By Danny Ton
If you have Windows Vista Media Center WITHOUT the TV Pack 2008 (Fiji) installed, and you want to do a clean install of Windows 7 instead of an upgrade, there is a fairly simple way to port the existing recording scheduled entries to the new installation:
Important note: This method is to port ONLY the schedule entries, and NOT other settings such as the recorded TV location, recording history, NOR the existing recordings themselves.
- Back up the recordings.xml found under %programdata%\microsoft\ehome\recording to a flash or backup drive (one whose data will not be destroyed as you install the new Windows 7 OS).
Note: programdata is a hidden folder in the root of the OS drive. One way to get to it is by typing %programdata% into the Start | Search box and then hit Enter.
- Do a clean install of Windows 7.
- Create a new folder %programdata%\microsoft\ehome\recording and copy to it the recordings.xml backed up in step #1 above
- Launch Media Center and go through TV signal setup.
At the end of the setup, all recording scheduled entries found in the recordings.xml will be imported into Media Center.
The indexing of the Guide can take a while, so please give it some time for the scheduled entries to show up under Recorded TV | view scheduled. You can also verify whether the series are imported successfully by checking under Recorded TV | view scheduled | series.
About the Author
Danny Ton has been a developer on the Windows Media Center team since 2006. He works on the TV signal setup and on-screen keyboard features of Windows Media Center. He lives in Lynnwood, WA with his wife and two kids.