Auto Start Hulu and VPN from Windows 7 Media Center

The info below will give you the necessary information to add a button to Media Center to start Hulu, but do some other nice stuff along the way (like start a VPN and change the power scheme)

I run Windows 7 Media Center on my primary TV & enjoy using it to watch Hulu, but unfortunately every time I want to start Hulu I've got to reach for the keyboard because I'll typically want to run a VPN connection first, so I created a short batch file to perform the necessary tasks for me. My batch file looks like this:

taskkill /IM "ehshell.exe"

ping 127.0.0.1 -n 20 -w 1000 > nul

powercfg -s 90729505-f061-4a2d-9304-adb0f3b267ab

rasdial "StrongVPN" username password

start /WAIT %LOCALAPPDATA%\HuluDesktop\instances\0.9.14.1\HuluDesktop.exe

rasdial "StrongVPN" /disconnect

powercfg -s 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e

start C:\Windows\ehome\ehshell.exe

Stepping through the file, this is whats happening:

taskkill /IM "ehshell.exe"

This juts kills Windows 7 Media Center - I don't want it to run in the background or else it will steal focus.

ping 127.0.0.1 -n 20 -w 1000 > nul

This pauses for 20 seconds (maybe there is a better way to add a wait command to a batch file, but this works) while Media Center shuts down.

powercfg -s 90729505-f061-4a2d-9304-adb0f3b267ab

This changes my power saving settings so that my screen doesn't turn off while I'm using Hulu (usually it will turn off after 15 minutes and Hulu doesn't stop it from doing so). To get the guids for your power saving settings for your computer use "powercfg -l" - create a new power saving profile that doesn't turn off the screen or computer first.

rasdial "VPN" username password

This starts the VPN connection.

start /WAIT %LOCALAPPDATA%\HuluDesktop\instances\0.9.14.1\HuluDesktop.exe

This starts Hulu - I have to use the .exe in the instance folder rather than the one in the HuluDesktop folder as all the one in the HuluDesktop folder does is run the one in the instance folder (and then the start /wait part of the command doesn't wait properly). I think I will have to update this location in the batch file whenever Hulu updates. The "start /wait" part of the command means the batch file doesn't continue until Hulu closes.

rasdial "VPN" /disconnect

Disconnects the VPN.

powercfg -s 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e

Returns the power saving settings to my normal power setting.

start C:\Windows\ehome\ehshell.exe

Start Media Center again now that it's all finished!

All I did then was store that file somewhere and create a shortcut to it in the C:\Users\MY USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Media Center Programs folder. A crude looking shortcut now appears in the Media Center's Extras folder!