Media Streaming no longer working after printer drivers were removed

Britton · 26 Dec 2014

Hello forum users,

I tried to be as precise in the title as possible.

I've got a bit of an issue here and normally I wouldn't bother the forum with my questions unless its something I just can not figure out on my own. Google search hasn't been much help on the issue either.

First off I'll just explain what the problem is. A couple of days ago I got a used HP printer from a friend of mine and I installed the HP drivers package from the website. Thinking this was better than just using the CD to manually install the drivers from Device Manager. Well it turned out that the downloaded drivers were not good. Way to many extra processes running just to provide seemingly unnecessary functions. Such as ink level checking, device stage actions, the built in printer touch functions and auto updating nonsense, just to name a few. So I removed it with Revo uninstaller using the advanced scan and it took out the software and found 1000's of registry entries.

Unfortunately I didn't think to backup the registry or make a system restore point. There are no system restore points and the damage to the registry seems unfixable, or rather I simply don't know what was damaged or where to look for the right options to restore "WMPNetworkSVC".

At first nothing seemed wrong, the system boots up and runs fine but the one main problem I have noticed is that I can no longer stream video to my Win 7 x64 laptop. Homegroup works and I can see the system on either side. So the problem is only with the media streaming options. On the laptop when I check that option in WMP it shows a list of systems and options that can be changed to show which PC's are allowed or denied access, but on the problematic desktop WMP options it only shows a notification area with a button telling me to turn on media streaming.

Which I have tried to do unsuccessfully over and over again after trying things like SFC /scan now, attempted to start the service but it just says, "The Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service service on Local Computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs"

Which is not helpful at all, its supposed to be running and is set for Automatic Delayed startup in the properties. Research on the topic says its something to do with DCOM or UPnP. UPnP's service is enabled and the service is running, which leads me to think this is a direct consequence of the unknown changes that were made to the registry by Revo when it was removing the HP garbage. It must have took out useful keys/values related to WMPnSS thinking it was part of HP's wireless printing.

I have since reviewed and fixed all but these two error messages in the Event Viewer. Perhaps this will help a more knowledgeable person figure out where to guide me as the info they provide is to vague to be of any use to me on its own.

Copy/Paste below:

Event 219, Kernel-PnP

General: The driver \Driver\WUDFRd failed to load for the device USB\VID_05AC&PID_1294\e28ea1a908db57498f58e67a5f7a37a2dfb9b287.

Event 14332, Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service

General: Service 'WMPNetworkSvc' did not start correctly because CoCreateInstance(CLSID_UPnPDeviceFinder) encountered error '0x8002801d'. Verify that the UPnPHost service is running and that the UPnPHost component of Windows is installed properly.

The first entry Event 219 I think is from the system not being configured by the HP software for the printers wireless connection. I don't have to have this and don't mind if it remains attached by it wire. It's one reason I got rid of the HP software and ended up using the CD to update the drivers from Device Manager the second round. The printer works now by the way without the HP BS software via its wire.

The second Event 14332 seems to be the issue behind why media streaming refuses to enable when I command it to. The only dependency that is shown to be necessary for WMPNss to run in services is simply called HTTP. Which is a "system component" and I do not know how to tell if its installed correctly or if its even running. I assume it is as I am using the PC to type this up on. There was an event related to DCOM but using another threads instructions I was able to use Component Services to fix that event. Still media steaming won't enable and neither will the WMPNss.

What am I missing or doing wrong? Are there any options to manually modify the registry or manually reinstall/repair the UPnPHost service or to reinstall the UPnPHost components. I checked Windows features but no such feature appears to exist.

If more information is necessary just let me know what you need, thank you.

Britton · 28 Dec 2014

Well based on the lack of replies I have clearly destroyed the media streaming function, thanks anyway.

Britton · 04 Feb 2015

Lesson learned, there ultimately was not an easy fix for my particular problem. A reinstall of Windows was necessary to fix the issue.

To anyone who reads this, I'm simply answering my own thread in case other individuals out there do something similar. If you use Revo Uninstaller don't be a fool like I was and not allow Revo to make a registry backup and system restore point. HP Drivers apparently integrate into Windows in a very fundamental way. When I forced removed them with Revo and the program cleared literally 1000's of registry entries it damaged core windows files. SFC was unable to restore them and doing a repair install was to messy. It leaves behind the old Windows folder and lots of write protected things from the corrupted install. So while that may be fine with some users, for me it was an unacceptable patch repair.

The particulars of the problem was that the Windows Firewall system files were damaged or corrupted due to the missing registry keys no longer pointing to the correct files. Even if the files were still present Windows was not able to use them anymore. This had an impact on all programs needing to be allowed to open a port through the firewall, and destroyed Windows 7's Media Streaming options. It wouldn't even turn on.

Anyway that's all I have to say about this topic, the matter is now closed as far as I am concerned.