Cannot install and set up Media Center Extender on Xbox 360

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, but it seemed the most relevant and likely spot given the limited options among the community support forum titles and descriptions.

My problem is this: I recently reset my computer to factory default settings, which removed my media center extender for the Xbox 360 along with everything else. I've gotten my system back up and programs installed and configured, and I'm trying to connect
my Xbox 360 to the system via Windows Media Center Extender for Xbox 360 so that I can watch videos and listen to music from my PC on the Xbox and the TV connected to it. This all worked perfectly when I had it set up before the computer reset/restore to
factory defaults, and when I had set it up the last time I had no problems. This time, I cannot get it to work at all.

When I run the Media Center program to add an extender, I type in the setup key as displayed on the Xbox, and click next. It either fails to find the extender that should be configured, even though all of my security software is temporarily and completely
disabled, or it finds it and attempts to configure it but gives me an error that it failed. It does not give any information as to why it failed, or what it was trying to do (other than the fact that the section on configuring the extender had not received
a check mark). It does offer me the option of viewing online help, which I've done, and I've done everything listed there to no avail.

On 2 or 3 attempts I received a message from windows that it detected new hardware and it was trying to install drivers for the Windows Media Center Extender, but driver installation fails, I have found no place on the internet to manually download new copies
of the drivers to try and place a fresh copy in my system drivers folders. Most of the time it does not appear to even attempt to install the drivers. Device manager does not display any unknown or unworking devices, nor does it display any Xbox Extender
or Windows Media Center Extender entries.

Other posts around the internet have suggested connecting directly to the Xbox itself with an Ethernet cable (I was connecting via WiFi), which I tried, and still the exact same results.

I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium on an HP Pavilion dv7 laptop. I'm running Comodo Internet Security as both antivirus and Firewall. As I mentioned, my security software is disabled, and I have double-checked that Windows Firewall and Windows Defender are
both also disabled. I have also added the various allowances and exceptions manually to Comodo anyway (as per the online help section regarding possible connection problems), as I plan to have it re-enabled while running the media center extender (if I can
ever get it working). The Xbox 360 itself is fully updated.

I really need some help here. I can't understand why it was working so perfectly prior to resetting my system, but now is not working at all. I'd appreciate any intelligent suggestions on what else I can try.

Thanks,

Drake

:)

 

Help setting up streaming from Windows Media Center

Setting up the XBox 360 as a Media Center Extender

1. On your XBox 360 console, scroll up to My XBox

2. Scroll across and select Windows Media Center

3. Select Continue

4. Note the 8-digit set-up key that is displayed. This is the key that will associate your XBox 360 console with the computer running Windows Media Center.

5. On the computer open Windows Media Center

6. Scroll down to Tasks, and then scroll across to Add Extender.

7. Follow the prompts until you are asked for the 8-digit set-up key

8. Enter the key. Then click Next

9. Follow the prompts to complete the set-up.

BTW you will not be able to view PowerPoint presentations this way. Media Center is purely for viewing Media

 

media centre extender disconnected

Hey there VolantBarbecue1!

I'm sorry to hear you're having issues getting the Windows Media Center Extender set up for your console. Let's see what we can do to get everything sorted.

First off, just to be sure:

You're using Windows 7 on both computers now, correct?

• Assuming you are, have you seen this guide on how to properly
  set up Windows Media Center on Xbox 360 (Windows 7)? If not, I'd give that a look and follow the steps to see if that helps you get set up properly.
  
• Also, here's our guide on
  folders monitored by default with Xbox 360 as Windows Media Extender. That will just make sure that your folders are there and in the proper place for your console to be able to read them.
  
• And here's our guide on how to
  troubleshoot Windows Media Center. There's several good section of that including the Error: Session Terminated section as well as the Error: Configuration Error sections which might be applicable to your situation.
  

Let us know how any of that works for you and we'll go from there! ^_^