Windows 7: Media Center won't stop waking computer!

When I first installed 7 back at it's release I had this very same problem and was told how to turn off the auto update options in Media Center and had no further problems with it waking the PC sometimes more than once a week. I have since re-installed 7 a few months back and as part of my initial personalizing I went into MC and turned those options off but it continues to wake my PC randomly to do updates at 6:51am. Here is the entry in the Event Viewer regarding to this action ((there was some text anomolies I removed that were unicode that would not save properly in notepad, they were just question marks(?) where spaces were in the sleep and wake time lines))

"The system has resumed from sleep.
Sleep Time: 2010-10-24T05:33:53.365000000Z
Wake Time: 2010-10-24T10:51:01.610000000Z
Wake Source: Timer - Windows will execute '\Microsoft\Windows\Media Center\mcupdate_scheduled' scheduled task that requested waking the computer."

Why does it insist on waking the PC even though I have MC set to not update? I do not use MC but once in a while (like maybe once every 3-4 months) so having it update TV listings is not needed.

Turn off the windows media center extender service and disable it. (windows key> type "sevices.msc"> right click on the service and select properties to get to the right menu)
Or better yet.. remove media center as a windows feature. That option can be found in programs and features in the control panel. IMO media center is bloatware that shouldn't be installed unless you plan to use your computer as a cable box/dvd player/game console with a large screen TV as a monitor

That service is already disabled which is what is confusing me to as why it still wakes the PC to update itself even though I have all that disabled. I am going to just uninstall it and the problem will be solved.

Hello Edilee,

I had this issue once. You'll need to uncheck the "wake up" option in Task Scheduler (taskschd.msc) for the mcupdate task in the Media Center folder. The screenshot below can help show you how to below.

Windows Media Center Updates - Enable or Disable Waking Computer



Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks...that was what I was looking for! I re-installed it and changed that setting. I do use MC for watching Netflix movies from time to time so this way it will still be there if I want to use it for that.

You're most welcome.

If the Library Tree is not visible in the Task Scheduler, select View, Customize, and then add checkbox to Console Tree.