michael Healy
@Reply #796 from Michael Healy [Reply]

That’s strange, it works without issue on my 360. What version of the Windows 7 beta are you using?

Comment left May 7, 2009 at 8:08 am Permanent Link

Brett C
@Reply #999 from Brett C [Reply]

having same issue with extender and having MC crashing with “Extensibility Host has stopped working ” error… Am using Windows 7 RC1 7100 and have enable only the ” add media browser strip ” regedit which all appeared to work fine .. now have Media Browser strip but comes up with error after about 20secs and usually will cause MC to restart.

Comment left May 12, 2009 at 8:51 am Permanent Link

Thomas
Comment #944 from Thomas [Reply]

I cant get this to work, i either loose movies and dont see anything at all, or i see movies, and things are as usual.

Replaced the dll in question.

Comment left May 10, 2009 at 4:19 pm Permanent Link

Michael Healy
@Reply #959 from Michael Healy [Reply]

Which version of Windows 7 are you using and what reg file are you installing under the options folder? I haven’t seen a situation where I haven’t been able to get this to work yet.

Comment left May 10, 2009 at 9:58 pm Permanent Link

Michael Healy
Comment #1010 from Michael Healy [Reply]

Hmm..I’ll have to take a closer look at the error that some people are having on the xbox360. I’ll post something as soon as I can find anything.

Comment left May 12, 2009 at 5:04 pm Permanent Link

Lee
Comment #1188 from Lee [Reply]

I’ve “taken ownership” of ehres.dll when i try the patch it says cannot patch while writing ??
also new movie strip is generated(with media browser in) but old one will not dissappear…
RC1 build tried a few times even went in regedit to manually enter but the entries are in!

Comment left May 18, 2009 at 5:58 pm Permanent Link

MichaelHealy
@Reply #1190 from MichaelHealy [Reply]

The patch needs to succeed before you can remove the old movies strip. Try running the patch as administrator. Also, Media Center must not be using the .dll, so try using the patch immediately after a restart before Media Center is run.

Comment left May 18, 2009 at 8:06 pm Permanent Link

Lee
Comment #1193 from Lee [Reply]

Did it !
Re-named ehres.dll to ehresBAK.dll patched it, leaving the new ehres.dll to do the job and the movie strip is gone…
Great just need to swap close and settings around in tasks now!!

Comment left May 19, 2009 at 6:27 am Permanent Link

Stephen Barash
Comment #1294 from Stephen Barash [Reply]

I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy Hack7mc. I check it every day, and appreciate the time and effort you put into it.

-Stephen

Comment left May 27, 2009 at 1:56 am Permanent Link

Stephen Barash
@Reply #1295 from Stephen Barash [Reply]

Sorry, thought I was leaving a general comment that wasn’t tied to any articles…

Comment left May 27, 2009 at 1:57 am Permanent Link

Michael Healy
@Reply #1300 from Michael Healy [Reply]

No worries, always glad to hear from fans of the site! To leave a general site-wide comment you can use the GFC bar at the top and click on comments.

Comment left May 27, 2009 at 8:03 am Permanent Link

Jet
Comment #1498 from Jet [Reply]

I just tried this and I’m having some issues. I can’t get the media browser to show up in the start menu, although it does seem to work from the Extras menu. What’s worse is that the Movies option is now gone from start menu and the reg file to turn it back on is having no effect for me.

This is on Win 7 RC (7100) x64.

Comment left June 7, 2009 at 12:20 pm Permanent Link

robotkilla
@Reply #1511 from robotkilla [Reply]

I had the same problem.
Make sure that you remove Media Browser from the ‘Extras’ start menu strip before running the reg script to add. Go to ‘Extras Library’ > ‘Remove from Start Menu’.

Comment left June 8, 2009 at 12:17 am Permanent Link

Jet
@Reply #1513 from Jet [Reply]

The Mikinhosoft program fixed the Movie strip, so thank you for that link. Much cleaner solution than registry files.

I decided to dig into the problem further, so I went in to double check the registry settings. And to my surprise, they were not there! I tried reapplying the .reg file and again no effect.

After messing with it for a new minutes, I found that the problem is that I am used to double clicking .reg files to importing them. Windows 7 pretends that this works, and it even reports back that the settings were succesfully added… but in reality it has no effect at all. Importing through the File menu of regedit works as expected however, and I suspect this is how you guys have been running the .reg scripts.

Problem solved. I now have Media Browser on my start menu and I can also add/remove the Movie strip as I please. Thanks a lot for the help guys :)

Comment left June 8, 2009 at 4:54 am Permanent Link

Chris Hooper
Comment #1605 from Chris Hooper [Reply]

Apparently, neither Microsoft nor the developer of Media Browser understand that backup DVDs can have content OTHER than movies on them.

Comment left June 13, 2009 at 6:29 am Permanent Link

Jason
Comment #2392 from Jason [Reply]

I can’t seem to get media browser to show up. I checked the reg file for “add media browser strip and remove movies” it is all in the registry properly. Any suggestions?

Comment left July 31, 2009 at 3:13 am Permanent Link

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