Background service not available, Windows 7

[dontom]

As for firewall - the internal Windows firewall has been active during installation and tests - but it has registred the exceptions as I believe it should, for both mentioned services. On anti-virus side, I do have Avast running, but have also stopped it during installations and tests - but it has not helped my case.

If I would really try to eliminate all sources of the previous install - and start over - what would I do (I realize there might/would still be traces in register from the old install, by just uninstalling)?

Moreover - what is the recommended way of installing on Windows 7 (64b), given the introduction of UAC etc.?

[sub]

If I would really try to eliminate all sources of the previous install - and start over - what would I do (I realize there might/would still be traces in register from the old install, by just uninstalling)?

You can uninstall, delete anything left in "c:\users\public\npvr" or "c:\program files (x86)\npvr". There isnt really very much in the registry for NPVR itself. (but I have no way to know what antivirus/firewall registry settings you have for NPVR components, and how you'd delete those registry settings)

Moreover - what is the recommended way of installing on Windows 7 (64b), given the introduction of UAC etc.?

You wouldnt usually have to do anything special. ie, just run the installer and it'll take care of the rest. There must be something slightly different on your machine that causing this problem, because there is tons of Win7 64bit users (myself included) here that dont have this same problem.

[mvallevand]

Moreover - what is the recommended way of installing on Windows 7 (64b), given the introduction of UAC etc.?

I see one problem, you say you are running 64 bit but from your logs it looks like 32 bit
"Skipping non-existant plugin directory: C:\Program Files\NPVR\Plugins\"

Are your files in "Program Files" or "Program Files (x86)" ?

Martin

[dontom]

I temporarily had to give up on NPVR, and instead installed GBPVR. Naturally I am hoping to be able to get back to NPVR - but it needs to wait until after x-mas......

Many thanks to everyone trying to help out!

[Gronda]

Hi, I'm a new user of NPVR and I seem to be having the same problem.

I recently bought a new Win7 64 (home premium) HTPC and have installed NPVR. The recording service appears to be installed and working - I have the icon in the system tray and can see the service as running in Task Manager. However, recordings only work when the main NPVR window is open. If I set a programmed recording, nothing happens until I open NVPR.

I've tried shutting down and restarting the service whilst a recording is programmed and get this error message:


If I then cancel the programmed recording, the service starts up again without complaint.

This is getting rather frustrating and any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks,
Guy

[Reddwarf]

Make sure you have ticked "Use Background Recording" in Settings -> Recording. Also, you can edit Config.xml and make sure that <AllowInProcessRecording> is set to false.

[Gronda]

Thanks. I already had the "Use Background Recording" option ticked and tried altering the Config.xml as you suggested. However things seem to be spiralling downhill as somewhere along the way I've lost the service. It now shows as stopped in task manager and when I try to start it through Services.msc I get an error message that "Windows could not start the NPVR Recording service on Local Computer. Error 1067: The process terminated unexpectedly."

I'm rapidly running out of ideas (and hair!).

[Reddwarf]

Thanks. I already had the "Use Background Recording" option ticked and tried altering the Config.xml as you suggested. However things seem to be spiralling downhill as somewhere along the way I've lost the service. It now shows as stopped in task manager and when I try to start it through Services.msc I get an error message that "Windows could not start the NPVR Recording service on Local Computer. Error 1067: The process terminated unexpectedly."

I'm rapidly running out of ideas (and hair!).

When you ran the installer (setup.exe) did you run it as Administrator? (right click and choose "Run as Administrator) Also, have you allowed Nrecord.exe and NextPVR.exe through the firewall?

[Gronda]

Firstly, thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

I've just spent the past hour trying various approaches but with little success.

1. I have UAC disabled but tried re-installing with the "Run as administrator" command via right-click. This has got be back to being able to get the service running but otherwise has made no difference to getting background recording to work.

2. Nrecord.exe and NextPVR.exe are both set to have access through the firewall. I've also set them both as excluded processes for Microsoft Security Essentials. This has had little to no appreciable effect.

3. Setting the <AllowInProcessRecording> flag to false essentially stops NPVR dead. It prevents me from viewing live TV (error message "Unable to communicate with recording service") and from cancelling recordings where I get the following error message:

The full text of the error from the details button is in the attached.

4. I've tried disabling both windows firewall and MSE, rebooting after each change, but this has made no difference.

I've not found any traces of other firewall software or anti-virus systems on the PC - I only picked it up last Monday and haven't installed anything in these categories myself.

At least I've got the viewing of TV back, but any ideas what else could be interfering?

[Reddwarf]

One thing you can try is to open port 8968 and 7969 in Windows Firewall Advanced Settings, define a new rule that allows both incoming and outgoing communication through these ports. It should not be needed but I'v seen it before (in Vista).