# Tivo Desktop MAK problem. Help needed!



## larrs (May 2, 2005)

I have been using Tivo Desktop 2.5.1 on my Windows XP (New servie Pack III installed in the last two weeks) computer for some time and I have a bunch of videos that we want to save indefinitely on my computer that I access via my 4 Tivos when we want to watch them. We do this quite often. Last week, I sat down to transfer a couple of things we decided to keep to the computer for safe keeping. When I opened Tivo Sesktop and "picked programs to transfer", I got a message that the MAK in desktop and the MAK on the Tivo do not match. No biggie- I just reentered it. Unfortunately,that did not work. So, I checked around here and tried several things and none worked. I then uninstalled and reinstalled the desktop- no dice. I ran Desktop cleaner and manuall cleaned the registry and reinstalled- still no dice. I did it again and tried 2.6- still nothing. My Tivos see each other and tranfer to each other no problem- but they don not see the computer and vice versa. 

Tivo was no help even though I made it to Level II- now it has been escalated to Level II and there is no ETA on a resolution. I also see this seems to have occurred before and there are entries on the Tivo suppost forums, but no resolution that I can find.

Any suggestions on what to do next?


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## larrs (May 2, 2005)

No ideas? 

Can anyone run regedit and see what is listed under sharedkeys? Is it your actual MAK or is it something else?


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## djmorse (Apr 25, 2003)

I'm now encountering the EXACT same problem as you describe. I've also been on the phone with tech support, and they ran out of ideas, and suggested I might have a virus and to reinstall Windows 

It's clear that when I go to File/Set Media Access Key, TiVo Desktop is *not* actually setting it (since the registry has zero-length values in HKCU\Software\TiVo\SharingKeys).

The strange thing is, I installed 2.6.2 on my wife's computer (also running XP SP3) and it works flawlessly (saves the MAK in the registry key above, and shows a list of shows from all of our DVRs).

This is infuriating. I've uninstalled (w/ and w/o the Cleaner Utility) and reinstalled. This used to work fine, and it just got broken fairly recently.

larrs, did you ever come to a resolution?? I'm at a loss.


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## Rdian06 (Apr 12, 2008)

IIRC, he ended up reinstalling Windows from scratch on the affected machine.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Try running the TiVo Desktop Cleaner with the /ALL command-line switch. That will blow away the MAK and Plus key entries too. Make sure you've got your Plus key written down somewhere so you can re-upgrade after the install.


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## djmorse (Apr 25, 2003)

windracer said:


> Try running the TiVo Desktop Cleaner with the /ALL command-line switch. That will blow away the MAK and Plus key entries too. Make sure you've got your Plus key written down somewhere so you can re-upgrade after the install.


Sorry, I should have mentioned I tried this too. It did prompt me for the MAK and Plus key upon reinstall, but it still will not save the MAK.


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## larrs (May 2, 2005)

Rdian06 said:


> IIRC, he ended up reinstalling Windows from scratch on the affected machine.


That is indeed what it took. I posted it in another related thread. Sorry.

It does work fine now and the only positive is my PC runs faster since I cleaned it up.


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## dc9driver (Feb 1, 2005)

Anybody else have any info on this? I definitely don't want to reinstall an OS.

Both computers got clean installs (no previous version) today with 2.6.2
Running XP sp3 on both Dell Dimension and Dell XPS laptop.

Tivo tech support no help. Tivo Desktop works fine on my desktop computer. For some reason on my laptop the MAK is not being saved in the program.

From my laptop,I can access my Tivo from my web browser with the MAK so its not the Tivo. When I try with the Tivo Desktop software, it says MAK does not match the one in Tivo Desktop. When I go and re-enter it, I notice that there is no red message above that states "Media Access Key has been set" like it should be.

Did all the uninstall and clean thing also.

Thanks,
LJ


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## Rdian06 (Apr 12, 2008)

dc9driver said:


> Anybody else have any info on this? I definitely don't want to reinstall an OS.
> 
> Both computers got clean installs (no previous version) today with 2.6.2
> Running XP sp3 on both Dell Dimension and Dell XPS laptop.
> ...


If you really don't want to re-install your OS, then you can try sending me a Process Monitor log and I'll take a stab at trying to decipher it.

Process Monitor is a Microsoft tool for logging all the file and registry reads and writes generated by running applications. My hunch is the problem is a permissions issue with a key in the registry, and having the Process Monitor log should allow me to tell you which key is affected and maybe how to fix it.

The downside is that your MAK or some representation of it might get stored in the log file so if you're uncomfortable with me potentially seeing it, then you won't want to do this.

If you want to try , then download Process Monitor from Microsoft's TechNet here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

1) Unzip it, and then run Procmon.exe.

2) Accept the license agreement.

3) The Process monitor window will pop up and events will start logging causing the window to fill up fast.

4) Run Tivo Desktop and go through the steps of entering your MAK.

5) Then do whatever it is that causes the MAK does not match error to appear.

6) Go back to the Process Monitor window and choose File->Save.

7) Zip up the resulting log file.

7) PM me and I'll tell you how to get the log file to me for analysis.


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## dc9driver (Feb 1, 2005)

Thanks! 

Will do.
LJ


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## djmorse (Apr 25, 2003)

Rdian06 said:


> If you really don't want to re-install your OS, then you can try sending me a Process Monitor log and I'll take a stab at trying to decipher it.


Great minds think alike. I tried ProcMon last week when I was banging my head against the desk into the wee hours of the morning. It's definitely hitting the [HKCU\Software\TiVo\SharingKeys] registry key when you type in the MAK, but it just wasn't saving it (just binary 0). No error return codes that I could see.



dc9driver said:


> Anybody else have any info on this? I definitely don't want to reinstall an OS.
> 
> Both computers got clean installs (no previous version) today with 2.6.2
> Running XP sp3 on both Dell Dimension and Dell XPS laptop.
> ...


I was able to resolve my issue this morning *without a reinstall *by creating a new user (Control Panel/User Accounts) with administrator privileges, logging in as that user, and reinstalling TiVo Desktop under the new account. It now saves the MAK and I am able to transfer shows once again on my desktop.

I am now migrating all my user settings (bookmarks, Start Menu items, etc) to the new user account so I can eventually make a hard switch. For those with program installations, it'll be a PITA to migrate the application data, but it sure does beat a full OS reinstall. dc9driver, this might be the perfect solution for you, since it sounds like you have a pretty fresh system.

Let me know if this fixes your issue too...


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