Media Streaming is not turned on

[dmroz]

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit and the Media Streaming feature will not turn on.  Something is causing the Media Streaming feature to fail.  I've tried all the Microsoft recommendations but nothing seems to fix the situation. 

Any help would be greatly appreciate!

Thanks in advance!

[Boggin]

A few others have also had this problem and you may find one of the solutions in this article will work for you. https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/c10026c4-d133-4028-bcc9-0d9eb8504dee/unable-to-turn-on-media-streaming

[Shane]

Let me know if any of those steps work and I can see if it is possible to add it to the windows repair program.

Besides that though, is there any errors or anything in the event viewer about it?

Shane

[dmroz]

Shane,
None of the steps worked.  I am continuing to research the issue but it seems something is causing the services to be locked.  If I run a Windows repair I can turn the features on but only briefly and they go back to being disabled.   This is very frustrating!  I know there are many people who have had the same issue and end up re-installing the OS.  Something I find completely unacceptable.  Microsoft has provided little insight into what causes the problem.  As I said, I will continue to research the issue and if I find a solution will post so you can include it in to your fantastic repair utility.
Thanks,
Dennis

[Boggin]

From a dig around on the Network Discovery will not turn on, have found that it is dependent upon the following services being started -

DNS Client - Started / Automatic
Function Discovery Resource Publication - Started / Automatic
SSDP Discovery - Started / Manual
UPnP Device Host - Started / Manual

AV programs have also been known to block this, with AVG being mentioned.

I'm not sure if Network Discovery will function in Safe Mode with Networking, but in that mode, all 3rd party programs including AV programs will be isolated - so that is something to try to see if it is being caused by your AV program - or even a 3rd party program in your msconfig/Startup menu.

Without going back through that article, I assume you have tried your restore points back to when you did know/think it was working ?

[Shane]

If I run a Windows repair I can turn the features on but only briefly and they go back to being disabled.

Certain settings make windows change the startup of certain services. As an example, remote desktop is normally off by default so the remote desktop service is set to disabled. When you enable remote desktop windows changes the service to automatic.

So knowing that windows does changes service startup and even starts or stops them based on what settings are in the registry, I would say that is the path we need to look down.

We need to find out what registry settings hold that info and why they are not getting changed or if something is changing them back OR like the retarded bits service, if a filestobackup key is simply missing from the registry the bits service bombs out and stops. So you can see how crazy easy it is to break some of these.

So if a repair install of windows normally fixes it then either it is putting back missing registry keys or overwriting some. I am wondering if it is a missing registry key that is the problem.

But I dont know off the top of my head where to start looking on which ones are needed.

Shane

[dmroz]

Here is the order and specifics on how the issue was resolved.

1) removed the 3 windows media options by going to "programs and features" and deselecting the Windows media features.

2) used Revo Uninstaller to remove any remnants of Windows Media.  Revo took out the leftover registry entries, files and directories associated with Windows Media.

3) as recommended changed the service startup features as follows:

DNS Client - Started / Automatic
Function Discovery Resource Publication - Started / Automatic
SSDP Discovery - Started / Automatic
UPnP Device Host - Started / Automatic

please note these steps did not work without using Revo to eliminate Windows Media remnants.

4) rebooted and turned Media Streaming back on at which point the network device list appears.

now that media streaming is working i have to start focusing in on why iTunes will not stream to devices on the network.  hopefully the iTunes issue will be an easier solution.

Thanks for the help!  help with the iTunes problem will be greatly appreciated!

[Shane]

please note these steps did not work without using Revo to eliminate Windows Media remnants.

That answers the question then

It was what ever registry keys Revo removed. I dont suppose it kept a log of what it removed did it?

Shane

[dmroz]

I checked Revo and there isn't a log from the deletion.  However, i do recall looking at the registry entries it was to delete and they had Media Player and Media Center in them.  As for the file and directories I saw Windows Media Player as the directory being deleted.  I wish I had a log for you but CCleaner must have deleted it.  thanks for your help!