Archive:Windows FAQ

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XBMC for specific FAQs about XBMC running under Windows, Windows computer hardware, and Windows operating-system questions.

What Win32 ports are available ?

There are two existing Windows ports of XBMC

  • XBMC.exe (build from the linux branch, using SDL/OpenGL)
  • XBMC_PC.exe (build from the xbox trunk, using DirectX)

About XBMC.exe (SDL/OpenGL)

The SDL version is the Windows future of XBMC. The codebase is under development and is the base for the Linux, MacOSX and Windows ports. This FAQ will ONLY deal with the SDL version!
Note: The SDL win32 port still needs DirectX for the audio processing.

About XBMC_PC.exe (DirectX)

The DirectX version is only for skin and python development. You won't get support for it since it is only adapted to reflect the skin and python changes.

Hardware Questions

What is current recommended hardware requirements for XBMC

For end-users the recommended minimum requirement is a x86-based computer, with a 3D GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) that at least supports Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.0 (that features 24bpp or 32bpp for 3D hardware-acceleration support, which XBMC GUI need to run smoothly at an acceptable frame-rate). Graphic adapters that support DirectX version 9.0c or later usually meet all of those mentioned requirements, (Team-XBMC recommends NVIDIA GeForce 6150 or later as NVIDIA are currently the manufacturer that offers good device-drivers for Linux (and NVIDIA GeForce 6150 or later supports OpenGL 2.0).

XBMC for Windows minimum requirements

Why is a OpenGL 2.0 compatible graphic-controller the recommended minimum for XBMC?

OpenGL 2.0 is not really the current minimum requirement to run XBMC, as in reality XBMC will today run with only OpenGL 1.4 + GLSL support (everything else has fall-backs to be runned in software on the CPU, slower than GPU hardware though), however to be sure to stay future-proof Team-XBMC have decided that the OpenGL 2.0 is the recommended minimum requirement.

Currently OpenGL 2.0 hardware is only needed for...
  • Any deinterlacing that is not linear blending, (FFmpeg does linear blending in software on the CPU)
  • Video video post-processing filtering (bicubic upscaling, etc.)
  • Non-power of two textures for the GUI (using NPOT saves a lot of texture memory)
  • Hardware accelerated YUV 2 RGB conversion (actually GLSL is needed for this, and a few GPU hardware implementations as low as OpenGL 1.4 does provide GLSL as an extension. OpenGL 2.0 guarantees availability of GLSL).
In the future OpenGL 2.0 might also be needed for...

How to install XBMC for Windows (SDL/OpenGL)?

XBMC for Windows is still in experimental stage, there are however install packages available for easy installation.

  • Download XBMCSetup-Rev<xx>.exe from the XBMC for Windows section on sourceforge. Higher rev-number means a newer build.
  • Run the downloaded setup to install XBMC for Windows.
  • You can now start XBMC from the startmenu either in fullscreen or windowed mode.

XBMC doesn't depend on video or audio codecs on the system. Everything is installed in the XBMC directory ONLY. Only some user specific stuff (XML, cache, etc) goes to the users profile directory.

Where is user specific data stored?

All user-specific data is stored in The UserData Folder, which for a standard installation is found in the users profile directory, which may be found in C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\XBMC on Windows XP or C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\XBMC on Vista. XBMC will not alter this directory on an upgrade, so your data will remain safe between upgrades of XBMC.

Can XBMC be run in portable mode?

If you wish, you may run XBMC in portable mode by removing the -p switch from the shortcut used to launch XBMC. This will then use the UserData folder within the XBMC folder itself to store all user data. This is useful for running XBMC for Windows off a USB stick for portability. You will, however, have to be careful when upgrading to make sure that the UserData/ folder you use is not overwritten.

Where is the log file located?

The log file (xbmc.log) is located in the users writable directory, which by default resides in C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\XBMC\ on Windows XP or C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\ on Vista. If XBMC is started in portable mode, the log file will be created in the XBMC folder itself.

What is the best way to post logs?

Take the xbmc.log from the appropriate XBMC UserData directory (see above, make sure it's a debug log and ) and upload it to http://pastebin.com/ for example. Post the pastebin link instead of the content into the support forum.

How can I switch XBMC to full screen?

Start XBMC.exe with -fs or create the advancedsettings.xml file in userdata with <fullscreen>true</fullscreen>.

What are the recent changes?

All changes to the repository can be seen on our XBMC Tracker

Note: branches/linuxport/XBMC/ is the repository for the Linux, MacOSX and Win32 port. trunk/ belongs to the Xbox repository.

What is the current development platform ?

We currently develop under Windows XP SP3 with Visual Studio 2008. VS2003 project files are still available and updated in svn.

Why is my video screen smaller than my desktop in full screen?

We're still early alpha. Try to set the XBMC video resolution to your current desktop resolution.

Why does XBMC exit unexpectedly when it's starting?

The most common problem is the lack of working OpenGL drivers. Most Windows installations use the Microsoft generic OpenGL driver which doesn't support the extensions and hardware acceleration we need. Check for newer drivers from you vendor, especially if you have the following entries in your xbmc.log:

  • INFO: GL_VENDOR = Microsoft Corporation
  • INFO: GL_RENDERER = GDI Generic
  • INFO: GL_VERSION = 1.1.0

Why do certain drive letters not show the right content?

Because of legacy code from the XBox XBMC maps a few drive letters internally: 

Q: is the application root
U: is the user root (For Win32 it's mostly the same like Q.)
P: is the current user's profile location
T: is the master user's profile location
Z: is the cache location

The current mapping is listed in the logfile. Network or USB devices mounted on those letters aren't seen by XBMC. This is being addressed post 8.10

Does SMB share access work in win32?

Yes but with some flaws. XBMC still uses the old smb client library from the xbox version instead of native win32 functions. Browsing for shares doesn't work but in the forum reports are seen that for some users it works.
You have two possibilities to get SMB shares mounted:

  1. Mount them via Windows as network share and use the mapped drive letter
  2. Add a SMB share via XBMCs add share but put in the IP address AND the share name

Does XBMC for Windows support Blu-ray or HD DVD playback with or without menus?

No. There is not yet any C/C++ open source software out there yet capable of fully playing back Blu-ray or HD DVD so we can not add the code from somewhere in any case. FFmpeg (the open source codec-suit that XBMC uses) will probably relativly soon be able to decode all audio and video codecs used in both Blu-ray and HD DVD, but even when that happens you still have to get around the DRM encryptions used by the disc formats and there is not yet any C/C++ open source software library capable of that on-the-fly, nither is there any C/C++ open source software library out there capable of displaying Blu-ray or HD DVD menus. XBMC need C/C++ open source software libraries for all of these things to fully support Blu-ray or HD DVD playback.

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