NPVR Tray Icon not showing

[elstaci]

I noticed that in v.5 for some reason the NPVR Tray icon doesn't show as running in the Hidden Icon Menu on the Task bar.

NPVR Tray was in my Start Folder in the Start Menu but it wasn't working.

The only way to get NPVR Tray to show up was by manually clicking on NPVRTRAY.exe.

So I decided to schedule a Task to make it run automatically at log on. Made no difference.

Yet when I stopped the task from running that started at Log on and ran it again. The NPVR Tray icon appeared.

So I realized what was happening.

NPVR.exe., which starts up before NextPVR Service (which has a Automatic Delay) starts is the reason why.

So I altered the Task Schedule to have NPVR Tray task to delay 15 minutes before starting thus given a chance for NextPVR Services to start first before the NPVR Tray task runs.

Next time I restart my computer I will check to see if the NPVR Tray icon appear 15 minutes after booting up into Windows.

[mvallevand]

Using scheduled tasks to launch this the tray app is unnecessary. The first thing to do is check the Task Manager startup options to ensure it is there and the location pointing "C:\Program Files\NextPVR.exe\NPVRTRAY.exe" and not linked to the NVPR folder from earlier installs.

There is no no NPVR.exe

Martin

[elstaci]

Fine, but on my specific computer the NPVR Tray doesn't work.

Since I had previously deleted the NPVR Tray startup in my Startup Menu, I went and downloaded the NPVR installation file and ran it again so that the NPVR Tray icon would be populated again in my Startup menu.

Restarted the computer

Now that I have the NPVR Tray icon again in my Startup Menu, it doesn't show up in Task Manager, CCleaner, & Autoruns programs.

I checked the Config.XML file in case there might be something related to that icon and pathway.

So, I enabled the Task Schedule with Delay that I created and restarted my computer a second time. After the delay ended, The NPVR Tray icon is now visible and active in my Hidden Tray menu on my Task bar.

So, since this work around works for me I will just keep it like that for the time being.

[tmittelstaedt]

I just changed nextpvr service to not delay start. This kind of thing is highly specific to the machine and lots of applications have the problem of having "outrigger" type programs not starting. I've had to use delayed start rather liberally on windows servers that were slower CPUs and were overloaded with too many application programs. In my own case my machine is fast enough and my tuner drivers load early enough and initialize fast enough that they are ready when the main nextpvr service starts so it doesn't need delayed start. I don't know how the nvpr tray program is coded, generally these kinds of try icon programs are coded to start, then suspend themselves for a period of time and then check if the server process is responding and if not then abort.

The real issue is that nextpvr is not really a desktop program, it's a server program, yet it's being run on a desktop PC by users who are used to running desktop apps. Your hack of using task schedule with delay is one fix although what most system admins do is shortcut the tray program for whatever app to the desktop and start it manually when they reboot the server, which happens never since there is no point to having a server if it's not running all the time. But for a pure desktop system that is only used to watch tv on occasion, yes it's going to be shut down quite a lot and so your solution is valid if a bit kludgy.

[mvallevand]

@tmittelstaedt the tray app can run independently even without the server and it shows grey which is also warning that the server is not running (or potentially has crashed) Once the server starts it shows green or red depending on recording status why do you feel this is even necessary? On a system that is only used occasionally to watch TV a better solution is not to use the tray app at all.

Martin

[elstaci]

Just an update and nothing more.

I was reading some of the NPVR Threads and found one where SUBS uploaded a new NPVRTRAY.exe file 

I have the latest version and the usual happens when the NPVRTray icon disappears within a hour. I deleted the Task schedule I had made because of this issue.

After downloading the new NPVRTRAY file from the Thread and after installing it and I manually click on it to enable it, it stays populated in the Hidden menu of the Task bar without disappearing. 

It just won't automatically start when Windows starts even though I have the file listed under Startup in the Start Menu.