VLC 0.9.2 ntservice problems

[Khurram]

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.

[Khurram]

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?

[VLC_help]

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

[Khurram]

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.

[VLC_help]

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

[Khurram]

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.

[VLC_help]

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

[Khurram]

--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

[fmustang76]

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.

[brunoc]

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

[Bondia]

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.

[VLC_help]

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

[Bondia]

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).