I needed to reformat my DVR computer, and I wanted to keep my subscriptions, and recording lineup, etc. So I needed to find out how and where Media Center stores this information, so I could easily restore it.
What to back up :
I backed up this folder : C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome , the folder you are really after is the one called mcepgX-X-X, mine was called mcepg2-0. I was backing up that entire directory (C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome) because I was unsure if they would ever change that directory for some odd reason. So I figured better be safe then sorry. I just had a robocopy script that did this nightly for me.
This is what my directory looks like :
[zp src=”storage_pic1.jpg” album=”blog/mediacenter/” width=”600″]
How to restore
Open a command prompt windows and run this C:\Windows\ehome\loadmxf.exe –i locationofbackupfiles
This is what mine command looked like :
C:\Windows\ehome>loadmxf.exe -i "C:\Users\1337sk33t\Desktop\Media Center Backup
backup\recordings\20151022_214547"
Loading... 100%
C:\Windows\ehome>
You noticed I pointed it to the files without extensions themselves. I did the recordings, I wasn’t sure what the subscriptions or lineup were so I skipped them. I then went to download the latest TV Guide and everything popped right up!
Tasks > Settings > TV > Guide > Get Latest Guide Listings
Enjoy, please test your back up, make sure you have a reliable back up. Something like SugarSync/DropBOX are pretty reliable, and free sources of backing up.