# Media Access Key Missing



## jnap818 (Jul 10, 2008)

Hi - 

I have a Tivo Premiere XL and the Media Access Key is missing in the Account & System Information menu. I spoke to Tivo support and they said to reconnect the service and reboot (a few times if necessary to make the MAK reappear). I have done this 4 times already and still no MAK. I think that is piss poor customer service. Can any help here? I need the MAK to hook up the new Tivo app on my iPad.

Thanks!


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Make sure the Tivo is listed on your tivo.com account and subscribed.

Next, under *DVR Preferences*, check the boxes for transfers and downloads.

Have tivo make a tivo connection, and wait up to a day or so.


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## asahi (Sep 30, 2006)

jnap818 said:


> Hi -
> 
> I have a Tivo Premiere XL and the Media Access Key is missing in the Account & System Information menu. I spoke to Tivo support and they said to reconnect the service and reboot (a few times if necessary to make the MAK reappear). I have done this 4 times already and still no MAK. I think that is piss poor customer service. Can any help here? I need the MAK to hook up the new Tivo app on my iPad.
> 
> Thanks!


I'm having the exact same problem. No Media Access Key in the Account and System information menu on my TiVo Premiere. I've rebooted a number of times and have checked the boxes for transfers and downloads on TiVo.com. In the TiVo app, when I try to log in through TiVo.com, it says that the TiVo app is only for Premiere boxes. This is a Premiere TiVo. I bought it because I wanted to use the app om my iPad. I'll call TiVo customer service as well. Let me know if you find a solution jnap818 and I'll do the same.


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## JennyP (Jul 12, 2006)

Do you have a media access key showing on the website when you login to your account?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

It can take 24 hours or more for the MAK to appear.


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## jnap818 (Jul 10, 2008)

I have had the premiere box for 2 months now and transfers/video downloads have been enabled since day 1. MAK is also present on the TIVO website. I have rebooted/reconnected multiple times (its been 24 hours) and still no MAK. I really don't know what else to do. Any other suggestions? Tivo customer service is HORRIBLE.

Thanks!


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## asahi (Sep 30, 2006)

asahi said:


> I'm having the exact same problem. No Media Access Key in the Account and System information menu on my TiVo Premiere. I've rebooted a number of times and have checked the boxes for transfers and downloads on TiVo.com. In the TiVo app, when I try to log in through TiVo.com, it says that the TiVo app is only for Premiere boxes. This is a Premiere TiVo. I bought it because I wanted to use the app om my iPad. I'll call TiVo customer service as well. Let me know if you find a solution jnap818 and I'll do the same.


Okay...good news... I got my Media Access key to show up on my new Premiere. I called TiVo support and here is what we did. 1: go to TiVo.com and log into your account. Go to DVR preferences and uncheck both the allow transfers enable video downloads radio buttons for all your Tivos (I have a Premiere and Series 3). Make sure to click save. 2: go to your TiVo Premiere and force a network connection to TiVo. Wait one hour. 3: go back to TiVo.com, log in and back to DVR preferences. Now make sure to check the radio buttons for both allow transfers and enable video downloads. Click save. Go back to your TiVo and force a network connection to TiVo, wait one hour. After an a hour I also unplugged my TiVo and plugged it back in. When it rebooted my Media access key was now under Settings + messages/account + system info. I put the media access key into the TiVo App on my iPad and it connected! Success! Love the new app. Hope this helps anyone that is having issues with a missing media access key on their Premiere. Good Luck!


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Great work.


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## jnap818 (Jul 10, 2008)

That worked. You da man.


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## asahi (Sep 30, 2006)

jnap818 said:


> That worked. You da man.


Great to hear that it worked!


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## spiraleyes (Sep 18, 2007)

asahi said:


> Okay...good news... I got my Media Access key to show up on my new Premiere. I called TiVo support and here is what we did. 1: go to TiVo.com and log into your account. Go to DVR preferences and uncheck both the allow transfers enable video downloads radio buttons for all your Tivos (I have a Premiere and Series 3). Make sure to click save. 2: go to your TiVo Premiere and force a network connection to TiVo. Wait one hour. 3: go back to TiVo.com, log in and back to DVR preferences. Now make sure to check the radio buttons for both allow transfers and enable video downloads. Click save. Go back to your TiVo and force a network connection to TiVo, wait one hour. After an a hour I also unplugged my TiVo and plugged it back in. When it rebooted my Media access key was now under Settings + messages/account + system info. I put the media access key into the TiVo App on my iPad and it connected! Success! Love the new app. Hope this helps anyone that is having issues with a missing media access key on their Premiere. Good Luck!


I had the same problem and this solution worked for me! Thanks!


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## emd1174 (Nov 9, 2004)

I may have a unique issue here. I had TIVO for many years and due to some personal financial issues, I no longer have TIVO. I have several shows that I that I transferred from my TIVO to a CD ROM. I would like to load them to my PC and play them, but I need an access code it seems. I don't have an access code anymore and my account online seems to be deactivated. Anyone have any idea how I get an access key or if there is a way to play the videos without the access key?

Thank you in advance.
Donna


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

emd1174 said:


> I may have a unique issue here. I had TIVO for many years and due to some personal financial issues, I no longer have TIVO. I have several shows that I that I transferred from my TIVO to a CD ROM. I would like to load them to my PC and play them, but I need an access code it seems. I don't have an access code anymore and my account online seems to be deactivated. Anyone have any idea how I get an access key or if there is a way to play the videos without the access key?


You can't download them to your PC without TiVo service but you can connect the TiVo to the TV and play them. Alternatively you can sign up for service for one month, download the shows (assuming they are not copy protected) and then cancel service when done.

Scott


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## emd1174 (Nov 9, 2004)

HerronScott said:


> You can't download them to your PC without TiVo service but you can connect the TiVo to the TV and play them. Alternatively you can sign up for service for one month, download the shows (assuming they are not copy protected) and then cancel service when done.
> 
> Scott


I no longer have a Tivo box. I have the shows burned onto a CD. When I try to play them on a non Tivo player, it tells me I need the Tivo media access Key. I do not have that key.

Donna


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

emd1174 said:


> I no longer have a Tivo box. I have the shows burned onto a CD. When I try to play them on a non Tivo player, it tells me I need the Tivo media access Key. I do not have that key.
> 
> Donna


You need the MAK to be able to decrypt them.

The first thing I do after a show is transferred from a TiVo is decrypt them.
At one point a TiVo CSR changed my MAK and screwed up several Terabytes of recordings I had on my PC. Since then I make sure everything is decrypted. Then I can do whatever I want with the video files.
Of course it helps that the process can be automated with kmttg.

Sent from my Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

emd1174 said:


> I no longer have a Tivo box. I have the shows burned onto a CD. When I try to play them on a non Tivo player, it tells me I need the Tivo media access Key. I do not have that key.
> 
> Donna


You no longer have the TiVos and your account at tivo.com no longer exists? Do you still have the original installation of the s/w you used to transfer?

I know of no way to recover the MAK from the .tivo files.


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

emd1174 said:


> I may have a unique issue here. I had TIVO for many years and due to some personal financial issues, I no longer have TIVO. I have several shows that I that I transferred from my TIVO to a CD ROM. I would like to load them to my PC and play them, but I need an access code it seems. I don't have an access code anymore and my account online seems to be deactivated. Anyone have any idea how I get an access key or if there is a way to play the videos without the access key?
> 
> Thank you in advance.
> Donna


If you still have the PC upon which you installed TiVo Desktop, the DownloadManager.log file would contain the MAK where it logs the curl program. If it still exists on your PC, the file is %LOCALAPPDATA%\TiVo Desktop\Logs\DownloadManager.log; if you search on "tivo:" you should find the MAK immediately following.


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