The VideoLAN Forums

I am trying to set up vlc ntserver as a secondary interface by using the following command

vlc.exe -I ntservice --ntservice-install --ntservice-extraintf=http --ntservice-option=--http-host=<my ip>:<my port>

I have 2 problems with this:

1) The above command doesnt work reliably. I have found that after I have run this command the first time after my pc has booted, it installs the service. But if uninstall the service by using the command
vlc.exe -I ntservice --ntservice-uninstall
and then try to run the install command again, it gives an error in the system log
The ScRegSetValueExW call failed for Start with the following error: Access is denied.
I also get a vlc.exe process in Task Manager which just stays there; I have to kill it manually. I cant figure out what I am doing wrong.

2) The second problem is that even if the service does get installed, when I try to visit the page in the browser, I get a 403 Forbidden error. I am logged in as the administrator, so where is the permission error? Is this a problem with the account the service is running under? If so, what account should I use for it?

Thanks.

I have been working on the 2nd problem, but still cant access anything in the web page. I changed the service's account to that of the administrator, but stil I get the "403 Forbidden" error message. Maybe I need to add in --http-src parameter. VLC is installed in "C:\Utilities\VideoLAN\VLC" folder. Can I specify the windows type path name for this or do I have to use Unix syntax? If Unix, then how do I handle "C:" in the path?

You try to access from different computer? If so, have you modified the .hosts from under vlc\http?

You try to access from different computer? If so, have you modified the .hosts from under vlc\http?

Thanks for your reply. I am trying to access it from the same pc, but in the service parameters, I am restricting it to listen on nic's ip address (which is 192.168.1.1). I looked at the .hosts file and removed the comment for my lan and it is ok now

One more question: is it possible to add telnet as an extrainterface in vlc? The following command

vlc.exe -I ntservice --ntservice-install --ntservice-"VLC Media Player Telnet" --ntservice-extraintf=telnet

gives the error that the command line options are not valid.

Should it be
vlc.exe -I ntservice --ntservice-install --ntservice-name="VLC Media Player Telnet" --ntservice-extraintf=telnet
?

Sorry about that, it was a typo in my post I am using the following successfully for both http at port 8081 and telnet at its default port of 4212:

vlc.exe -I ntservice --ntservice-install --ntservice-extraintf=http,Telnet --ntservice-option=--http-host=0.0.0.0:8081

Originally, I wanted to restrict the service to listen on localhost and NIC address (I have a dual homed system), but I couldnt get the command line to work. So I am using the above command line and blocking the access to the external nic in my firewall.

--ntservice-extraintf="http,telnet"
that works any better?

--ntservice-extraintf="http,telnet"
that works any better?

I dont understand the above as I mentioned in my last post that the vlc service was working okay when I used the command line from that post. Now I need to find some docs on how to use the http service

I had a similar problem. I don't know what causes it, as I have tested and it seems to be ramdom, but somehow the .hosts file is being corrupted. At least in my setup. I never got around to setting up a custom .hosts file, so I deleted the one in the http folder and everytime the http web interface begins working again. This works everytime I have ran into the problem of a 403 error with the VLC .9 series web interface. Hope this helps.

May be an unrelated issue but I have found that VLC as windows service, starting with 0.9.x and also with 1.x) sometimes hangs because it is actually trying to display some dialog box:
1) "Privacy and Network Policy" dialog box (occurs the first time you run VLC, or if launched with the --reset-config option).
or
2) the "Crash reporting" dialog (occurs the next time VLC is launched after a crash)

I have found that using the following two options as part of the service installation command solves the issue:
--no-qt-privacy-ask
--no-qt-error-dialogs

for example:
c:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe -I ntservice --ntservice-install --ntservice-name=VLC-Service --ntservice-extraintf=rc --ntservice-options="--no-qt-privacy-ask --no-qt-error-dialogs ..." vlc://quit

Now, "--no-interact" may get rid of all dialogs... though I haven't tried this.

Hope that helps.

Bruno

May be an unrelated issue but I have found that VLC as windows service, starting with 0.9.x and also with 1.x) sometimes hangs because it is actually trying to display some dialog box:
1) "Privacy and Network Policy" dialog box (occurs the first time you run VLC, or if launched with the --reset-config option).
or
2) the "Crash reporting" dialog (occurs the next time VLC is launched after a crash)

I have found that using the following two options as part of the service installation command solves the issue:
--no-qt-privacy-ask
--no-qt-error-dialogs

for example:
c:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe -I ntservice --ntservice-install --ntservice-name=VLC-Service --ntservice-extraintf=rc --ntservice-options="--no-qt-privacy-ask --no-qt-error-dialogs ..." vlc://quit

Now, "--no-interact" may get rid of all dialogs... though I haven't tried this.

Hope that helps.

Bruno

Sorry for reviving an old post, but I haven't been able of getting rid off the annoying "crash reporting" dialog with any of these options, including the "--no-interact" one, and no matter if I even try the "dummy" interface.

There is a trac ticket for that
http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/3659

There is a trac ticket for that
http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/3659

That's great! In the meantime, I can use VLC from command line reliably deleting the crash-dump file to avoid the dialog as you suggested in other post

By the way, as far as I know, there is a way on Windows of running a program a a service (a command or so) which I have yet to test (that is, not relying in the --nt-service-install option but on the OS itself possibilities).