Windows 11 Channels DVR Server powered off

[Edwin_Perez]

Storage Paths
C:\ChannelsDVR 
\\MYCLOUDPR4100\MyShares\Imports\ChannelsDVR 
S:\ChannelsDVR2 

Just a sample of using Robocopy ...

goto start
:loop
timeout 300
:start
CD /d "%~dp0"
curl http://127.0.0.1:8089/dvr | findstr  /I /C:"busy\":false"
set notbusy=%ERRORLEVEL%
if %notbusy% NEQ 0 goto loop
ROBOCOPY "W:\DVR\TV\Walker, Texas Ranger" "S:\ChannelsDVR2\TV\Walker, Texas Ranger" /move /COPY:DT /minage:1 /e /R:2 /W:2
ROBOCOPY "W:\DVR\Movies" "\\MYCLOUDPR4100\MyShares\Imports\ChannelsDVR\Movies" /move /COPY:DT /minage:0 /e /R:2 /W:2
MD "W:\DVR\Movies"
goto loop
exit

[slampman]

@jlightNB

I've been running Channels DVR on a dedicated Windows 11 mini PC for about a month now. I want to keep it running 24/7 so I have the power plan set to never sleep and I have BIOS set to power on after after power was lost. It had been running for a few weeks without issue. Yesterday I installed Windows Updates and it rebooted and this morning I noticed the power was off. Checking the Windows logs it appears it shut down at 4:18am. This was the last log message before I booted it this morning.

Honestly this is a problem with running a server on a desktop OS. Especially Windows with all of the updates and general issues. You might be better served by setting up a Linux server and running docker., Then you can have other containers supporting Channels with minimal effort. I know docker is available on Windows (as all of the Windows lovers were about to pounce on me...) but it uses WSL which is basically a hypervisor. So you are running nested virtualization basically...

I'm thinking of doing a tutorial on how to install Linux server as it relates to Channels. Maybe I can de-mystify it for some and show how easy it is and reliable. I just ran some updates on my Channels server the other day but before that my last reboot was 10 months ago. Rock solid and 90% less overhead than Windows...

[jlightNB]

I have 30 years of experience using Windows, and since my Beelink Mini S12 came preinstalled with Windows 11 Pro I naturally just went that direction. I last tinkered with Linux over 20 years ago when it was the new kid on the block and haven't been back since. If there was a tutorial on how to convert it to a dedicated Linux machine to run Channels, as a "Windows" guy I would find that extremely useful. While I enjoy the ease and comfort of using Windows, with regards to my Channels machine my desire is more toward reliability and uptime.

[themediaguy]

I would love to see a tutorials as well. That would be super useful!

[slampman]

@jlightNB

If there was a tutorial on how to convert it to a dedicated Linux machine to run Channels, as a "Windows" guy I would find that extremely useful. While I enjoy the ease and comfort of using Windows, with regards to my Channels machine my desire is more toward reliability and uptime.

@themediaguy

I would love to see a tutorials as well. That would be super useful!

LOL Ok challenge accepted

[chDVRuser]

You might want to incorporate some things from this thread.

Setting Up a new Beelink mini PC with Linux

I just purchased the Beelink MINI S12 16G/500G/N95 I upgraded a little from your recommendation as by the time I went to purchase the coupon had expired. The coupon for this one was still active and I got double the ram and double the storage. It will arrive in a couple of days but is there a walkthrough that I can follow to do as you suggested for Ubuntu setup and settings for bios auto.boot etc to set this up as a channels DVR server to set and forget?

Besides just installing Channels DVR, there are many things that non-linux users will need to know if they're going to be their own sysadmin

[Edwin_Perez]

@chDVRuser

Besides just installing Channels DVR, there are many things that non-linux users will need to know if they're going to be their own sysadmin

A Whole lot of things.

[Michael_Birk]

I have been using a Beelink with Windows 11 Pro as my Channels server for about two and half years. I don't think it has been down for more than a couple of hours total. Only need to reboot due to updates maybe every two months. The Channels developers have been doing a great job with the windows server. I thought about using Linux, and probably would, if I was more familiar with Linux or wanted to learn a new OS. Windows has been easy for me and very reliable, but others may have a different experience.

[jlightNB]

Interesting. I'm still trying to figure out why mine shut down. There was nothing in any of the Event logs and as far as I can tell I have everything set correctly to keep it running. Other than setting the power mode to never sleep, is there anything else you touched to keep it running?
FYI, my symptoms were I noticed the blue power light wasn't on, so I pressed the power button. Looking at the logs, logging just stopped a little after 4am and the next log message was about an unexpected shutdown logged when I powered it back on.

[Edwin_Perez]

Is your PC setup to auto power on after a power loss in the BIOS ? .. This has turned into a Linux VS Windows once again ... But can you check the Bios for that setting ? just to make sure it is still set ?

These are my server settings ....

[jlightNB]

Yep, that's exactly how I have it set up, and I have BIOS set to auto power up on a power loss.

[Michael_Birk]

@jlightNB

FYI, my symptoms were I noticed the blue power light wasn't on, so I pressed the power button. Looking at the logs, logging just stopped a little after 4am and the next log message was about an unexpected shutdown logged when I powered it back on.

I use a UPS on my windows server, router, network switches, and the HDHomerun tuners, so that may be one of the reasons for my server's reliability. I did update the BIOS to enable power on after a momentary loss, but I don't think that has ever happened because of UPS.

I have used the Powercfg command to get more detailed information about the power settings, though mostly to find out why my computer (not the Channels server) wouldn't go to sleep.

[jlightNB]

FYI. This issue happened again. I think it's related to installing Windows updates. I remoted into the channels server this morning and it reported it needed to restart due to Windows updates. I rebooted it and everything seemed to come up normally. Later when I checked on the server I noticed none of the lights were on, so I powered it back up. Prior to this it had an uptime of almost a month.
Looking in Event Viewer I saw Incorrect function when Channels started up. I didn't see anything else unusual in Event Viewer.

Here's the Channels DVR logs from this morning:

2024/07/10 04:38:13.077703 [SYS] Shutting down...
2024/07/10 04:38:13.153007 [SYS] Bonjour service stopped.
2024/07/10 04:38:13.163662 [DVR] Recording engine stopped.
2024/07/10 04:38:13.204504 [SYS] Goodbye.
2024/07/10 04:38:43.341199 [SYS] Starting Channels DVR v2024.05.07.1442 (windows-x86_64 pid:3932) in C:\ProgramData\ChannelsDVR\data
2024/07/10 04:38:43.342740 [SYS] Running as a Windows system service.
2024/07/10 04:38:43.432589 [SYS] Started HTTP Server on 8089
2024/07/10 04:38:43.913286 [HDR] Found 1 devices
2024/07/10 04:38:44.600522 [DVR] Waiting 5h21m15.3994774s until next job 1720623600-ch11.4 Curious George
2024/07/10 04:38:44.600522 [DBG] Scheduling wake timer for scheduled recording in 5h19m45.3994774s
2024/07/10 04:38:44.640488 [DVR] Recording engine started in D:\channels-data
2024/07/10 04:38:44.715085 [SYS] Bonjour service running for dvr-channels-dvr.local. [192.168.0.7]
2024/07/10 04:38:44.849955 [SYS] Created database snapshot: backup-20240710.093844
2024/07/10 04:38:44.850975 [SYS] Removing old backup backup-20240611.053734
2024/07/10 04:38:54.658767 [IDX] Pruned 1603 expired airings from USA-OTA60062 in 35ms.
2024/07/10 04:38:54.658767 [DBG] Scheduling wake timer for guide data in 5h13m35.3412324s
2024/07/10 04:39:15.285739 [SYS] Shutting down...
2024/07/10 04:39:15.396966 [SYS] Bonjour service stopped.
2024/07/10 04:39:15.408173 [DVR] Recording engine stopped.
2024/07/10 04:39:15.422357 [SYS] Goodbye.
2024/07/10 04:39:40.512617 [SYS] Starting Channels DVR v2024.05.07.1442 (windows-x86_64 pid:3956) in C:\ProgramData\ChannelsDVR\data
2024/07/10 04:39:40.514211 [SYS] Running as a Windows system service.
2024/07/10 04:39:40.636915 [SYS] Started HTTP Server on 8089
2024/07/10 04:39:41.140776 [HDR] Found 1 devices
2024/07/10 04:39:41.901459 [DVR] Waiting 5h20m18.0985404s until next job 1720623600-ch11.4 Curious George
2024/07/10 04:39:41.901459 [DBG] Scheduling wake timer for scheduled recording in 5h18m48.0985404s
2024/07/10 04:39:41.949200 [DVR] Recording engine started in D:\channels-data
2024/07/10 04:39:41.972716 [SYS] Bonjour service running for dvr-channels-dvr.local. [192.168.0.7]
2024/07/10 04:39:42.081032 [SYS] Created database snapshot: backup-20240710.093942
2024/07/10 04:39:42.082064 [SYS] Removing old backup backup-20240612.053734
2024/07/10 04:39:51.921477 [IDX] Pruned 0 expired airings from USA-OTA60062 in 1ms.
2024/07/10 04:39:51.921477 [DBG] Scheduling wake timer for guide data in 4h39m38.0785221s
2024/07/10 05:09:01.837013 [DVR] Waiting 4h50m58.1629868s until next job 1720623600-ch11.4 Curious George
2024/07/10 05:09:01.837520 [DBG] Scheduling wake timer for scheduled recording in 4h49m28.1629868s
2024/07/10 08:28:48.581028 [SYS] Detected time jump of 49m6.6848209s
2024/07/10 08:28:48.864638 [DVR] Waiting 1h31m11.1353619s until next job 1720623600-ch11.4 Curious George
2024/07/10 08:28:48.864638 [DBG] Scheduling wake timer for scheduled recording in 1h29m41.1353619s
2024/07/10 08:28:49.795838 [ERR] Failed to refresh auth: Post "https://community.getchannels.com/dvr/api": dial tcp: lookup community.getchannels.com: no such host

[GTFan]

@Michael_Birk

I have been using a Beelink with Windows 11 Pro as my Channels server for about two and half years. I don't think it has been down for more than a couple of hours total. Only need to reboot due to updates maybe every two months. The Channels developers have been doing a great job with the windows server.

Same here, it just works. There's no real fear of running a server on Win11 to me, and if you run Linux you'll have to reboot for security updates too.

Either works, use what you're comfy with.

[slampman]

@GTFan

and if you run Linux you'll have to reboot for security updates too.

Yeah, not anywhere close to Windows, and every Linux Server update doesn't require the server to be rebooted...

[GTFan]

Did you check out this link by chance?

How to find out why your PC shut down for no reason on Windows 10 and 11

Also might be a good idea to run the windows update troubleshooter. The PC should definitely not shut down when doing updates.

Windows Update Troubleshooter - Microsoft Support

[Morris_Altman]

@slampman

Yeah, not anywhere close to Windows, and every Linux Server update doesn't require the server to be rebooted...

Many windows updates do not require reboots. Your info is dated.

[slampman]

@Morris_Altman

Many windows updates do not require reboots. Your info is dated.

Then I guess Windows 11 falls into that dated category...

[GTFan]

Come on man there's no need to keep going with this tit for tat. Both servers are equally viable regardless of the number of reboot updates. And I say this as a former Linux network dev and sysadmin.

It doesn't really matter that Win11 is primarily desktop, it runs channels equally well. Might take a little more ram, sure, but who really cares nowadays?

[Edwin_Perez]

@GTFan
Finally, a sensible reply ... really, we should help in finding the cause of the problem by users running Channels DVR on Windows than suggesting a drastic change to a different operating system.