# Vista Support for Tivo Desktop?



## zoma4 (Jul 20, 2004)

Is anyone running Tivo Desktop on Windows Vista betas (or RTM if you have it)? Can anyone tell me if it works before I install it on RC2?


----------



## rbonine (Feb 23, 2005)

It works fine on the latest beta (the post-RC2 build). I did have a problem with it failing to start up on a previous beta, but I can't remember specifically whether it was RC2. At any rate, it won't hurt anything.


----------



## zoma4 (Jul 20, 2004)

Thanks


----------



## mybootorg (Nov 17, 2006)

Though Tivo2go worked with earlier beta versions of Vista, I installed Tivo2go 2.3a on Windows Vista Ultimate (Final release, legal not warez) and it no longer works.

Specifically, it installs without error and runs initially without error. But it doesn't see my Tivo when I go to transfer programs.

If I click on server properties, it throws a small popup error that says "The specified service does not exist as an installed service. Error 1060." Then the properties come up.


----------



## ah30k (Jan 9, 2006)

mybootorg said:


> If I click on server properties, it throws a small popup error that says "The specified service does not exist as an installed service. Error 1060." Then the properties come up.


I have been getting that error on my Windows XP Media Center machine! I posted here on this forum but I have been a lone voice on the issue. Perhaps your error is not related to Vista but some config you have common with my Media Center PC.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=326135


----------



## mybootorg (Nov 17, 2006)

I dug around on the on the forums and found other people with the same problem -- except that they weren't running Vista. Someone suggested it has something to do with "limited privileges" accounts. For example, you installed it as administrator but are trying to run it as a an account with less privileges.

That makes sense to me because that's how Vista's security runs. You use a least priviledge account for your day to day stuff, and as you need to do administrative stuff it prompts you to OK it. I think that may be the problem. Vista doesn't allow programs to operate with administrator privileges. 

I found a temporary solution though. Someone suggested that Tivo2go 2.2 worked fine for people getting the error. Sure enough, I installed it and it worked like a charm. A tip - when you uninstall 2.3a it leaves a bunch of dll's in Program Files\Common\Tivo Shared Make sure you delete those manually before installing the older version.



---


----------



## GoHokies! (Sep 21, 2005)

My MAK seems to have dissapeared and I get a "SharingKeyLib error: 5" error when I try to input it again. I'm running TivoDesktop Plus and Vista RC1 (build 5600).

Looks like some user specific thing - for the life of me I can't figure it out...


----------



## wizzy (Nov 11, 2001)

Add me to the list of people having trouble with Vista. Running Vista Ultimate final. Installed fine, but I get "Transfer service not running" and "Failed to set HTTP port" errors.


----------



## zoma4 (Jul 20, 2004)

I couldn't get TivoDesktop running on Vista Business build 6000 (RTM).

Anybody from Tivo willing to comment?


----------



## Iluvatar (Jul 22, 2006)

Tivo Desktop does not work for me (tivo beacon not found) however Galleon seems to work just fine for basic transfers and goBack


----------



## zoma4 (Jul 20, 2004)

zoma4 said:


> I couldn't get TivoDesktop running on Vista Business build 6000 (RTM).
> 
> Anybody from Tivo willing to comment?


bump


----------



## zoma4 (Jul 20, 2004)

Very disappointed in TiVo not to have anything to say regarding this.


----------



## Surrealone (Dec 8, 2006)

Tivo and Vista RTM working fine for me. It is a Dir problem that you might see. TiVo looking for x:\docs and settings\USER NAME\my docs\Tivo folder <<<<<WINXP

Vista>>> x:\users\USER NAME\docs\Tivo folder

Vista and TiVo hooked up no problem

If you try to make the WinXP Dir in Vista it will make pointers to the new folder


----------



## zoma4 (Jul 20, 2004)

Surrealone said:


> Tivo and Vista RTM working fine for me. It is a Dir problem that you might see. TiVo looking for x:\docs and settings\USER NAME\my docs\Tivo folder <<<<<WINXP
> 
> Vista>>> x:\users\USER NAME\docs\Tivo folder
> 
> ...


I'm having issues with the TiVo Beacon as described in other posters messages. You haven't had any problems with it?


----------



## Surrealone (Dec 8, 2006)

I have no problems.


----------



## yukit (Jul 23, 2005)

I kind of got this working with Vista RTM version, but I have to launch both Tivo Server & Desktop apps with "Run as administrator".

At least I don't have any problems playing the tivo files with either Media player or MCE.

I actually had to do some work with Vista & UAC in my real day job. Tivo developers has to rewrite the desktop & server apps to stay clear of any APIs that require administrator privilege to run as a user-level app. It was a real pain if you really need to access admin-level APIs. I hope they are up to the task to get this done in the next release.


----------



## cada0310 (Feb 26, 2006)

I had the "transfer service not running" problem on a box I just upgraded from XPSP2 to Vista Business. I uninstalled the Tivo desktop software and re-installed it, and now I can transfer programs to the PC again...for some reason, my TiVo can't see my published music and pictures yet - I'm still working on that...

Hope this helps.

Chris


----------



## GoHokies! (Sep 21, 2005)

GoHokies! said:


> My MAK seems to have dissapeared and I get a "SharingKeyLib error: 5" error when I try to input it again. I'm running TivoDesktop Plus and Vista RC1 (build 5600).
> 
> Looks like some user specific thing - for the life of me I can't figure it out...


Uninstall/reinstall got me set right as rain on 5600. Looking forward to getting a released copy and doing a fresh OS install.


----------



## Ender (Aug 12, 2005)

I have Ultimate installed RTM via MSDN account.

I have similar issues. I can install Tivo Desktop without a problem - or so it seems. Tivo Desktop even sees my Tivo, however I get a beacon error (service not installed error) if I click on the Server Tab on top. In the tray icon, I can right click and select properties, but under Network Identification, It says "tivo beacon sevice is not available"

So while I can see my Tivo, my Tivo cannot see my PC. I have opened all the correct ports and have even disabled my firewall to see if that would make it work. To no avail.

Tivo probably needs to release another version of Tivo Desktop in the coming weeks.


----------



## cfneumann (Jun 20, 2003)

Have the same issue with 2003 server 64-bit edition.


----------



## cheesybear (Aug 17, 2005)

Hey, I just got this error running vista ultimate.

"The specified service does not exist as an installed service"

Running 2.3a, HUMAX-DVD burner 80GB, Series 2 40GB.

Any thoughts?


----------



## suggest THIS (Jan 13, 2005)

Here's a partial workaround. It lets me play music from published folders, but my TiVo® still won't see my computer's .tivo files on the Now Playing list.

1. Right-click on the TiVo guy in the system tray
2. Select "TiVo Server properties
3. Select the Access Control tab
4. Select "Only those which I select"
5. Click on the TiVo boxes you want to publish to.
6. Click on "Close."


----------



## Lenonn (May 31, 2004)

I just wonder when TiVo will release a version of the software that works with reservation in Vista.


----------



## atalbert (Apr 9, 2007)

I just replaced my daughter's computer with a new one which has Vista Home Basic preinstalled. As noted by many others, Tivo2Go doesn't seem to work. I've tried the suggestion of installing v. 2.2 but can't get the TiVoBeaconApi.dll to delete. I keep getting a "program in use" error message. 

Any ideas?

Thanks

Tony


----------



## tadtadtadtadtad (Mar 21, 2007)

This possible?


----------



## mschmid (Jul 18, 2007)

i may sound like an idiot...but once i download shows from my tivo, what player(s) can i use to view them?


----------



## drr5000 (Oct 18, 2004)

I've been reading all the threads about how to get TivoToGo to work on Vista and none of them worked for me. Finally, out of desperation, I installed a really old version I happened to still have on a pc - 2.0. I got much further than any other attempts to install 2.4 or 2.3a (the ones on the site now)... Tivo installed and put the icon on the desktop and everything, but when I double click on it, it says that the Beacon.exe couldn't be installed.

Anyone know any work-arounds to get the Beacon working on Vista??


On a related note (you can see how desperate I am to get something to watch tivo shows on my pc!), I installed Galleon and the ToGo part sees my tivo and lists the programs and lets me select them, however nothing gets transferred because on the Registration screen where you set the global settings, it doesn't see my PC. The field for entering the laptop's IP address is a drop-down with set choices -- none of which are the laptop I'm running it on.

Does anyone have advice on that?

I'll settle for getting EITHER program running -- I just really want to get back the ability to transfer and watch tivo shows on my pc! Who knew when I bought a new PC and had no choice but Vista what a pain it would be?!? So many products don't work right with it - it sucks!


----------



## TokyoShoe (Jul 27, 2007)

I have just recently joined the _TiVo Nation_ myself, and am still learning all this. So please bear with my ignorance:

I have a TiVo HD (I know, TiVoToGo isn't enabled yet on S3's), and a Vista home network. I would really like to be able to share out my photos and video files to my TiVo. Is there another app for Vista that is SIMPLE to configure and get up and running? I'm trying to get Galleon to work, but can only get it to show everything EXCEPT the videos and photos.

Any suggestions, since there is no official TiVo Desktop support for Vista .. and version 2.4a just bombs out on me during install? (Tried the compatibility trick, still no go.)


----------



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

TiVo Desktop for Vista is coming very soon. Until then you can try Galleon, but it's not all that "simple" to configure and use.

Dan


----------



## tahanna (Feb 12, 2006)

Just downloaded 2.4 and realized it won't work with vista. Had 2.3 running and working fine on my vista machine. Thought I would upgrade to 2.4 and oops! it wouldn't boot up on vista. Too late! I always just "ran" the software and didn't save it. If anyone knows where you can download it from (gone from tivo site) or if someone saved it, would appreciate the help. Thanks


----------



## nuttysquirrel (Jul 29, 2007)

Dan203 said:


> TiVo Desktop for Vista is coming very soon. Until then you can try Galleon, but it's not all that "simple" to configure and use.
> 
> Dan


Dan,

I've been reading for a while that a Vista compatible version is coming soon. While I realize that you probably can't give specifics, can you give us a general idea. Are we talking days, weeks or months (or worse  )

I recently purchased a new PC with Vista to replace an XP PC that died. One of the main reasons I went with TiVo over my cable provided PVR was because of the TiVo Desktop functionality. My renewal is coming up and since I no longer have that functionality, I find myself questioning whether or not I should renew.

I would really like to have at least a ballpark estimate of when Vista support can be expected.

Thanks


----------



## jvptiv (Jul 28, 2007)

Good news for Vista users. I've been researching this for awhile and finally ran across a solution. A great guy who works for Microsoft named Mark MacLachlan has posted some VERY detailed instructions about how to make TivoToGo (TiVo Desktop) 2.4a (very latest version) work with Vista. Turns out there are two very minor bugs (see below), and perhaps because of that the TiVo folks have artificially crippled version 2.4a, which otherwise works fine with Vista. One bug is that when you minimize TiVo Desktop you have to double-click the TiVo icon in the system tray to restore it to full screen. The other is similarly trivial--right-click doesn't work on the tray icon--and has the same solution (use left-click). These are detailed clearly on Mark's instruction page. NOTE: The instructions are VERY detailed and technical. Anyone should be able to follow them if they go carefully step by step, but you should read them over first to see if fright overcomes you or you otherwise feel over your head. I followed them with no trouble, but if you've never used a DOS box, etc., you may want to get a more techie friend involved. I really did accomplish the task of getting 2.4a to run in about 15 minutes, after months of searching. My motivation was that with 2.3 an error message blocks many operations (like changing where recordings are stored) with a meaningless message about how "specified service does not exist as an installed service" about which nothing can be done. (The workarounds people posted earlier no longer seem to work.)
Why hasn't TiVo put out a solution without the crippling feature as a beta? Hmmmm....
Anyway, I'm not allowed to post the URL due to spam protection measures, but the instructions are at a site called "the spiders parlor" (remove the unnecessary spaces and add the com) and many thanks to Mark for this valuable assistance!


----------



## jvptiv (Jul 28, 2007)

I do have a copy of version 2.3 I could send out. However, there's a fix for version 2.4a that works, described in my other post on this thread.


----------



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

nuttysquirrel said:


> I've been reading for a while that a Vista compatible version is coming soon. While I realize that you probably can't give specifics, can you give us a general idea. Are we talking days, weeks or months (or worse  )


I don't know specifics, but based on what I got from my source it sounds like it should be a few weeks at most.

Dan


----------



## nuttysquirrel (Jul 29, 2007)

Dan203 said:


> I don't know specifics, but based on what I got from my source it sounds like it should be a few weeks at most.
> 
> Dan


Thanks Dan!


----------



## Daxel (May 13, 2002)

Ok, the real problem is that the installer does a quick check to see if you are running an "acceptable" system.

If you double click on the installer, and wait until you get the "you cannot install" message.
Then go to C:\Users\<YOURUSERID>\AppData\Local\Temp and sort by date. You should find an .msi file with a buch of numbers or letters like 2de3d698.msi (the date/time should match when you started to run the installer)
Copy this file to your desktop, and rename it to TivoToGo24.msi or whatever you want to remember it by.

Now, track down a program called Orca (i cannot post the URL due to posting restrictions)

Install this.

Run Orca, point it at the .msi file you saved.

Open TivoToGo24.msi with Orca.

Left click to select the LaunchCondition row in the left window pane.

Remove all entries from the right window pane.

Save the file, exit Orca.

Launch TivoToGo24.msi, install and enjoy.

I cannot gaurantee that everything will run properly, but it will install, and did work for me.

Hope that helps.


----------



## TokyoShoe (Jul 27, 2007)

Well I found and installed a copy of TiVoDesktop 2.3a last night. Got it installed and running just perfectly on BOTH of my home computers , both running Vista Home Premium.

The only thing that frustrates me, it won't access my TiVoHD yet to download recordings (apparently because TiVoToGo is still disabled on TiVoHD's.)

Well, I'm happy atleast that I got it up and working. Now I just wait for them to finally turn on TiVoToGo for HD's.


----------



## TravisM (Mar 16, 2005)

jvptiv said:


> Good news for Vista users. I've been researching this for awhile and finally ran across a solution. A great guy who works for Microsoft named Mark MacLachlan has posted some VERY detailed instructions about how to make TivoToGo (TiVo Desktop) 2.4a (very latest version) work with Vista. Turns out there are two very minor bugs (see below), and perhaps because of that the TiVo folks have artificially crippled version 2.4a, which otherwise works fine with Vista. One bug is that when you minimize TiVo Desktop you have to double-click the TiVo icon in the system tray to restore it to full screen. The other is similarly trivial--right-click doesn't work on the tray icon--and has the same solution (use left-click). These are detailed clearly on Mark's instruction page. NOTE: The instructions are VERY detailed and technical. Anyone should be able to follow them if they go carefully step by step, but you should read them over first to see if fright overcomes you or you otherwise feel over your head. I followed them with no trouble, but if you've never used a DOS box, etc., you may want to get a more techie friend involved. I really did accomplish the task of getting 2.4a to run in about 15 minutes, after months of searching. My motivation was that with 2.3 an error message blocks many operations (like changing where recordings are stored) with a meaningless message about how "specified service does not exist as an installed service" about which nothing can be done. (The workarounds people posted earlier no longer seem to work.)
> Why hasn't TiVo put out a solution without the crippling feature as a beta? Hmmmm....
> Anyway, I'm not allowed to post the URL due to spam protection measures, but the instructions are at a site called "the spiders parlor" (remove the unnecessary spaces and add the com) and many thanks to Mark for this valuable assistance!


I could not get to the web site you talked about.

Help.

Thanks


----------



## dylanemcgregor (Jan 31, 2003)

TravisM said:


> I could not get to the web site you talked about.
> 
> Help.
> 
> Thanks


Tivo has just released Tivo Desktop 2.5 with official support for Vista. Some people are still having trouble getting it to work right, but if you want to give it a try you can download here.

http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/domore/tivotogo/windows.html


----------



## TravisM (Mar 16, 2005)

dylanemcgregor said:


> Tivo has just released Tivo Desktop 2.5 with official support for Vista. Some people are still having trouble getting it to work right, but if you want to give it a try you can download here.
> 
> Thanks for the link. I have been checking for Vista support.
> 
> ...


----------



## DigiDean (Nov 27, 2004)

I am running Vista too. When I try to connect to my TIVO's, I receive an error message;

"There was an error while attempting to retrieve data from the selected DVR. Not enought storage is available to process this command."

I have over 1 TB of space, with half of it free right now so I'm not sure what's up with this. Does anyone have any suggestions.

Dean


----------



## nuttysquirrel (Jul 29, 2007)

Not sure if this helps, but I had tried the Orca solution to get 2.4a running, but was never able to get it to run right, so I uninstalled it. When I installed 2.5, I got errors when it tried to start the beacon server. I uninstalled 2.5 and ran the Fix24Setup.exe script that tivo provides to clean up 2.4 installations on migrated machines. I then reinstalled 2.5 and it worked fine.

The link to Fix24Setup.exe is available below the 2.5 download link.


----------



## TravisM (Mar 16, 2005)

I tried the "fix" but it did not help. This machine, a new Dell has a reinstall of Vista. My other Vista (Dell also) machine has the original install of Vista and Desktop works there just fine.

I'm not going to beat my brains out trying to fix it.

We purchased the new TiVo HD and it doesn't have multi room anyhow.


----------



## Termiteman (Sep 18, 2007)

Links to Vista would be nice


----------



## mstrixe (Nov 9, 2007)

I was getting the Beacon error too.

I did two fixes at once (I know I messed up my controlled experiment). I went to the server properties app and under access control and manually selected my Tivo under custom. I then went to performance and changed the cache folder from the default to C:\Users\Username\documents\tivo (i had to create the tivo folder). Vista does not like you to change folders behind the scenes so you usually have to put stuff in the documents folder. When I went back and checked automatic in access control it still worked so I don't think this was the issue.


----------

