3.2.60.0 Service

[hasown 3]

I'm not opposed to doing the service another way, but why isn't the removal of native support for service in the blog post? Why do I have to find out by updating and noticing something is broken and then going to the forums?

[drashna 46]

I'm not opposed to doing the service another way, but why isn't the removal of native support for service in the blog post? Why do I have to find out by updating and noticing something is broken and then going to the forums?

 

This.

 

It should have been announced.

 

This entire thing feels incredibly amateurish.  Or that you just don't give a shit, at all. 

[Happy2Play 8240]

This.

 

It should have been announced.

 

This entire thing feels incredibly amateurish.  Or that you just don't give a shit, at all. 

 

There have been dozens of topics on this and the change started back during the Window Anniversary Update, when it first started deleting services during the update so this is not new.

[drashna 46]

There have been dozens of topics on this and the change started back during the Window Anniversary Update, when it first started deleting services during the update so this is not new.

Right here, full stop.

 

If this is how you're going to respond, then you're a shitty company that I HIGHLY regret doing business with.

 

I want a full refund of my lifetime subscription.

 

 

To emphasize here, this thread is a perfect example of not only how NOT to handle things, but showcases that you've literally handled this wrong from step one.

 

At the minimum, you're assuming that every customer is on the forums and reading threads often. This is wrong, on so many levels.

 

You changed CORE functionality without even a notice, by removing the ability to run as a service.

 

Literally, the first result on how to fix this, actually:

http://www.lmfgtfy.com/?q=run+netcore+as+service+windows

 

 

And one of you biggest issues have been how to auto-restart to upgrade, as a service.

 

 

As for Windows Anniversary Update. This has affected other software, as well. This is a problem with Windows' setup process.

[Latchmor 584]

I'm guessing you may not see this but if you come back, calm down please.

 

You're the only one saying f this and f that.

Thanks

 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

[hasown 3]

I'm guessing you may not see this but if you come back, calm down please.

 

You're the only one saying f this and f that.

Thanks

 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

 

There's no need for cursing but I agree with his basic idea. I've been using Emby for about a year now and the only time I needed to go to the forums was for a question concerning season order vs aired order for TV shows and how that would interact with the Trakt plugin. Otherwise I have been able to read blog posts, update, and be happy with new features without worrying about Emby working as great as it always did.

 

This is the first time I've been to the forums because something broke and I feel it should have been announced. Saying that "There have been dozens of topics on this" is not a good answer, because I don't browse the forums daily here. It's honestly worse this way, because it's clearly something that the development team has been aware of for months and they still didn't communicate it properly.

[Latchmor 584]

Yip, I've no problem with the point he's trying to make but it sounded like the world was ending. His post has been edited so my reaction seems a little weird now 

[Migamix 0]

I'm guessing you may not see this but if you come back, calm down please.

 

You're the only one saying f this and f that.

Thanks

 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

no, hes saying what the rest of us are thinking, so much changed and we were all caught unaware until the servers no longer worked when we most needed them. 

[Latchmor 584]

no, hes saying what the rest of us are thinking, so much changed and we were all caught unaware until the servers no longer worked when we most needed them.

I refer you to my previous post...

 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

[AmericanCrisis 28]

Ok developers I'm a little annoyed... all Christmas vacation I was responding to friends and family trying to get Emby Server to work.  It started with Emby Server automatically restarting itself to apply the update.  This, as many others have suggested, caused Emby Server to stop completely.  I had to remote into my Windows Server several times to manually launch Emby Server because the process had stopped during an update.  As many have already pointed out, manually updating the Emby Server then restarting caused the crash as well.  So as to not spend much time dealing with it over the holiday I just left it the old version, only to have to manually start the Emby Server again twelve hours later.  I eventually figured out I had to disable the "auto restart to apply updates" feature within Emby Server.  

 

This has always been my main frustration with Emby as a media server.  You "developers" are constantly making changes to Emby Server that cause more problems than solutions.  I've been an avid supporter since very early on and at first I loved the changes... now I just want things to work so that my many family and friends that depend on Emby stop bugging me on "what's up with Emby?!?!"  

 

Please, moving forward, don't roll out a stable version unless it is stable.  Please don't defend yourselves suggesting we need to post a log and there must be something wrong with our machine, etc. etc. etc.  This is obviously a problem for so many that it has to be none other than the buggy version of Emby Server that was put out as "Stable".  This was especially frustrating and embarrassing during the holidays.  I made it a special point to put awesome Christmas movies and shows on Emby for my peeps only to be embarrassed how the software I've touted for so long it failing us all.  

 

Rant over!  Happy Holidays!

[Luke 36999]

@@AmericanCrisis I apologize. Emby Server is now built on a brand new platform, and this is going to bring us into a new era of performance and stability with the server. Unfortunately the transition from the old platform to the new platform did not go as smoothly as we would have liked and for that we do have to apologize. Thanks.

[deadonthefloor 4]

I'm also upset that I have to use another third party application to 'run as a service'.

 

Can you point to specific MSDN articles (or elsewhere), on what's changed in writing windows services that would lead you to not properly implement a Windows feature?

 

I'm looking around and I'm not finding a huge discussion on what's changed that makes writing/maintaining a Windows Service so daunting or onerous.

 

I'll be running the desktop application, for now.

​I will not be using a third party application to gain native windows functionality, that a developer can implement.
 

[cw-kid 192]

I am unable to install the new update 3.2.60.0. It says to reboot to finalise the installation, but the server never reboot and I have to reopen the emby server, and it is still the 3.2.36.0 version. 

 

I have the same problem on a WHS 2011 server. 

 

I have an Emby Server service in Windows Services set to Manual startup

I have a Media Browser service in Windows Services set to Manual startup 

 

And if I select Media Browser Server from the Windows start menu that starts the server and puts the icon in the system tray.

 

In the Emby server dashboard settings the option "Run server at startup" it selected / ticked.

 

What's going on and how to fix it so it updates to version 3.2.60.0?

 

Thanks

[Luke 36999]

Please check our release announcement for instructions on how to update:

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/blog/1/entry-415-emby-server-3260-released/

 

Thanks !

[Demati 5]

Add me to the list of people entirely unhappy about this update!  I'll echo a couple of sentiments:

 

1.  I shouldn't have to come to a forum to understand why an update failed or to find out that the update needed to be performed manually.  That is a failure on the part of the developers of Emby.  Quite frankly it is lazy on your part!

2.  There is an alert system built into the server's dashboard.  Why wasn't that leveraged to disseminate information for such a large change to the server software? I just checked the news and announcements and there is nothing there that would signal to me anything requiring me to do an update manually.  Even better why not send out an announcement with a link to a discussion about the changes?

3.  Why the rush? Why is this version being pushed so hard? I have yet to see any insight provided by the moderators or developers other than there was a desire to move to a new platform.  Can any light be shed on the urgency to push this version out?

4.  I too use the windows service functionality.  I followed the following guide: https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Wiki/wiki/Running%20Emby%20Server%20as%20a%20Windows%20Service and it doesn't work.  I can launch the server manually and it works every time but it fails to load as a service.  In fact if it fails to load I am no longer able to load Ember Server manually until I stop the service.  This is an unacceptable to change to make without any discussion, notice or testing!

 

Up until this update I have been a big proponent of Emby.  I have recommended it to several people who have gone on to setup servers and subscribe with premiere accounts.  I'll think twice before I do that again.  I'd like to hear what (if anything) the Emby developers plan to do to make this right for those of us affected by these changes.

[Luke 36999]

hi @@Demati, we're sorry to hear about your experience, and yes this is something we'll learn from and do better next time around. Can I ask what exactly is not working about the new service method, because it really only takes a few steps and then you're good to go. Thanks !

[Demati 5]

@@Luke I followed the guide I linked to in my previous post.  The service appears in the windows services tool and I have tried running that service both manually and automatically at startup.  The Emby Server never starts with either method and no log is produced.  I am on Windows 7 and followed your guide precisely.  I can only start the server as a normal process after I stop the service from running.  I have since deleted the service and I am manually logging into the machine to launch Emby Server. 

 

Any version previous to 3.2.60.0 works fine as a service (your guide is valid for those versions).  Why is this not working now? Was there any testing on Windows 7? This seems entirely rushed.  I would seriously appreciate some more insight!

[Luke 36999]

@@Luke I followed the guide I linked to in my previous post.  The service appears in the windows services tool and I have tried running that service both manually and automatically at startup.  The Emby Server never starts with either method and no log is produced.  I am on Windows 7 and followed your guide precisely.  I can only start the server as a normal process after I stop the service from running.  I have since deleted the service and I am manually logging into the machine to launch Emby Server. 

 

Any version previous to 3.2.60.0 works fine as a service (your guide is valid for those versions).  Why is this not working now? Was there any testing on Windows 7? This seems entirely rushed.  I would seriously appreciate some more insight!

 

Is this Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit? Thanks. Do have SP1 installed with windows updates up to date? Thanks.

[Demati 5]

@@Luke It is Windows 7 64bit SP1.  I disabled automatic updates once MS started their Windows 10 malware campaign.  I selectively apply updates.  If you can point out to me which updates need to be applied I can check my system for them.  Given that the server starts as a normal process and runs successfully I don't think there is a missing dependency.  Can you elaborate on what changed between 3.2.60.0 and the previous versions? This was not an issue previously so something had to change on the development side.

[cw-kid 192]

Please check our release announcement for instructions on how to update:

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/blog/1/entry-415-emby-server-3260-released/

 

Thanks !

@@Luke

 

Thanks I downloaded the setup.exe from the website and ran the installer, it shutdown the Emby server and updated it now to version 3.2.60.0.

 

Also got a popup to Allow it on the Windows firewall.

 

Had to then restart the Emby server for updates to the Dropbox and TuneIn plugins.

 

Looking on the Windows start menu I now have a folder called "Emby" and also one called "Media Browser 3"

 

Looking in the system folder I now have EmbyServer.exe and the MediaBrowser.ServerApplication.exe which is a bit confusing.

 

Looking in processes in Task Manager EmbyServer.exe is listed twice and MediaBrowser.ServerApplication.exe is listed once. So both are running.

 

Looking at the Windows Services there is an entry for "Emby Server" set to Manual and one for "Media Browser" also set to manual.

 

So a bit confusing now as we have new entries for Emby server and still got the old ones for Media Browser.

 

And what's this about not being able to now run Emby Server as a service using the service listed in the services?

 

This new wiki says to use something called NSSM

 

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Wiki/wiki/Running%20Emby%20Server%20as%20a%20Windows%20Service

 

Thanks.

[Luke 36999]

EmbyServer.exe is the new process. You'll only see two processes if you launch MediaBrowser.ServerApplication.exe, which now only exists for compatibility reasons so that any shortcuts you've created will still work.

[Demati 5]

@@Luke any update on my post above?

[Happy2Play 8240]

@@Luke any update on my post above?

 

Where does your service point to? 

 

The original service needs to be deleted manually.  For me the original service will launch Emby even thought Service Console does not report the service is running.  But removing original service and installing NSSM service, the startup type function properly.

 

May have to install a Win 7 VM to see if I can reproduce any of the issues.  I have no issues on WHS 2011, Win 10 Home or Pro, Server 2012R2 of Server 2016.

[Demati 5]

@@Happy2Play I followed the guide linked above to the letter.  I installed NSSM and used it to install the service.  The path is set to the 3.2.60.0 install with the Emby server executable.  This issue is easily reproducible.  Follow the guide you and Luke link for starting Emby as a service for 3.2.60.0 and for any previous version on Windows 7.  I have tried it on a 32bit VM and 64 bit machine.  The results are exactly as described above.  Again I am going to ask what did the developer's change between these two versions? Why is it so hard to get a list of dependencies from the development team? It would be a simple matter to point out to the community what those dependencies are and to make sure they are installed.

 

 

May have to install a Win 7 VM to see if I can reproduce any of the issues.  I have no issues on WHS 2011, Win 10 Home or Pro, Server 2012R2 of Server 2016.

 

Did you or the development team test anything on Windows 7 before you released this version? Your statement above makes me think you didn't.

 

[Demati 5]

By the way for those wondering, that's why there was no announcement because the service wasn't actually removed. In fact, if you still have it, you can still use it. So the intention was that you'd be able to continue just as you've been although for some users something has obviously gone wrong and prevented that from happening.

 

@@Luke this seems like a bit of a cop-out.  Any time you have a version that requires the user to do something out of the norm to update there should be an announcement.  You obviously have changed things otherwise there wouldn't be such a cloak and dagger approach to the roll-out of this version of the software.  I keep asking for some insight and none has yet been provided.  What was the impetus for this version's short test period and release? I am not trying to beat anyone up here but some information goes a long way.  People in this community are vested in using this product and every time someone asks about this particular release there are posts linking to guides or silence and very little information being shared.  Help us understand the issues you are facing and we may in turn be able to understand the decisions you and the development team have made.