[Solved] MCE Remote mapping reverting on reboot

[robert5733]

I have a new problem for you. I have been using CMC_CCC successfully (except for PowerDVD 22 freezing sometimes, not CMC fault), and decided to map MCE Remote buttons to make things easier.

Steps used are as you state in your forum, open in admin mode, select mapping choices, save settings, update registry, reboot.

I mapped them (in admin) and it reported "registry matches/not needed"

CMC Screenshot before reboot.JPG (139.48 KiB) Viewed 315 times

I then rebooted and no buttons. Went back in (as admin) to settings and it said they did not match "registry update needed".

CMC Screenshot after reboot.JPG (142.59 KiB) Viewed 315 times

Tried again, same result.

Here are the debug logs before the reboot

DebugLog_MCERegCheck before reboot.txt

(4.55 KiB) Downloaded 3 times

DebugLog_MCERegUpdate before reboot.txt

(9.84 KiB) Downloaded 2 times

Here are the debug logs after reboot

DebugLog_MCERegCheck after reboot.txt

(4.56 KiB) Downloaded 3 times

I then downloaded AdvancedMCERemoteMapper and compared settings. Here is the screenshot before reboot

mcemapper screenshot before reboot.JPG (331.04 KiB) Viewed 315 times

and here is the screenshot after reboot

mcemapper screenshot after reboot.JPG (317.41 KiB) Viewed 315 times

I tried to use the MCE Mapper to make the changes but same result, after reboot, the changes revert back to stock.

I am running win10 pro version 22H2 build 19045.4780 on a NUC10i7FNH with CMC_CCC v7.1 prerelease. Of note, I do have two folders, one is CMC_CME used for storing metadata, and CMC_CCC used for actual watching. I do open CMC in the CME folder to sync the data after exporting, could it be the registry is getting corrupted from two instances of CMC in different folders?

I have searched your forum and googled a lot of possibilities. One being that win10 fast startup could be not allowing full reboot, so I turned that off with no change in results.


one possibility that I have found is in this Kodi thread
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=344928
post #1 kind of explains it, post #9 and #11 have a possible solution, but wanted to check with you before mucking the registry.

[Pauven]

Hey Robert,

Well, it sounds like you are doing everything right. I've not heard of this issue before. My first thought was that you're running a new version of Windows and perhaps Microsoft has changed how this works. But 22H2 is nearly 2 years old now. Hmmm.

I do open CMC in the CME folder to sync the data after exporting, could it be the registry is getting corrupted from two instances of CMC in different folders?

No, this is not possible. CMC stores nearly all settings locally in its folder. The remote control settings are Windows values stored in the registry. On startup, CMC will merely check if the values in the registry match what CMC is expecting, but doesn't make any changes unless you both A) run as Admin and B) Click the update registry button in CMC. So you could be running a dozen CMC instances, and worse case they would disagree on what should be in the registry, but wouldn't fight each other like that.

I modelled the functionality in CMC based upon the MCE Mapper. So the fact that both MCE Mapper and CMC are having trouble indicates to me that this is a Windows issue, or possibly other software is interfering.

You may want to see if you have any anti-virus software that is detecting and reverting these registry changes.

Another idea is if you are using any kind of system freeze / restore on reboot software (i.e. like Faronics Deep Freeze, or Reboot Restore), as those would block the registry changes.

Another possibility is if you are running some other multimedia software - perhaps it is trying to configure these registry values the way it wants, overwriting your changes made in CMC and MCE Mapper.

My last thought is that this behavior, loosing your button config and the registry values going back to default, is extremely common about 2x a year, when Windows applies the next big seasonal release (i.e. 22H1, 22H2, 23H1, 23H2... etc.). Something in those big seasonal updates always restores the MCE remote registry values to Microsoft's default values. Perhaps you have an update stuck in an install loop. Or maybe Microsoft has made this behavior happen all the time. I'll have to check out my systems to see if they are working okay or having issues.

[robert5733]

You may want to see if you have any anti-virus software that is detecting and reverting these registry changes.

Another idea is if you are using any kind of system freeze / restore on reboot software (i.e. like Faronics Deep Freeze, or Reboot Restore), as those would block the registry changes.

Another possibility is if you are running some other multimedia software - perhaps it is trying to configure these registry values the way it wants, overwriting your changes made in CMC and MCE Mapper.

Made the mapping changes and booted to safe mode/minimal with no change. Made changes in safe mode and rebooted to safe mode again with no changes. So that should put other software to rest since nothing booted

Tried setting permissions in registry, set system to read only and full permissions for everything else (users, administrators) with no change

Turned off secure boot in bios with no change.

It has to be in the registry settings somewhere, here is a screenshot of my settings, how does it compare to yours?

Registry screenshot1.JPG (143.66 KiB) Viewed 303 times

Registry Permissions.JPG (277.3 KiB) Viewed 303 times

Next step I can think of is deleting the 56da string in the registry as described in the kodi thread mentioned above, since CMC is writing to the 57da string

I went ahead with Deleting the 56da string and rebooted, it just recreated a 56da string but missing info in it. Deleted the 56da string and renamed the 57da to 56da and rebooted and it created a 57da string but missing info, 56da string stayed the same as i had renamed it. All throughout I tried to map the buttons with no luck.

Imported the original strings back and and everything is as it was before. This tells me that I can make changes to the strings but windows is rewriting the strings on reboot for some reason. That leads me to the driver for the IR. I had read a post about the driver needing to be rolled back to an earlier driver for the NUCs, I will see if I can find that forum again and post the link to that discussion and see what you think.

update: it turns out the driver discussion was in the same post from kodi above, I will play around some more and see waht I can come up with.

I BEAT IT!

Sure enough, I rolled the back the driver as mentioned in the kodi forum, the mapping then stayed put after reboot, the buttons however still didn't work. As discussed in the same post, I deleted 56da again, renamed 57da to 56da, opened MCERemoteMapper and it gave me a message that the key did not exist, do I want to add basic MCE key to registry. I did that then entered my new mapping changes and restarted. Lo and behold, buttons are now working as designed and MCE reports no registry update needed. I'm sure when they update the driver again, it will probably break it again, but I have instructions to fix it now.

Thank you for putting up with me.

[Pauven]

Wow, what a journey, great job figuring this out!

And a BIG THANKS for posting the solution here.

It never would have occurred to me that the IR driver could be the troublemaker, overwriting the registry strings. I suppose a developer in their infinite wisdom decided they were sick of "corrupted" button mappings and that the best solution was just to force overwrite the values to the developer's own preference on every freaking boot. Brilliant!

Since MCE Mapper is working again, so should CMC's internal mapper. Obviously the choice is yours, whichever you prefer. The MCE Mapper exposes all buttons, and give you total flexibility over the config. The CMC mapper is highly optimized, streamlined to only perform a few mappings critical for CMC and offering sensible choices, making it easier to use (once you figure out the 'run as Admin' hurdle). If all you need is what CMC covers, I'd recommend using CMC's solution, since it makes it fairly easy to double-check the current state and reapply your chosen config - something you will still have to do after each seasonal Windows update.

[robert5733]

Since MCE Mapper is working again, so should CMC's internal mapper. Obviously the choice is yours, whichever you prefer. The MCE Mapper exposes all buttons, and give you total flexibility over the config. The CMC mapper is highly optimized, streamlined to only perform a few mappings critical for CMC and offering sensible choices, making it easier to use (once you figure out the 'run as Admin' hurdle). If all you need is what CMC covers, I'd recommend using CMC's solution, since it makes it fairly easy to double-check the current state and reapply your chosen config - something you will still have to do after each seasonal Windows update.

I fired up my second computer that connects through CCC. It was having the same problem so I used the same steps. Rolled back the driver, reboot, applied mapping changes in CMC, deleted, renamed the registry strings, went back into CMC and applied mapping changes, but this time it gave me an error that the registry string(57da) did not exist and no option to apply the basic MCE string. The instructions from kodi say you might possibly be able to just import the 57da string back in the registry(if you exported before changes), but he and I both chose to use the MCERemoteMapper which gave us a choice to add the basic string(57da) back in. Quick and simple this time and all working fabulously.

Maybe since you based CMC mapping off MCERemoteMapping you are able to update that error message also to add the string.

Of note: The normal buttons worked (up,down, left, right, ok, play, pause, volume, etc...) it was only the remapping buttons that didn't work before the remapping. I am not sure if this driver is only for the Intel NUCs or for other intel IR Receivers also. You are welcome to change the title to something else if you think it will help people find this easier.

[Pauven]

Yeah, the code I wrote is simply to update an existing registry entry, not create it from scratch. The scenario you're experiencing is certainly not one I ever anticipated, much less programmed to handle.

As much as I'd like to quarantine this off as a rare scenario, I'm now fearing this will become much more commonplace. I'll have to dig into this further and figure out the appropriate path forward for CMC. It could be as simple as adding the string on-demand, as you suggest, but perhaps I can have it do more. You definitely had to jump through a lot of hoops, maybe I can simplify things a bit.

Of note: The normal buttons worked (up,down, left, right, ok, play, pause, volume, etc...) it was only the remapping buttons that didn't work before the remapping.

Yes, most buttons work great, that's normal. But there are notable functionality gaps, like a button to close apps, that are just not included in Microsoft's default implementation. Many MCE buttons are "dead", making them ideal targets for reprogramming. And of course, a button to launch CMC definitely doesn't exist. That's why in CMC I streamlined it to just offer button mappings for these glaring holes - at least in the basic remote control button mapper.

One thing to know about the CMC mapper is that it does more than simply update the registry - it also creates the shortcut to launch CMC. Even if you use MCE Advanced Remote Mapper for your programming needs, you'll still need that CMC shortcut (or shortcuts, plural, if you want the ability to selectively launch into Music or Movie mode directly). You already solved this by simply trying the CMC solution, even if it didn't ultimately work for you, it still created the shortcuts.

I am not sure if this driver is only for the Intel NUCs or for other intel IR Receivers also.

Could you post some info regarding the driver details? I'd like to know the driver name and version, both for the bad version and the rollback good version.

[robert5733]

Could you post some info regarding the driver details? I'd like to know the driver name and version, both for the bad version and the rollback good version.

The bad driver that was on the computer was
CIR-WIn11-5.5.2.1
ITECIR_Driver_v5521_Win11x64_For_Microsoft_v1.16.0.exe
I can’t find this driver except for use with the NUC6CAY and it says discontinued, I checked windows update and it says I am up to date, nothing about updating the driver from 5.4.5.0

I rolled back the driver in device manager and it went back to original Win10 install when I loaded drivers from intel website
v5.4.5.0
ITECIR_Driver_v5450_Win10_For_Microsoft_v1.10.0.exe

It would appear that these drivers are only for the Intel NUCs, they are not very easy to find.

Here is the link to the driver pack with the old driver in it, i have it saved for future, might be something to keep as a backup for future when we can’t find it anymore.
https://partner.simplynuc.com/downloads ... nuc10i7fnh
This is just a link to the download page, not the actual download. this pack is for my NUC10i7FNH, not sure if other nucs will be the same, but going to
https://partner.simplynuc.com/downloads will let you select your NUC from the list

Here is the revision history
https://downloadmirror.intel.com/776563 ... .5.2.1.txt
of note is the fix in 5.4.7.0, it says
“write remote control registry key from cir scratch register”

[Pauven]

Thanks for the driver info, I appreciate it.

I don't have any NUC's, so no way to investigate this on my end. I definitely don't have these ITECIR drivers on my systems.

It makes sense that the NUC, being a fully integrated micro PC, would use their own driver for any IR receivers built into the case. It took me a while to locate the receiver on your NUC (googling for images), but I think I found it, they squeezed it in just to the right of the power button, hidden behind the smoked panel.

I agree with your assessment that this is a NUC specific issue, and likely only for NUC's with a built-in IR receiver, and even then only for owners that make use of it. A NUC user could still disable the internal IR receiver, plug in an external Microsoft RC6 IR receiver which uses different drivers, and the problem would go away.

I know Jamie uses (or used to use) NUCs, and I think he's still a regular forum reader. I wonder if he's experienced this issue. I'm thinking he uses an external RC6 receiver, but perhaps he will chime in with his thoughts and experiences. I'm not aware of any other NUC users, but then again I have no idea what hardware 99% of CMC users are running.

I'll still take a look at what I can do in CMC to minimize the pain for others, but since this is likely a niche issue, this probably isn't the best use of my development time, so I don't plan to spend too much time on this. I'm super glad you got it figured out, and shared the solution here, so worst case there's this workaround. Thanks again!!!

[Jamie]

I have two 7 year old nucs and they haven't updated the drivers in a long time. They do have an internal ir receiver but I have been using a bluetooth wireless keyboard with a trackpad for 3 years now. Intel stopped making NUCS within the last year and asus has officially taken over the NUC moniker.

I am currently looking into getting a minisforum mini PC like the NUC but I first have to purchase a HIsense 4k UHD TV. I would like to get a sony qd oled tv but funds are tight and I have to be realistic on what I can afford.

[Pauven]

Thanks for the insight, Jamie.

Like you, I've been using a wireless keyboard/trackpad for the past 1-2 years. This is mainly because my HTPC is behind me, and I never bothered to try setting up a really long IR receiver extension. But with the advent of streaming services, I find the keyboard/trackpad combo much easier to navigate, since they pretty much are developed as if remote controls don't exist. And of course, since CMC works equally well with keyboard and remote, the has become my defacto standard.

This has created a bit of a blind spot for me, however - if I'm not actually using certain features, I may not realize when they stop working. I do occasionally do some purposeful remote control testing, usually around major CMC releases, but it's pretty easy for me to miss things like this these days.