How to fix IR learning problems that occur after installing Update Rollup 2 for Media Center 2005

I have heard from a couple of folks who have had trouble getting IR learning to work for their universal remote controls after installing Update Rollup 2 for Media Center 2005.

As I described in this blog post, Update Rollup 2 installs an updated set of IR drivers (via KB888795), among other things. Unfortunately, there is a design flaw in the Windows driver installer - it will always writes this registry key anytime a new IR receiver device is enumerated by plug-and-play. The IR rollup package that is installed as a prerequisite of Update Rollup 2 forces such an enumeration when it upgrade the IR drivers. Also, this registry key can be overwritten if you plug in a new IR receiver. Doing so will cause the new device to be enumerated by plug-and-play, and the driver installation overwrites the registry key.

Whenever IR drivers are updated (such as when you install Update Rollup 2), it is necessary to update a registry value to re-enable IR learning in universal remote controls. You can do so by using the following steps to reset the necessary registry value and then rebooting your machine to cause it to take effect:

  1. Click on the Start menu, choose Run, type cmd and click OK
  2. Run this command: reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da /v EnableDebounce /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
  3. Reboot to cause the change to take effect