Yeah, that error is annoying. You're trying to watch or record something, and Windows Media Center just says "not allowed while archiving." Let's get you back to normal.
The Quick Fix
You need to stop the archiving process that's running in the background. Here's how:
- Open Windows Media Center. Go to Tasks > Settings > General > Media Center Setup.
- Click Configure TV and follow the wizard until you get to the Archiving section.
- Look for any active archive job. If there's one, select it and choose Stop.
- Wait a few seconds until the status shows "Stopped" or "Idle". Then go back to live TV or your recording schedule.
After you stop the archive, you should be able to watch or record without the error. If Media Center is stuck and won't respond, you might need to force-close it:
- Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager.
- Find ehshell.exe in the Processes tab.
- Select it and hit End Process. Then restart Media Center normally.
Why This Happens
Media Center has a single-threaded model for TV functions. Archiving a recorded show uses the same tuner resources as live TV and new recordings. When archiving is running, the system locks those resources, so any other TV operation throws the 0XC00D1B74 error.
The real fix is to let archiving finish or stop it manually. It's not a corruption issue—it's just a conflict of resources.
Less Common Variations
Sometimes the error pops up for different reasons. Here are a few things to check if stopping the archive doesn't help:
Multiple Archive Jobs Queued
If you have several shows queued for archiving, one might have failed and left the system in a stuck state. Go to the archiving screen and clear all completed or failed jobs. Then try again.
External Drive Disconnected
If you archive to an external drive and that drive went to sleep or got unplugged, the archive might hang. Reconnect the drive, then check the archiving status. If it's stuck, cancel the job and start fresh.
Media Center Database Corruption
In rare cases, the Media Center database gets corrupted and archiving never finishes. You can rebuild the database by going to Tasks > Settings > General > Media Center Setup > Reset Media Center. This wipes your settings, so back up your recorded TV first.
Prevention for Next Time
Don't start an archive at the same time you're recording a new show. Media Center doesn't handle it well.
Here's the routine I use:
- Schedule archiving during off-hours, like 2 AM, when you're not recording anything.
- If you have multiple tuners, check that each one is set to a different channel. Still, archiving ties up the system, so don't rely on that.
- Keep an eye on the archiving queue. Clear out old jobs regularly so nothing gets stuck.
Also, if you're archiving to a network drive, make sure it's always accessible. A dropped network connection is the number one cause of stuck archives. Consider using a local drive if you can.
That's it. Stop the archive, clear the queue, and you're back in business.