How to Play DVDs on Windows Media Player. This wikiHow teaches you how to play a DVD on a Windows computer. Unfortunately, the Windows Media Player program doesn't support DVDs in Windows 8 and 10, meaning that you'll have to use the free. If Windows Media Player stopped working correctly after the latest updates from Windows Update, you can verify that the updates are the problem by using System Restore. To do this: Select the Start button, and then type system restore. Press the Windows key, type Windows Media Player, and then press Enter. When Windows Media Player opens, press the Alt key. Select Help from the drop-down menu that appears. In the menu to the right, click About Windows Media Player. A window will appear that shows which version of Windows Media Player is installed on your computer.
At times, you may find that your Windows Media Player does not open or work, or that it cannot play MP4 or DVDs or rip CD/Media. You could face other symptoms like – nothing happens upon clicking the icon for the player, or upon forcing it to open, the interface doesn’t appear, a blue circle keeps circling signifying it’s loading, and so on.
Windows Media Player, the built-in media player for Windows 10/8/7 has always been the preferred choice for streaming media, because it comes pre-installed with the Windows operating system and supports most media file formats. It has almost every function, other major media players have – like creating playlists, etc.
Windows Media Player won’t open
If your Windows Media Player will not open or work then perhaps some of these suggestions on how to fix the problem may help you:
- Run built-in WMP Troubleshooters
- Re-register these DLL files
- Use Fix WMP Utility
- Delete the Window Media Player library
- Uninstall and re-install Windows Media Player.
1] Run built-in WMP Troubleshooters
You can the Run the built-in WMP Troubleshooters. Run Windows Media Player Settings, Windows Media Player Library, and Windows Media Player DVD Troubleshooters and see if they help you fix your problem.
2] Re-register these DLL files
To re-register DLL files, open Command Prompt (Admin) by pressing Win+X and run the following commands:
Press Enter after each command, and once done, restart the system.
3] Use Fix WMP Utility
Use our freeware Fix WMP Utility for Windows. This freeware portable app re-registers all the concerned Windows Media DLL files required for the smooth functioning of Windows Media Player.
Where Is My Windows Media Player On Windows 8
4] Delete the Window Media Player library
A user facing a similar issue suggested that deleting the Media Library externally, without opening WMP, helped.
5] Uninstall and re-install Windows Media Player
If nothing helps, you can uninstall and reinstall Windows Media Player via Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features On or Off.
In the list, which is in alphabetical order, expand the option Media Feature. Uncheck the box next to Windows Media Player. Restart the system.
Once the system restarts, to re-install Windows Media Player, check the same box we unchecked in the previous step, click OK and restart the PC once the process is complete.
On Windows 10 you could alsoopen Settings > Apps > Apps & Features > Manage optional features > Locate Windows Media Player and then select Uninstall.
Once the installation is completed, opt to Install it again.
Please let us know if any of our suggestions helped you.
TIP: Download this tool to quickly find & fix Windows errors automatically
Related Posts:
The Windows Media Player Library in Windows 10 is where the behind-the-scenes action takes place. There, you organize files, create playlists, burn or copy CDs, and choose what to play.
When first loaded, Windows Media Player displays your Music folder’s contents, appropriately enough. But Windows Media Player actually holds several libraries, designed to showcase not only your music but also photographs, video, and recorded TV shows.
All your playable items appear in the Navigation Pane along the window’s left edge, shown in the figure. The pane’s top half shows your own media collection, appropriately listed with your name at the top.
The bottom half, called Other Libraries, lets you browse the collections of other people with accounts on your PC. You can also access the music shared by Homegroups — multiple PCs linked together through a special network.
Click the type of media you’re interested in browsing from the Navigation Pane along the left.
Windows Media Player organizes your media into these categories:
- Playlists: Like playing albums or songs in a certain order? Click the Save List button atop your list of songs to save it as a playlist that shows up in this category.
- Music: All your digital music appears here. Windows Media Player recognizes most major music formats, including MP3, WMA, WAV, and even 3GP files used by some cellphones. (It recognizes non-copy-protected AAC files, sold by iTunes.) And Windows 10 finally adds support for the lossless FLAC, a format that compresses the music without losing any sound quality.)
- Videos: Look here for videos you’ve saved from a camcorder or digital camera or for videos you’ve downloaded from the Internet. Windows Media Player recognizes AVI, MPG, WMV, ASF, DivX, some MOV files, and a few other formats. Windows 10 also adds support for MKV files, a newly popular video format.
- Pictures: Windows Media Player can display photos individually or in a simple slide show, but your Pictures folder handles photos better. (Windows Media Player can’t correct upside-down photos, for example, a feat done easily from within your Pictures folder.)
- Other Libraries: Here you can find media appearing on other PCs in your Homegroup — a type of network.
After you click a category, Windows Media Player’s Navigation Pane lets you view the files in several different ways. Click Artist in the Navigation Pane’s Music category, for example, and the pane shows the music arranged alphabetically by artists’ first names.
Why Is My Windows Media Player Not Working
Similarly, clicking Genre in the Music category separates songs and albums by different types of music, shown earlier. Instead of just showing a name to click — blues, for example — the player arranges your music into piles of covers, just as if you’d sorted your albums or CDs on your living room floor.
To play anything in Windows Media Player, right-click it and choose Play. Or to play all your music from one artist or genre, right-click the pile and choose Play All.