Emby Server 3.3.1 Installation Disappears

[PeteS457 0]

Hi. I installed the Emby Server 3.3.1 on my Windows 7 HTPC last night, downloaded from github found on the Downloads page. Everything seemed fine, my library was created, I saw all my media on the server. I watched a couple of tv shows in my TV Shows media library before I went to bed on a Emby for WMC app (same computer) and from a Roku client. So this afternoon I decided to watch another tv show and the client couldn't find the server. I went to see if the server was still running in the tray from the night before and it wasn't there. So I went to start it and the Emby Server icon in the Windows 7 program list was dead as if the program had been uninstalled. Bizarre I thought. So I went to the Installed Programs in the Control Panel and it wasn't listed there at all as if it had never been installed! I went to the Downloads folder and found the setup file I downloaded and installed last night and executed it to reinstall it.. The install failed with a "Could not delete previous backup directory. System.JO.JO.Exception. The directory is not empty." - with the Emby splash screen stuck at Extracting Package. 

 

Wow. What's going on? Thanks for your help. BTW, I made sure that all Windows 7 updates were installed and up to date before installing the Emby server software. I know I can access the logs from the Emby server web page, but if I can't pull up the server, I'm not exactly sure which Windows files contain the log files (if you need them to resolve this problem).

[Happy2Play 9785]

Have you tried restarting the machine?

[Luke 42086]

Do you have any anti-virus software installed? It may have triggered a false positive and tampered with the installation folder.

[PeteS457 0]

Thanks for the quick responses. I apologize for not responding in a timely manner, but I had to leave town abruptly to deal with an issue. A couple days ago (4/25), I returned to troubleshooting the problem to see what other clues I could find.

 

First, to respond to the above responses. Yes, I restarted the computer (which I have discovered triggers the problem). And the only anti-virus I run on the machine is Windows Essentials which updates with new definitions daily. For further troubleshooting, I closed Windows Essentials.

 

So....I reinstalled Emby Server 3.3.1 a couple days ago and it installed properly. The Emby icon was in the tray, all the libraries loaded, and once again I was able to use the Emby for WMC plugin for Windows Media Center. All seemed well. However, once I restarted the machine the next day, I realized once again that there was no sign of Emby loading on startup. (I have the Run on Startup box checked.) So I went to find Emby Server in the list of shortcuts and there was no sign of it at all. I went to the Installed Programs in Control Panel and no sign of it. It's as if it disappeared into thin air upon machine restart. So I once again installed the 3.3.1 server software, the install went well (the previous error I reported in the original post has not reoccurred), and once again the Emby server icon was in the system tray and started. I was able to pull up the web page from Configure Emby and was able to use the Emby for WMC plugin. HOWEVER, while it was working and before restarting the machine, I went to see if the startup folder and shortcuts were installed and that the program was listed in the Installed Programs in Control Panel. No sign of the program anywhere - no startup folder, no shortcuts - and practically no sign of the software. I only found very few files in a Media Browser folder in Program Files (x86). I have attached a screenshot of the desktop immediately after reinstalling the Emby Server software. I hope you can see from the attched image the Emby dashboard running, you can't see it but the Emby tray icon is active, however, there is no listing for the installation in the Installed Programs (sorted by descending date) and I opened a file manager and those are the only files I see installed. At this point I can play media using the server installed on this machine. However when I reboot the machine, there is no sign of the software ever being installed and I have to reinstall it - again - and everything is fine until the next restart.

 

Any ideas? This is very strange, can't remember ever running into a problem like this. Thanks for your help.

 

 

[Luke 42086]

Are you logged in with the same windows user that installed it? we do not install to programfiles/mediabrowser. It will be under user app data / Emby-Server

[PeteS457 0]

Ah...no, I'm not logged into the same user that installs it. The machine is basically used as a full-time Media Center complete with Ceton cablecard for Recorded and Live TV, Music, Picture and Videos, and of course, Emby for WMC stuff. I start the Windows Media Center software upon login by a Windows user called WMC. However, the Windows user WMC does NOT have administrative rights. I do this so if guests are visiting using the TV, they have limited OS rights if they minimize or close WMC. So when I install Emby server software from user WMC, Windows pops up a security window and allows me to signin with my administrative user credentials before proceeding to install the Emby server software from limited user WMC. And with your info, I can confirm that I now see the Emby software under User\<Administrator>\ AppData\Roaming.

 

So I'm guessing that this was a design change recently as I've never had a problem running Emby Server from a limited account (WMC) on startup. I would like to keep using Emby and Windows Media Center from the limited account. Would starting Emby as a service resolve this problem? Or am I going to have to start running Emby and Windows Media Center from an administrative user account? Or can I just copy over the shortcuts and startup folders from the administrative account to the limited account?

Edited April 27, 2018 by PeteS457

[Luke 42086]

To be honest no, there isn't any recent design change. Yes I suppose you could try running as a service.