14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has acknowledged that some users running Windows 7 RTM or Windows 7 Service Pack 1 can come across issues when attempting to watch Interactive TV using the built in Windows Media Center component of the operating system.
According to the software giant, the problem seems to be that customers find they’re unable to use interactive TV functions in Windows 7 Media Center.
KB 2546868 published by the Redmond company on August 11, 2011, offers insight into this glitch, including details such as:
“Assume that you use Windows Media Center to watch interactive TV on a Windows 7-based computer. You input a correct password in Windows Media Center. In this situation, the mouse pointer and the color settings button do not work correctly. Therefore, you cannot use interactive TV functions.”
Microsoft has already identified the source of the problem and is also offering customers a way to fix it. It appears that Windows 7, even if upgraded to SP1, will send an incorrect password string to the TV broadcasting station, after users sign-in using their credentials.
While the Redmond company is not offering an update to automatically deal with this glitch, it has already made available for download a hotfix through Microsoft Support.
Customers will need to manually download the fix and deploy it, but only if they come across issues as those described above. The hotfix is not designed to resolve any other Windows Media Center related issues.
For the time being, no alternative fix is available from Microsoft, not even a manual workaround or an automated solution.
The Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows 7 feature Windows Media Center, so this hotfix applies only to these SKUs.
According to Microsoft, the plan is to include KB 2546868 into Service Pack 2 for Windows 7.
Windows 7 SP1 RTM and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 RTM are available for download here.