Media Server Startup on Windows Boot

Media Server starts Media Server mode, where Media Center stays running in the background for the various servers.

The Media Server icon will appear in the Notification Area (lower right corner of the Windows desktop) when MEDIA CENTER is running. Exiting MEDIA CENTER while in Media Server mode just removes the user interface components from memory, saving resources. Starting MEDIA CENTER or clicking on the Media Server Icon will restore those components, but MEDIA CENTER never actually exits.

To exit Media Server mode and close Media Center, right click on the Media Server icon in the task bar and choose "Exit Media Server".

Placing Media Server as a startup program will run it on login. This is useful for machines that are constantly on and logged in.

Media Server can be run as a daemon, search Interact for firedaemon.

Media Server does not run any servers itself, you must still start the servers you would like to run.

On Windows 2003 Servers, the simplest approach is to start Media Server and then disconnect instead of logging out. Or, TweakUI can be used to configure an AutoLogin user. That user should have Media Server in their startup folder.

Older Versions

MC14

Go to Tools > Options > Startup > Startup Actions
click "Run Remote Server on Port"
You also may want to change the port to something over 1024 i.e. 8080
In that case you would access the server from a browser by doing:
http://ip.address.of.the.mc.pc:8080/

If you want Media Server to start when booting windows you can:
Go to Tools > Options > Startup > Windows Startup
and select "Run on Windows Startup: Media Server" from the drop down box.

See also Startup Settings.

Pre MC14

Media Server can be run automatically in the background when you turn your computer on. Doing so runs a small subset of MC and the icon will be in the lower right corner of the desktop.

You can right click the icon for Media Server (Start/Programs/J. River Media Center 14/Media Server) and drag it onto your desktop (make a copy). If you right click it, you'll see this in properties:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\MC14.exe /MediaServer

You can also drag the icon into your Windows Startup folder.