Fix Windows Media Player

 What Is Windows Media Player?

Windows Media Player is the de facto ‘standard’ media player that is part of the Windows operating system. Available for free download for either Windows or Mac operating systems, Media Player allows you to play a videos and audio files in a wide variety of different formats.

It also has the ability for example, to synchronize your music collection with a suitable mobile device, as well as ripping CD tracks to your PC and burning CD’s built into the latest editions of the Media Player software.

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Possible Media Player Issues

As suggested above, although there is a specific file type that was originally created to use with the Windows Media Player (suffixed .wm), it is now possible to pay a wide variety of different file types with the Media Player.

In order for the player to be able to handle all of these different file types, it needs to have various small snippets of code installed, called codec’s. So, the first thing to check if the Media Player is malfunctioning is, do you have the correct codec installed for the file type that you are trying to run?

For example, some Podcast software programs need their own codec installing in order for the Windows Media Player to be able to play the Podcast. So, if the Media Player does not run, this is the first thing to check.

Next, many people report problems when they try to upgrade the Windows Media Player that they have installed to a later version. For example, reports of problems with upgrading to the latest version (Media Player 11) are quite common

Basically, uninstall the player entirely and go back to an earlier version, one that you know will work for you, is usually the answer to this.

Many people build quite large ‘libraries’ of music on their PC, so much so that it ends up filling their main C drive. At this point, it is quite a good idea to move this music to another drive, but what often happens is that Media Player continues to carry on adding new entries into the library instead of fixing or modifying the existing entries.

In this situation, you will end up with lots of ‘copies’ of the same song, many of which cannot work because the files that are needed to make it play have been moved to a new location.

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How To Repair Windows Media Player

If you have the problem that we have just highlighted, then you need to switch off Media Player, go to ‘My Computer’ and find the file marked ‘\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Index’

Delete the database that Media Player is using by getting rid of the “wmplibrary….db” file here. Restart the player, hit F3 and enter where you have moved the music to, and that should fix the problem.

If you have recently downloaded a later version of the Media Player and it is causing you problems, then the chances are that you will lose very little functionality indeed by going back to the version that you were using previously. Uninstall the newer version, and re-install the older one again.

Make sure that you have the correct codec that you need to enable Media Player to run the audio or video materials that you are trying to play. Particularly if the audio or video comes from a source that you have not used before, there is a chance that they are using their own codec that you do not have yet.

Finally, you should check that there are no underlying problems with your Windows operating system or the underlying registry by running a full registry scan.

One of the best is that offered by SpeedyPC entirely free, so run a full scan, which should take less than five minutes, and the download and install the SpeedyPC program itself in order to effect the necessary repairs as quickly and as easily as possible.