The only problem here is that Windows Media Player is not supporting the pls file format. Users who try it anyway receive the following error message:

Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The Player might not support the file type or might not support the codec that was used to compress the file.

Open PLS in WMP is a free software program for the Windows operating system that acts as a proxy between the pls file and Microsoft’s media player. Download the program from the Internet’s Codeplex project page first. The program has not been updated for three years now but it still works perfectly even with the latest Microsoft operating system and windows Media Player.

Installation should be straightforward and pose no troubles whatsoever. What you need to do afterwards is to assign the .pls file format with the newly installed Open PLS in WMP application. You do that by right-clicking a pls file on the system and selecting Properties from the context menu.

Click on the change button, navigate to the Open PLS in WMP folder (defaults to the program files folder) and select the executable there.

You can alternatively start a playlist file directly on an Internet page, but only if Windows displays a file open dialog which leads to the process described above.

All pls files in Windows are from that moment on opened with Open PLS in WMP. The program extracts the stream information from the files and sends the information to Windows Media Player where the stream is then played like other music.

You may see a warning message about AAC streams when you load streams. I’m not entirely sure why it is displayed, it did not hinder playback of the playlist files that I tried. Just close the message and Windows Media Player should start playing pls files.

The Windows Media Player Fix It repairs several issues that users may experience when trying to run the built-in multimedia player.

• Windows Media Player 11 or newer crashes or stops responding.
• Windows Media Player does not start at all, or some of its user interface elements remain blank.
• Streaming video or audio are not playing because settings for Windows Media network streaming are corrupt.
• Users encounter browsing and searching problems in Windows Media Player. This can be caused by corrupt Windows Media Player libraries.
• An installed copy of Nero Video Burning plugin causes Windows Media Player to crash or stop responding. This is caused by incompatibilities.

Windows Media Player users who are experiencing any of the issues listed above may want to download the Fix It tool to their system. All they need to do locally is to start it and follow the instructions.

That’s a problem from a user perspective. The HTML5 Extension for Windows Media Player Firefox add-on by Microsoft tries to add support from H.264 videos in Firefox. The browser plugin only works in Firefox 3.6 or later and only under the Windows 7 operating system. In other words, Windows 7 users with Firefox 3.6 or higher can use the plugin, everyone else cannot.

But what is the add-on doing exactly?

The Extension is based on a Firefox Add-on that parses HTML5 pages and replaces Video tags with a call to the Windows Media Player plug-in so that the content can be played in the browser. The Add-on replaces video tags only if the video formats specified in the tag are among those supported by Windows Media Player. Tags that contain other video formats are not touched.

The add-on works on most pages that try to play H.264 video but not on all. Microsoft explains the issues that can be encountered the following way:

In some cases Firefox might fail to play a video even if the Add-on is correctly installed because the page might be using a call to canPlayType to determine if the browser can play H.264 content. Typically the check is done either using createElement(‘video’) or getElementsByTagName(‘video’) and then call canPlayType(‘video’mp4′). In both cases the call will return empty string even if the Add-on is installed and the browser could play H.264 videos.

Firefox users who want to watch H.264 encoded videos may want to try out the add-on to do so. Another option would be to switch to a web browser supporting H.264 natively, which is also the only option for non-Windows 7 Firefox users, at least at this point in time.

The plugin adds several useful features to Windows Media Player including a more comfortable tag editor that can be accessed by right-clicking songs in the player’s interface.

Windows Media Player Plus can also display song information in the Windows Media Player title (nothing’s displayed there otherwise with the option to customize the title using an Advanced Title Formatting.

A type as you find search is integrated into the Media Player library. The plugin will automatically find the first instance of the typed in phrase while the user is typing.

There are also two settings to restore media and plugins in the player. The Restore Media at Startup option can restore several items on startup of Windows Media Player including:

• Restore last active playlist
• Restore last active media item
• Restore last play state
• Restore last playback position

It is possible to select multiple items in the options. Windows Media Player will automatically disable option plugins on startup if the player has crashed in the previous session. The Restore plugins after crash setting can be used to quickly re-enable the disabled plugins.

Users who use Windows Media Player as their default media player may want to consider installing Windows Media Player Plus to extend the player.

Installation of WMPP is straightforward. Instances of Windows Media Player need to be shutdown before the plugin can be installed.

Windows Media Player Plus can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

A quick search on the Internet revealed that the WMPSideShowGadget.exe process enables Windows Media Player information to be displayed on Sideshow capable devices. Windows Sideshow basically transfers information from the PC to another display that can either be integrated into a computer or only remotely linked to it.

The only possible device that could have triggered the WMPSideShowGadget.exe was the Logitech G15 keyboard which uses an LCD display to show information whenever compatible applications are running on the PC.

The easiest way to disable WMPSideShowGadget.exe and wmplayer.exe from running is to go into the Windows Control Panel. Locate Hardware and Sound > Windows SideShow in the Control Panel. This should display a screen that looks like the following.

Uncheck the checkboxes next to the Windows Media Player entry (and every other entry that you do not need). This should immediately kill the two processes which can be checked by pressing Ctrl Shift Esc to open the Windows Task Manager.

Logitech G15 users might also want to check the device’s settings by opening the Logitech LCD Manager which lists a number of programs that are also automatically started with Windows. This includes LCD Pop3 Monitor and RSS Reader. All of those applications use computer memory even if they are not being used at all. It is recommended to disable the programs that are not needed to free up computer memory and speed up startup time of the operating system. A reboot is required before the changes take effect.

Fix WMP is a repair tool for Microsoft’s Windows Media Player. It addresses a common problem that Windows users experience: problems with dlls that are needed to operate the media player properly.

The portable program can be used to re-register more than 40 different dlls that are required to operate the Windows Media Player. This software program can be used to ensure that all the required dlls to run Windows Media Player are registered in the operating system.

The attempt to repair the program can be started with a single click in the program’s interface. Please note that this can provide the means to repair Windows Media Player but that it can also have no effect if the problem is caused by something else.

Fix WMP has been tested with Windows Media Player 12 running on 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. The developers say that it likely can repair previous versions of Windows Media Player as well.

WMP Keys is a plugin for Windows Media Player 12, Windows Media Player 11 and 10 that adds global hotkey support to the media player. The plugin is supplied as a msi file which needs to be installed when the media player is not open. It then needs to be activated after installation in the player’s options.

This is done in Windows Media Player 12 by clicking on Organize > Options. This should open the options menu with a plug-ins tab. The WMP Keys plugin is listed under background plugins. Placing a checkmark in the box and clicking the apply button will activate the global hotkeys for Windows Media Player.

The default hotkeys are:

Play/Pause Ctrl+Alt+Home
Next Ctrl+Alt+Right
Previous Ctrl+Alt+Left
Volume Up Ctrl+Alt+Up
Volume Down Ctrl+Alt+Down
Fast Forward Ctrl+Alt+F
Fast Backward Ctrl+Alt+B
Rate [1-5] Ctrl+Alt+[1-5]

These hotkeys can be changed by clicking on the Properties button in the same menu.

WMP Keys can be downloaded from its Sourceforge project website.

Winamp by default comes with the option to import the iTunes media library. It does however not include a similar option to import media from Windows Media Player which is why the software program has been created by the developer.

The application can import the Windows Media Player library into Winamp. This includes audio and videos files, all metadata including ratings and play counts.

The software comes with a few options to customize the import of the Windows Media Player library. It is possible to import all media files or only audio or video files. There is also an option to only import audio and video from an existing playlist.

Three additional options are available. It is possible to ignore files that are already in the Winamp Media Library, remove files from the Winamp Media Library that are not in the Windows Media Player Library and to automatically import on Winamp startup.

The program will not make any changes to Windows Media Player no matter which settings are selected in the application.

Windows Media Player Import is available at the developer’s website. It requires Windows 2000 or higher (means it is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7), Winamp 5 or higher and Windows Media Player 9 or higher.

All Microsoft Fix It solutions can be accessed at the Microsoft Fix It Solution Center. The website does not display the fix it solutions in a comfortable way which is why all of them have been added to the list below. Each entry describes the problem and links to the fix it page at the Microsoft Support website.

Windows Update Fixes

• Error message when you use the Windows Update or Microsoft Update Web site to install updates: “0x8007000B” [link]
• Error message when you try to update a Windows XP-based computer: “0x80072EE4″ [link]
• MBSA 2 and other programs do not offer Windows Server 2003 SP2 as an update on a Windows Server 2003-based computer that has the Windows Server 2003 SP2 Blocker Toolkit installed [link]
• Error message when you try to perform a backup on a Windows Vista-based computer: “0x80071A91″ [link]
• Error when you download updates using Windows Update or Microsoft Update: 8000FFFF [link]
• How do I reset Windows Update components? [link]
• You are not offered the option to install Windows XP Service Pack 3 when you use Windows Update or Automatic Updates [link]
• Why doesn’t my computer detect my new USB device when I’m running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003? [link]
• Error message when you check for updates on the Windows Update site: “0X800A138F: There are no updates available at this time” [link]
• MapPoint or Streets & Trips does not respond or gives an error message about the license when you try to start the program [link]
• Description of the Receive Window Auto-Tuning feature for HTTP traffic on Windows Vista-based computers [link]
• I cannot open Help files that require the Windows Help (WinHlp32.exe) program [link]

Windows fixes

• How do I enable User Account Control in Windows Vista? [link]
• The Recycle Bin icon does not refresh automatically in Windows Vista or in Windows XP [link]
• The Bluetooth item in Control Panel on a Windows Vista SP2-based computer does not work as expected when you click the item [link]
• How can I disable wireless configuration services and enable the Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration services [link]
• How do I enable the NUM LOCK key for the logon screen? [link]
• How do I open the firewall port for SQL Server on Windows Server 2008? [link]
• When I used the Online Media feature of Media Center Extender on a Windows Vista-based computer, I received an error message: “Video Error” [link]
• You may receive error messages when you install the .msp files that are contained in hotfix 950009 [link]
• Navigation is canceled when you browse to Web pages that are in different Internet Explorer security zones [link]
• 10060 Connection timed out error with proxy server or ISA Server on slow link [link]
• On a Windows XP-based computer, icons are displayed as a red X [link]
• Error message when you perform various System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2007 operations after you install DPM 2007 Service Pack 1: “An Unexpected error occurred during a VSS operation” [link]
• How do I reset Windows Update components? [link]
• Information about the discontinuation of Encarta Encyclopedia Research Service in Microsoft Office [link]
• You cannot open the “C:\Programme” folder in the German version of Windows Vista or Windows 7 Beta [link]
• How can I recover items that I have “hard deleted” in Outlook? [link]
• Error message when you start Outlook: “Unable to open the Outlook window,” “No profile has been created,” or “The list of Profiles cannot be loaded” [link]
• Microsoft Security Advisory: Vulnerability in Microsoft DirectShow could allow remote code execution [link]
• How to fix MSI software update registration corruption issues [link]
• How do I reset the hosts file back to the default? [link]
• Description of the Receive Window Auto-Tuning feature for HTTP traffic on Windows Vista-based computers [link]
• Terminal Services event messages 1100 or 1114 in Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003 [link]
• You cannot open a PowerPoint attachment in Windows Mail in Windows Vista [link]
• How do I uninstall the 2007 Office suites if I cannot uninstall it by using the “Add or Remove Programs” feature? [link]
• An optional update is available to update the Daylight Saving Time for Bangladesh for the year 2009 for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 based computers [link]

Internet Explorer

• The Internet Explorer icon is missing from your desktop [link]
• Fix Runtime Errors in Internet Explorer [link]
• How to solve Internet Explorer 7 installation problems [link]
• How to reset Internet Explorer settings [link]
• How to solve Internet Explorer 8 installation problems [link]
• How can I configure my Internet Explorer browser settings after I have removed malicious software from my computer? [link]
• How to troubleshoot network connectivity problems in Internet Explorer [link]
• There are no options under Settings on the Advanced tab of the “Internet Options” dialog box in Windows Internet Explorer 7 [link]
• How do I move the Standard toolbar to a location that is above the Address bar in Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8? [link]
• After I install Windows Internet Explorer 7 on a computer that is running Windows XP with Service Pack 2, a “Restore My Active Desktop” button appears on the desktop [link]
• The menu bar and the toolbar are missing in Internet Explorer on Windows Vista or Windows XP or in Windows Explorer on Windows XP [link]
• How do I configure Internet Explorer to download more than two files at one time? [link]
• After you upgrade to Internet Explorer 7, hyperlinks do not work in Outlook Express [link]
• Navigation is canceled when you browse to Web pages that are in different Internet Explorer security zones [link]
• How to optimize Internet Explorer [link]
• You cannot log in to or connect to secured Web sites in Internet Explorer [link]
• A new window opened in Internet Explorer displays a blank white page [link]
• Outlook 2007 does not honor the folder structure that was created in Internet Explorer 7 for the RSS Feeds folder [link]
• The Windows Search feature does not work correctly, you receive script errors in Internet Explorer, or some information is missing after you upgrade to Windows XP or after you uninstall Norton SystemWorks 2003 from a Windows XP-based computer [link]
• When I tried to open Device Manager or the Computer Management window, I received an error message: “MMC cannot open the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\devmgmt.msc” [link]
• You are not offered the option to install Windows XP Service Pack 3 when you use Windows Update or Automatic Updates [link]
• A Visio 2003 drawing control does not load and the Visio drawing contents are not displayed when you visit a Web page that contains the drawing control [link]
• Application errors occur after you run Xmlinst.exe on production servers [link]
• Error message when you check for updates on the Windows Update site: “0X800A138F: There are no updates available at this time” [link]
• How to determine and to recover from Winsock2 corruption in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, and in Windows Vista [link]

Configuration Manager

• Distribution Manager in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 may require several hours after startup before it begins to process packages [link]
• Stop error message when a Windows Server 2008-based computer randomly restarts: “0x000000BE ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_READONLY_MEMORY” [link]

Exchange

• The installation of the Exchange Server 2007 Hub Transport role is unsuccessful on a Windows Server 2008-based computer [link]
• Mail flow to certain domains does not work when you run Exchange Server 2007 on a Windows Server 2008-based computer [link]
• How can I recover items that I have “hard deleted” in Outlook? [link]
• Application errors occur after you run Xmlinst.exe on production servers [link]
• When users access their Free/Busy information, the Outlook Web Access service stops on the computer that is running Exchange 2007 [link]
• You cannot prevent Office Communicator 2007 from controlling the call forwarding settings [link]
• Outlook 2003 users may not be able to use Outlook in offline mode [link]
• Network connectivity fails when you try to use Windows Vista behind a firewall device [link]
• An update to turn off default SNP features is available for Windows Server 2003-based and Small Business Server 2003-based computers [link]
• Update for Windows Search 4.0, December 2008 [link]
• Client connections return a “STATUS_INVALID_PARAM” error code when you use a “Send NTLMv2 response only” authentication level in Windows Server 2008 or in Windows Vista [link]

Internet Application Gateway

• Endpoint detection fails when a client computer connects to IAG [link]

Microsoft Message Queuing

• How to avoid routing queries with no routing servers in the site [link]

SharePoint

• Problems occur when you try to open an Office document from a Web site hyperlink in a 2007 Office application on a Windows Vista-based client computer [link]
• Error message when you try to open multiple instances of an InfoPath 2007 form at the same time by using different input parameters [link]
• Description of the Receive Window Auto-Tuning feature for HTTP traffic on Windows Vista-based computers [link]
• After you upload encrypted files from a computer that is running Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 to a WebDAV share, the files remain encrypted [link]

Windows Server

• How do I open the firewall port for SQL Server on Windows Server 2008? [link]
• How to remove administrative shares in Windows Server 2008 [link]
• PS/2 mouse is not connected to a Windows Server 2008-based computer or a Windows Server 2003-based computer when the computer starts [link]
• An optional update is available to update the Daylight Saving Time for Bangladesh for the year 2009 for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 based computers [link]
• How to reset Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) [link]
• How do I disable balloon tips in the notification area in Windows XP or Vista? [link]
• MBSA 2 and other programs do not offer Windows Server 2003 SP2 as an update on a Windows Server 2003-based computer that has the Windows Server 2003 SP2 Blocker Toolkit installed [link]
• Microsoft Security Advisory: Vulnerability in Microsoft DirectShow could allow remote code execution [link]
• Terminal Services event messages 1100 or 1114 in Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003 [link]
• Microsoft Security Advisory: Vulnerability in Microsoft Video ActiveX control could allow remote code execution [link]
• An update to turn off default SNP features is available for Windows Server 2003-based and Small Business Server 2003-based computers [link]
• The print queue status is displayed as “Offline” on a Windows Server 2003-based print server if SNMP is enabled and if the printer devices do not respond to SNMP commands [link]
• DCOM Error 10021 is logged when you run a WinRM command against a remote computer that has update 936059 applied [link]
• Stop error message when a Windows Server 2008-based computer randomly restarts: “0x000000BE ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_READONLY_MEMORY” [link]
• How to avoid routing queries with no routing servers in the site [link]
• 10060 Connection timed out error with proxy server or ISA Server on slow link [link]
• Error message when you try to view an ASP Web page that is hosted on IIS 6.0 or on IIS 5.0: “HTTP 500: Internal Server Error” or “The requested resource is in use” [link]
• When you send and receive e-mail messages by using a POP3 e-mail account, you receive one of the following error messages: “0x8004210A” “0x800CCC0B” or “0x8004210B” [link]
• How do I enable the NUM LOCK key for the logon screen? [link]
• When I used the Online Media feature of Media Center Extender on a Windows Vista-based computer, I received an error message: “Video Error” [link]
• You may receive error messages when you install the .msp files that are contained in hotfix 950009 [link]
• How can I disable wireless configuration services and enable the Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration services [link]
• How do I enable User Account Control in Windows Vista? [link]
• The Recycle Bin icon does not refresh automatically in Windows Vista or in Windows XP [link]
• The Bluetooth item in Control Panel on a Windows Vista SP2-based computer does not work as expected when you click the item [link]

Office

• When you try to open an Office file that contains a damaged AutoShape object in Office 2003 Service Pack 3, you receive an error message: “ experienced an error trying to open the file” [link]
• The Templates dialog box does not appear for three or four seconds when you try to create new documents by using the templates in Office 2003 [link]
• Information about the discontinuation of Encarta Encyclopedia Research Service in Microsoft Office [link]
• How do I uninstall the 2007 Office suites if I cannot uninstall it by using the “Add or Remove Programs” feature? [link]
• Problems occur when you try to open an Office document from a Web site hyperlink in a 2007 Office application on a Windows Vista-based client computer [link]
• Description of the 2007 Office system hotfix package: June 10, 2008 [link]
• You cannot prevent Office Communicator 2007 from controlling the call forwarding settings [link]
• A graphic image changes unexpectedly when you copy it from Excel 2003 to another Office 2003 program in a spanned RDP session [link]
• The text in a Graph object in an Office 2003 application seems to overlap or seems to be squeezed together when you use Excel 2003 on a Terminal Services client that is running in Monitor Spanning mode [link]
• Project 2003 crashes when you expand many subprojects in a master project [link]
• Some text is unexpectedly inserted into a new e-mail message from OneNote 2007 [link]
• Error message when you click a hyperlink in an Office 2003 document: “The address of this site is not valid”" [link]
• Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook disables Outlook to search the Outlook data [link]
• The changes in the TOC and PageRef fields do not appear when you compare Word 2007 documents [link]
• A hotfix is available for Outlook 2003 that enables certain MAPI applications to create new items in a .pst file after the PstDisableGrow registry entry is configured [link]
• Project 2007 takes longer than expected to add new values to a lookup table [link]
• Pictures that have certain shadow settings display incorrectly in PowerPoint 2003 [link]
• A Visio 2003 drawing control does not load and the Visio drawing contents are not displayed when you visit a Web page that contains the drawing control [link]
• An Outlook 2003 user cannot open a network share from a hyperlink in an RTF e-mail message if the e-mail message is sent from an Outlook 2007 user [link]
• How do I fix the problem that I experience after I install an automatic update for Word 2007 on a Windows Vista-based computer? [link]
• How can I configure Outlook to read non-digitally-signed e-mail messages or nonencrypted e-mail messages as plain text in Office XP SP1? [link]
• Finish date of a project plan may change in Project 2003 [link]
• You cannot open a PowerPoint attachment in Windows Mail in Windows Vista [link]
• Error message when you start Outlook: “Unable to open the Outlook window,” “No profile has been created,” or “The list of Profiles cannot be loaded” [link]
• You may receive error messages when you install the .msp files that are contained in hotfix 950009 [link]

Outlook and Outlook Express

• A hotfix is available for Outlook 2003 that enables certain MAPI applications to create new items in a .pst file after the PstDisableGrow registry entry is configured [link]
• Error messages when you create a new MAPI form or you try to open custom forms in Outlook 2003 [link]
• Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook disables Outlook to search the Outlook data [link]
• An Outlook 2003 user cannot open a network share from a hyperlink in an RTF e-mail message if the e-mail message is sent from an Outlook 2007 user [link]
• After you upgrade Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2007, Outlook 2007 crashes when you start the program [link]
• Error message when you start Outlook: “Unable to open the Outlook window,” “No profile has been created,” or “The list of Profiles cannot be loaded” [link]
• Outlook 2007 does not honor the folder structure that was created in Internet Explorer 7 for the RSS Feeds folder [link]
• If you change the Appointments font setting for the calendar in Outlook 2007, the new font setting is not used when you print the calendar [link]
• Outlook 2007 may stop responding when you select an e-mail message that is restricted by Information Rights Management [link]
• A hotfix is available for Outlook 2007 that enables certain MAPI applications to create new items in a .pst file after the PstDisableGrow registry entry is configured [link]
• When you use Outlook 2007 to send an e-mail message, the recipient of the message sees an attachment that is called Winmail.dat [link]
• A hotfix is available to enable Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) messages to use INTERNALDATE as the delivery date of a message in Outlook 2007 [link]
• A Color Category that uses a dark color may print lighter than other Color Categories in Outlook 2007 [link]
• You cannot disable the “No end date” option for appointments, meeting requests, tasks, or task requests in Outlook 2007 [link]
• It takes much longer than expected to download an e-mail message from a POP3 server in Outlook 2007 [link]
• How can I configure Outlook to read non-digitally-signed e-mail messages or nonencrypted e-mail messages as plain text in Office XP SP1? [link]
• Outlook 2003 users may not be able to use Outlook in offline mode [link]
• How can I recover items that I have “hard deleted” in Outlook? [link]
• When users access their Free/Busy information, the Outlook Web Access service stops on the computer that is running Exchange 2007 [link]
• When you send and receive e-mail messages by using a POP3 e-mail account, you receive one of the following error messages: “0x8004210A” “0x800CCC0B” or “0x8004210B” [link]
• Network connectivity fails when you try to use Windows Vista behind a firewall device [link]
• Error message when you try to use a keyboard shortcut in an Outlook 2003 custom form that has an embedded Web Browser control: “The operation failed” [link]
• An e-mail message does not appear in a user’s mailbox if the e-mail message was sent on behalf of the user by a delegate in Outlook 2003 [link]
• Error message when you click a hyperlink in an Office 2003 document: “The address of this site is not valid”" [link]
• Hyperlinks do not work in Outlook Express or in Word [link]

Windows Media Player

• When I try to use Windows Media Player 11, the program does not start, or some UI elements are blank [link]
• Windows Media Player stops responding after you install a third-party product that registers its own version of the Wmp.dll file [link]
• How can I enable or disable automatic updates in Windows Media Player? [link]
• How to troubleshoot sound problems that you experience after you install a Windows Vista Service Pack [link]
• How can I disable changes in Windows Media Player that are introduced after I install security update 936782? [link]

Xbox

• You tried to set up your Xbox 360 console as a Media Center Extender, but the Setup program did not start [link]
• Error message when you try to install a program for the Xbox 360 Media Center Extender in Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with Service Pack 3: “There is a problem with the installation of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005″ [link]

Zune

• When you try to play music that you downloaded from the Zune Marketplace, you receive an error message: “C00D11B1” [link]
• Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs [link]

Games and Consumer Products

• How can I troubleshoot activation issues or error messages for Games for Windows, Streets and Trips, and MapPoint? [link]
• When you try to start MapPoint or Streets & Trips, you receive an error message: “A removable device or network share cannot be found” [link]
• MapPoint or Streets & Trips does not respond or gives an error message about the license when you try to start the program [link]
• Error message when you try to use Street & Trips 2008: “Construction information for routes could not be downloaded” [link]

Windows Media Player

• When I try to use Windows Media Player 11, the program does not start, or some UI elements are blank [link]
• Windows Media Player stops responding after you install a third-party product that registers its own version of the Wmp.dll file [link]
• How can I enable or disable automatic updates in Windows Media Player? [link]
• How to troubleshoot sound problems that you experience after you install a Windows Vista Service Pack [link]
• How can I disable changes in Windows Media Player that are introduced after I install security update 936782? [link]

Right-click the folder that you want to add the options to and select Properties from the menu. Now switch to the customize tab in the window that is popping up. Select Music (best for audio files and playlists) from the drop down menu on top. You can also check the “also apply this template to all subfolders” if the subfolders should also be turned into music folders. A click on OK will change the folder template in Windows Explorer to music.

A right-click on that folder will from then on display the two Windows Media Player entries. You can revert the changes by simply changing the music template back to the default folder template.

Sopcast users can use the software to view the TV shows directly. The interface of the software has been translated to English and provides the means to browse and search the available channels. Some users probably prefer to use another video player to view Internet TV. Sopcast is offering an application called Sopcast Filter which enables Windows Media Player users to tune in into Sopcast streams and watch the shows in that video player instead.

The disadvantage of this method is however that the channel list is not available in Windows Media Player. Sopcast TV channels can be opened from the Open URL menu in Windows Media Player which means the user needs the url of the show before it can be watched. Those information can be found in the original Sopcast player or from websites that post those links regularly.

Not very comfortable but the history function of Windows Media Player makes it easier to access the same channels again at a later time. Users who are interested in watching TV on their PC can also take a look at our PC TV article detailing some of the options.

The software will automatically search the Internet for information about the current song and display the album art and lyrics in two independent windows. It is possible to refine the search if the first hit did not display the correct items. It can happen that the lyrics are not the only information displayed as the software uses an auto parser to parse the contents.

This can be fixed easily however by simply removing the unnecessary information. Results can be saved so that only those information will be displayed the next time the song is being played on the computer system.

The program can also be configured to look in mp3 and playlists for album art and lyrics before searching the Internet for those information. There is naturally also a way to save the discovered album art and lyrics to the music to make it permanently available.

Windows Media Player never officially supported CD-Text which is where WMPCDText comes into play. The plugin for Windows Media Player 10 or 11 is capable of reading and displaying CD-Text information in Windows Media Player.

The Windows Media Player plugin comes with an option to automatically load the CD-Text information if present on the CD. The alternative would be to right-click on the tracks of the CD to load the CD-Text information into Windows Media Player.

This obviously only works with CDs that make use of CD-Text information. Many burning software programs can burn CD-Text including Nero, ImgBurn or iTunes. The Windows Media Player plugin will run on Windows 2003, Windows XP and Windows Vista with administrative rights required on XP and 2003.

Might be just what you need to watch the current US elections live but it is of course working all the time not only during the elections.

To start open Windows Media Player. Press the keyboard combination [CTRL U] to open a small window where an url of a media stream can be entered. Paste the following url in the form exactly as it is shown below:

rtsp://cnn-cnnlive-1-primary.wm.llnwd.net/cnn_cnnlive_1_primary/

Hit ok to load the stream. It usually takes a few seconds before the stream becomes active due to the buffering process. After that everything should run smooth and fine.

The screenshot above was taken from the live CNN stream. It works pretty well. Any tips to get this running on different operating systems or media players? Let us know!

One of the more interesting aspects was Windows Media Player Light which was only briefly shown and mentioned in the information. Thankfully some additional information have come to light. A Windows Media Player Light video was posted that is showing Windows Media Player light in action.

One could think that the light version of the Windows Media Player is just the same unresponsive resource eating monster with hidden interface components but that is apparently not the case. Windows Media Player Light seems to open videos as fast as the alternative clients that experienced users use on Windows XP and Windows Vista. Clients like SMPlayer, MPlayer or VLC open videos instantly and it seems to be that Windows Media Player Light can compete on that level.

It would have been interesting if the light version does use less resources than the full version of Windows Media Player. Another question that surely comes up would be the compatibility of Windows Media Player Light. Does it have the same functionality as the normal version or can it be used exclusively to watch multimedia files on the computer without having access to playlists, skins or premium services.

There’s nothing wrong in wanting to beat iTunes. However, the way Nokia is going about things, you’d think they were trying to scare away all their customers. It’s a case of how do I frighten thee? Let me count the ways.

Let’s start by getting to the site. I accessed the site using Firefox and was told that the music store does not support the browser. You can only get to the site using IE6 or higher. That’s strike one. To transfer the music to your phone, you need to have Windows XP or Vista. That’s strike two since it shuts out all the Linux and Mac users.

Assuming you fulfill the first two criteria, the fun doesn’t stop there. Music on the site is only available in the proprietary ‘wma’ format, so your phone needs to have Windows Media Player to play your tunes. At $1.70 a song, it might interest you to know that the songs are DRM enabled as well. So, you cannot play the song anywhere else except for your phone.

In my first para, I mentioned Nokia was looking to topple iTunes. Their most brilliant strategy to do that? The songs cannot be played on iPod. That’s right, the most popular portable media player will not play any of these songs. Brilliant marketing strategy isn’t it?

To quote Andre Yoskowitz at Afterdawn, “I’m not sure who at Nokia thought that offering expensive, DRM-crippled music that cannot be played on iPods was a good idea but they should not have a job.”

How many of you would be willing to purchase music like this? What do you think of Nokia’s marketing strategy? What’s your opinion on these kind of arm-twisting tactics? Let me know.

This means that the Windows Media Player playlist cannot find the songs anymore if you move the songs to another directory or hard drive. I’m going to show you a way to quickly fix the path in the wpl files so that they point again to the right directory. I suggest you use a software like Notepad++ for this because it has a nice find and replace feature and because I’m going to use it to demonstrate how it is done.

Lets say you moved your mp3 location from c:\mp3 to d:\music\mp3. What you need to do is locate the wml – Windows Media Player Playlist – file and open it in Notepad++ or another editor that supports find and replace operations. Every song in that playlist is listed in that file with the full path starting with c:\mp3.

Click on the Search menu and pick Replace from the contents. Enter c:\mp3 in the Find What form and d:\music\mp3 in the Replace With form. This will replace all c:\mp3 strings with d:\music\mp3 leaving the rest of the path alone. Click on Replace All to automatically replace all strings.

Notepad++ should display the changes immediately and all you need to do is to save the Windows Media Player playlist file under the same name. (File > Save).

The three items of Windows Media Player that I’m talking about are a) Add to Burn List, b) Add to Windows Media Player Player List and c) Play with Windows Media Player.

Do the following to remove the Windows Media Player menu items: Press Windows R, type in regedit32 and hit enter. Now navigate to the following keys in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Clsid\. I would suggest to make a backup of the keys before deleting them. To backup a registry key you right-click it and select Export from the menu.

a) {8DD448E6-C188-4aed-AF92-44956194EB1F}
b) {F1B9284F-E9DC-4e68-9D7E-42362A59F0FD}
c) {CE3FB1D1-02AE-4a5f-A6E9-D9F1B4073E6C}

Changes will take effect immediately and can be tested by right-clicking a multimedia file like a video. Another working method would be to unregister the wmpshell.dll which is used to provide the context menu items. This is probably the easier method.

Press Windows R, type in regsvr32 /u wmpshell.dll, hit enter

To register it again you do the following:

Press Windows R, type in regsvr32 wmpshell.dll, hit enter

Those changes take effect immediately as well.

Uninstall Windows Media Player 11 and Windows Media Player 11 Runtime and restart your system afterwards. The next step to remove drm from wmv would be to delete all the contents in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\DRM\ if it is existing. Now download and install Windows Media Player 10 or Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2. Restart the system after the installation.

Now open up Internet Explorer and visit this media player website. You will need a genuine version of Windows XP, otherwise the update button will be grayed out. Your media player will be individualized during the process.

We are almost there to remove drm from wmv files, just a few more steps and we are done. Obtain new licenses from your media providers and start fair use 4 wm. Click on recover keys, next and add the wmf files that you want to remove the drm from.

Select an directory where the drm free wmv files should be saved to and watch how fair use 4 wm removes the drm of the wmv files.

Freeware to remove drm from wmv