TiVo brand Digital Video Recorder automatic and manual video file transfers over a network from a TiVo to theTiVo desktop software running on a PC stopped on Feb 16, 2013. The error message on the TiVo Desktop Plus
Transfer Status screen is "The system cannot find the file specified". After web searches I found the cause and solution:
- The TiVo hardware box sends a cookie to the PC server software when a file transfer begins. Unfortunately, they set the cookie expiration date to 0000 GMT on Feb 16, 2013! This date is frozen in code on the TiVo.
- One way to get around this issue is to set the date on your PC to before Feb 16. But this is obviously not a good long-term solution!
A better solution (until TiVo patches their system) is to change the curl.conf file on the PC as follows on Windows XP or later:
- Click the Windows Start button and enter the following into the Start Search field:
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\TiVo Desktop
- Look for the curl.conf setup file in that folder. Edit that file and add the following line to that file (exactly as shown, with the quotes):
cookie = "sid=abc"
- Save the modified file with the same filename and extension (curl.conf).
- Reboot the PC, restart the TiVo server and TiVo Desktop software, and clear out any failed transfers. New manual or automatic TiVo to PC video file transfers should now work correctly.
This patch worked perfectly on my system.
Bill