Author Topic: MPC-HC store settings to ini grayed out - Windows 8.1 (Read 1717 times)

Tiffanys · « **on:** November 08, 2013, 04:01:50 PM »

Right, so... Just built a new rig, on Windows 8.1... downloaded MPC-HC and was going to just import my old ini but it turns out the setting to store settings to ini is grayed out. What's going on?

Is there still some way to do what I intended to do?

Al_Sleeper · « **Reply #1 on:** November 08, 2013, 04:22:14 PM »

Downgrade to Windows 7?

Tiffanys · « **Reply #2 on:** November 08, 2013, 04:25:35 PM »

I just paid for 8.1, so that's not very helpful.

sneaker2 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 08, 2013, 04:55:22 PM »

Do you have MPC-HC in "C:\program files (x86)\MPC-HC" or similar? Programs in user space don't have writing rights in there by default. You could possibly try to copy it there anyways or try putting it into "%appdata%\Media Player Classic". If you copy it into the former you might not be able to change settings because of the missing writing rights.

I don't use an .ini file so I'm not exactly sure how it works at the moment. MPC-HC is frequently subject to change.

Bozobub · « **Reply #4 on:** November 08, 2013, 05:05:46 PM »

That makes sense. If you do have it in "Program Files (x86)", you may need to set "Run this program as an administrator" under the Compatibility tab in the Properties menu of the file. UAC (assuming you have it running and it's the same as in Win7) may also be the culprit.

Unfortunately, I've only used Win8 enough to know I despise it, so I may be way off base.

Al_Sleeper · « **Reply #5 on:** November 08, 2013, 05:12:10 PM »

Quote from: Tiffanys on November 08, 2013, 04:25:35 PM

I just paid for 8.1, so that's not very helpful.

Are you sure you haven't been ripped off? Microsoft is quite (in)famous for that...

Krudda · « **Reply #6 on:** November 08, 2013, 07:03:19 PM »

Where's the option, I can't even see it myself

Bozobub · « **Reply #7 on:** November 08, 2013, 08:33:15 PM »

In Options, under the "Player" tab. on the top right pane.

Tiffanys · « **Reply #8 on:** November 09, 2013, 12:30:22 AM »

Quote from: Bozobub on November 08, 2013, 05:05:46 PM

That makes sense. If you do have it in "Program Files (x86)", you may need to set "Run this program as an administrator" under the Compatibility tab in the Properties menu of the file. UAC (assuming you have it running and it's the same as in Win7) may also be the culprit.

Unfortunately, I've only used Win8 enough to know I despise it, so I may be way off base.

Ah, that's what it was. Stupid UAC. I had it disabled in Vista.

Bozobub · « **Reply #9 on:** November 09, 2013, 01:06:11 AM »

Sweet. It's good to know at least some of my previous Windows knowledge still applies

.

I disabled UAC, myself. It's SO damn annoying, and the infections I've cleaned off friends'/family's PCs don't argue well for its effectiveness.

Tiffanys · « **Reply #10 on:** November 09, 2013, 01:09:04 AM »

I have it as disabled as I can get it in Windows 8.1 as far as I know, I have it set to "Not Notify" so I don't know why it still does that... Is there some way to further disable it? I hate it.

Bozobub · « **Reply #11 on:** November 09, 2013, 01:29:15 AM »

Unfortunately, it's changed a bit since Win7; the slider bar under Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > User Accounts no longer completely disables UAC, as you've seen. Here's what you can do to turn it all the way off:
- Go to the Control Panel and navigate to System and Security > Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy (assuming you use the "Category" view; it'll simply be under Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy if you have "View by icons" set).
- In the right pane, scroll down to the settings that start with "User Account Control". You can fully disable UAC, or tailor its behavior to your desires.

Very important caveat: Fully disabling UAC this way (via Local Security Policy, not the slider) completely prevents Metro apps from running! M$, in their *cough* "infinite" wisdom, decided Metro apps are not allowed to run this way; of course, that's the only reason they won't run $:-\$ . Of course, I wouldn't touch a Metro app with someone else's 11-foot pole, even if I had Win8, so YMMV.

Krudda · « **Reply #12 on:** November 09, 2013, 06:15:40 AM »

Metro is indeed a huge, useless, annoyance.
Other than that, I have no other issues with Windows 8. Chrome was a pain in the ass to get it to NOT run in metro, but the normal versions is good.

Thanks for the info everyone, this will help me also.
If you do encounter any other Windows 8 related issues, don't be afraid to ask me, I've had Windows 8 for quite a while now and have worked out a few of it's 'issues'

line0 · « **Reply #13 on:** November 12, 2013, 05:09:02 PM »

wow, people are really giving terrible advice and it shows again that the real problem is sitting in front of the computer.

First of all, non-elevated programs have no business writing to %programfiles% et al. Legacy programs that still try to are redirected to "%localappdata%\Virtual Store". Fortunately, MPC-HC isn't legacy software and checks whether it has write access to its program folder before offering to store its settings in an .ini.
There's only one really use for that feature anyway and that is portable use, where mpc-hc doesn't reside in a non-user-writable path. if you're dead set on using .ini storage anyway (which was kinda broken when i last checked), rather than compromising system security, the obvious answer is:
Grant the "Users" group (or only yourself, depending on who is going to use mpc-hc) write permissions to its program folder.

Bozobub · « **Reply #14 on:** November 12, 2013, 06:20:10 PM »

1) Tiffanys is no computer "noob"; for most people with even intermediate computer literacy, UAC is far more of a hindrance than a help, and in fact DOES NOT prevent most of the attacks it's meant to block.

2) I did NOT recommend that she(?) fully disable UAC, I merely mentioned UAC might be part of the issue. When she said she'd disabled UAC as far as she could, I then explained why that didn't work like it does in Win7.

3) I simply don't agree with the "ZOMG programs are writing to Program Files!" paradigm of Windows.

4) Granting yourself permission to write to Program Files largely bypasses UAC anyway.

vuzedome · « **Reply #15 on:** November 12, 2013, 10:39:48 PM »

Problem is someone is pretty much dead set on trying to get the .ini thing to work.

Bozobub · « **Reply #16 on:** November 12, 2013, 10:42:44 PM »

*shrug* They're allowed.

line0 · « **Reply #17 on:** November 13, 2013, 02:13:32 AM »

Quote from: Bozobub on November 12, 2013, 06:20:10 PM

4) Granting yourself permission to write to Program Files largely bypasses UAC anyway.

you could always grant permission to write to the ini file, only.

Bozobub · « **Reply #18 on:** November 13, 2013, 02:18:04 AM »

Or, if you're an experienced user that's already stated that you hate UAC and find it to be an interference, you can turn it off, exactly as Tiffanys had already tried to do. The method had changed since Vista/Win7, is all.

Dude, you're not incorrect about general users at all, but you ARE incorrect about this case. Let it be.

vuzedome · « **Reply #19 on:** November 13, 2013, 03:11:05 AM »

Or don't install MPCHC at all, just grab the zip version and place it at your root or where ever you like outside of administrated areas.