Studio XPS Owners: Have you figured out how to get a non-Dell remote working?

I have a Studio XPS 13 (aka. 1340) but Im sure this would probably be relevant for Studio XPS 16 owners as well. On the front of the system, you will notice an IR receiver which is meant to go with the Dell IR remote (which I didnt order). In the device manager, it appears as a generic Infrared HID device.

I am just wondering if anyone has been able to successfully get their Studio XPS working with an IR remote? Maybe with a Windows Media Center remote control, or perhaps get it to recognize/learn from a typical remote control you might have laying around?

 

There is a very easy way to get the standard Microsoft Media Center Remote control to work with the Studio XPS laptops.

First download the IR Drivers from the Dell website for the Studio XPS 13. It should be a file R196531.exe. Use Winzip to extract the files from this exe. There is a file called "MSFT.reg"

Right click on this file MSFT.reg, and select "Edit". It should open this file in Notepad.

The second line will look like this:
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da]


Simply edit this line and remove the beginning dash "-" so it is this:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da]

Save it. Then just double click on it. Click "Yes" when prompted.


More info: The Dell installer actually removes support for the standard Microsoft Media Center remote by running this registry file. The dash "-" tells the registry to delete this key from the registry.

Changing it to get rid of the dash simply means to add this back to the registry. It simply adds back support for this remote.

 

Thanks for the detailed reply. When you say standard Microsoft Media Center Remote, which model exactly are you talking about? Is there some sort of standard maybe? I was thinking about getting one of the HP Media Center Remotes...but not sure if that is compatible.

 

my brothers remote from an hp dv4 laptop works on my dell, no set up required or anything, it just works.

 

I wonder if this would allow me to use my Harmony remote to control it. That would be sweet.

 

After some more reading, I am getting the impression that any RC6 compatible remote will work using ejohnson0547's method above. Can someone confirm?

 

I am using a "Microsoft" branded remote for Vista. And it controls my Studio XPS 13 perfectly. It is this exact one from Newegg, part number A9O-00007

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16880100851

I cannot confirm any other remote but anyone compatible with this should work.

 

Thanks so much for this solution. I searched forever to try to get my Studio XPS 16 ITECIR Infrared Receiver working with my Logitech Harmony remote. I get so angry knowing that Dell intentionally disabled this feature in their installer.

 

Did you get your Harmony remote working? I can't get mine to work with my Studio XPS 16. The Studio XPS 16 is not a valid option when programing the Harmony 880 remote. I tried telling the Harmony I had a Studio XPS 15 and that didn't work. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Ken - When setting up your Logitech Harmony choose "Media Center PC" as your device. That's what I use to control my Studio XPS 16. It emulates a Microsoft remote and works fine with my laptop.