Here (http://news.com.com/XP+and+Vista+to+get+new+media+player/2100-1016_3-6061520.html?tag=nefd.top) is a bit of info on Media player 11 which MS has confirmed will be release by the end of June.

Interesting, thanks for the news. For the most part many/all of the new features won't affect sound quality as such, so if people are happy with WMP10 - or indeed any other player - I don't know if they'll want or need to upgrade to WMP11. It seems more targeted towards integration with certain online services and portable media devices.

it seems to be more at the ease of use of media libraries... which is one of the things why people "like" itunes more (i cant stand itunes, i think its the devil, although the library organization is nice... everything else though...)

I may upgrade to WMP11, I have to use WMP10 for my Creative Zen PMP, and if MS is going to make it so I can change settings easier it will be a plus.
Normaly I use Winamp, I just like the feel of it better, plus the built in skins match my Xp theme (MonoDark wa, Waning Luna xp)

I havn't stopped using WMP9 yet, I don't realy like the look of 10 that much and it has a few problems with some of the games I play :(

How does it effect game play?

Some of the games I play use the Media Player 9 Codecs for audio and cutscenes ingame, for some reason whenever WMP10 is installed the games audio starts to skip along with the cutscenes. Mainly affects X2 and Fellowship of the Ring.

Sorry for bumping this, just wanted y'all to know tomorrow it is out as a beta download.
PC Magazine has a preview here (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1961611,00.asp)- an interesting read.

Thanks for the article, and it looks like as the article says the official version will be live on Wednesday 17th May at this link: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia/player/11

There is a leaked version doing the rounds, and I'm fairly sure it's similar to the final version, however I've read several people having version mismatch errors and whatnot, so I personally suggest being patient and downloading the proper final version for the most trouble-free experience :)

WMP11 loads much faster then WMP10 for me.

Holy crap? Wednesday 17th is tomorrow!? Thats super sweet, my brother was totally just bugging me about that yesterday and I was telling him late June. Thats kinda sweet.

If the have changed the interface to more like it was in Media Player 9 (10 just was too different for me) or someone releases a skin to make 11 look like 9 I may upgrade.

Only thing I use Media Player right now is for watching videos and things online ;)

The skin is Vista theme.

OK, the official version is now out (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/default.aspx) (details on the front page). Features in WMP 11 for XP:
* New UI
* Support for better synchronization for portable devices
* Album “stacks” of album art
* Indexed libraries with search-as-you-type features
* User controlled downgrade of quality for DRM content to allow for smaller files
* DRM content will contain metadata that shows what the user is allowed to do with the file
* Includes Microsoft and MTV’s Urge music store"

I've installed it and it seems very similar to WMP10, aside from visual differences. Here's some screenies of it in full, shrunk and mini-player modes:

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/1128/wmp11px.th.jpg (http://img162.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wmp11px.jpg) http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/9013/wmp20pf.jpg http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/2589/wmp39ki.jpg

Some good obvious additions include an independent seek slider even when the player is in full mode (previously the slider was only visible in mini-player mode).

The layout looks nice to me, and fortunately it keeps most of your settings (such as graphic equalizer settings) from WMP10, so no need to reconfigure everything all over again.

I'd recommend going to the Tools>Options>Privacy screen and unticking all available options there to prevent any privacy issues. Also go to Tools>Options>Library and I'd suggest unticking all those options to avoid any of your files being deleted.

I will update the TGTC shortly for the new WMP options as part of my upcoming TGTC update.

All in all it seems OK to me, sounds the same as WMP10, and basically is really designed to compete with iTunes, so the newer features are more about purchasing music online and synchronizing music with your portable media devices - none of which I personally use.

Finally, as recommended for previous WMP versions, make sure to write-protect all of your media files (i.e. highlight them all, right-click>Properties>tick the Read Only box and apply. This prevents any unwanted alterations to your multimedia files.

My install can never get past the Windows Media Format Runtime part. It'll just sit there and slowly move the bottom bar, while the top stays at 16%, and just keep repeating the bottom bar over and over. I assume it isn't supposed to do this. This same thing happened with my install that leaked a few days ago, so I waited for this official release from MS, but it's the exact same thing. What, if anything, can I do?

I can see wmfdist11.exe, wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu.exe, update.exe, and setup_wm.exe in my Task Manager

Edit: I got past that part of the install by getting Windows Media Format Runtime and installing it on it's own, and everything seemed to go smoothly (for about 5 seconds of install) before I get the error message below...

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/3562/wm11error8sa.th.jpg (http://img231.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wm11error8sa.jpg)

Make sure you're connected to the Internet, and your Firewall doesn't block WMP. I believe it needs to check some things and connect to the MS servers before it can finalize installation.

Hmm. So, according to Microsoft's web site, URGE is "Deeply integrated into the Player" (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/music.aspx#discover), while according to the FAQ on the URGE website, "URGE is currently only available for use within the United States and its possessions and territories." (http://www.urge.com/switch/index.jhtml?section=answers#)

So what does this mean for us users outside of the US? Are we left with a seriously crippled experience? Or do we get all the free functionality, but not the opportunity to subscribe to/purchase music from URGE?

When I try to install WMP11, I get an unsupported OS error saying that I need to download Update Rollup 2 for XP Media Center 2005 before installing. When I try to install that rollup, it says some prerequisite for that update is not completed. It tells me to consult windows/kb913800.log for additional help. Any ideas?

If the have changed the interface to more like it was in Media Player 9 (10 just was too different for me) or someone releases a skin to make 11 look like 9 I may upgrade.

Only thing I use Media Player right now is for watching videos and things online ;)

The 9 series skin comes with WMP 11

Make sure you're connected to the Internet, and your Firewall doesn't block WMP. I believe it needs to check some things and connect to the MS servers before it can finalize installation.

I am most definately online, and I don't run any firewall software.

I have the same problem as you, synth7. I have had some problems before with WMP, so I think it could be because of those. Or it could also be because it is beta software.

Hmm. So, according to Microsoft's web site, URGE is "Deeply integrated into the Player" (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/music.aspx#discover), while according to the FAQ on the URGE website, "URGE is currently only available for use within the United States and its possessions and territories." (http://www.urge.com/switch/index.jhtml?section=answers#)

So what does this mean for us users outside of the US? Are we left with a seriously crippled experience? Or do we get all the free functionality, but not the opportunity to subscribe to/purchase music from URGE?
Near the end of the installation, you are ask whether you wish to install URGE which is only available to U.S. citizens at the moment. You can decline it and still get the full WMP features. An URGE button will be placed at the top right of WMP and that will allow you to install URGE later if you have not done so.

I reiterte again that you will have the full features of WMP even if you do not install URGE including ripping CDs, transferring to portable devices, visualisation, skins etc.

I love the new look, especially of the mini (toolbar) player. The old white and blue mini-player was too bright for my black start menu. The new one looks great.

I reiterte again that you will have the full features of WMP even if you do not install URGE including ripping CDs, transferring to portable devices, visualisation, skins etc.

Thanks, Hu_Lion. Have decided to give it a try. I guess I'm just a little wary of things that are missing 'deeply integrated' components.

It's a shame that URGE isn't available outside the US, as it sounded like a pretty decent service, despite my years-long held distrust of online music services. Nothing particularly rational, tbh, just didn't think much of the first ones that appeared and kind of wrote them off completely for a long time...

Hopefully it's possible to use the free features (the 20 free radio stations in part, but mainly the "features, profiles, interviews and blogs") outside the US, as they sound quite nice to have integrated into the player. Only 1 way to find out, I guess... *heads off to install*

Edit: 1st impressions...

No mention of URGE whatsoever during setup (although I used a slightly roundabout way of doing that, which might be the reason) and no button in the top right. No online stores listed as available in my area. Seems to be no way to access radio.

Seems a little funny about occasionally displaying 1 album as 2, but that seems to be isolated to cases where only some of the tracks had the 'Album Artist' field filled in.

:thumbup: Displays the number of albums you've got by a particular artist...
:thumbdown: ...but only if you have 6 or more. :confused: And not always then, either - seem to have 7 albums under John Williams, but only a song count.

Definitely liking the new library overall, though. Especially the whizzy-fast search! Also whizzy-fast is the loading - versions 9 and 10 used to seriously creak under the weight of 20-odd gigs of music, but 11 doesn't bat an eyelid!

Hope that helps a few people trying to make up their minds about giving it a try or not... :)

Thanks for the feedback Richie_P :thumbup:

I also haven't found any mention of Urge or online stores, so it looks like it's a US only thing at the moment until the service is available more widely.

I also assume some of the features/bugs will be altered as MS gets more user feedback on this beta.

Managed to get URGE working! Well, the free bit, at least - haven't tried signing up for the free trial, yet. And actually subscribing may well prove impossible without a US bank account/billing address. But I digress...

Firstly, I went to the URGE.com site, then downloaded and installed the available software from there. I don't know if this was a necessary step or not, because I was still left with the 'no online stores available in your location' screen at this point.

Following that, I went into Control Panel, accessed the Regional and Language Options, and set the drop-down boxes to "English (United States)" and "United States". After restarting WMP, URGE showed up just fine. I have a feeling I could probably have gotten away with just changing the location option, and not the standards and formats - will have to check when I get home from work.

Hopefully changing the location won't cause me too many problems in the long run - can't think of anything it might effect, at least.

You mean you guys don't have the URGE button (circled red in the image below)? Thats strange cause I also stay in Australia.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j274/HuLion/WMP11.jpg

Picture edited with link, please resize picture if using image. - 7thSeal

You mean you guys don't have the URGE button (circled red in the image below)? Thats strange cause I also stay in Australia.

Did you adjust your regional settings when you installed Windows, Hu_Lion? I believe it defaults to US settings. If you go into Control Panel, then Regional and Language Options, does the Standards and formats part of the Regional Options tab say "English (United States)"? That's what seems to allow me to access it, and I'd guess what's allowing you to see the button, too. Am home on lunch (gotta love living 5 mins walk from the office! :D ), and after a little testing it would seem that, counter-intuitively, it's Standards and formats, rather than Location that seems to be looked at to determine access.

So now I've just selected US from the menu, clicked the 'Customise' button and manually changed the important stuff back to UK formats (£ instead of $, etc.) Sneaky, n'est pas? :D

I selected Australia as my region but left the language to U.S. English since its too troublesome to configure every pogram to switch to another english and its also better for my line of work.

I just installed the WMP11 Beta. First impression is that it looks nice, I use the vistaXP skin and it seems to retain that color scheme with the player.

The only negative thing I'm noticing is that there is a slight pause/delay while accessing menus. Is anyone else having this issue? I haven't really played with the settings, to see if it's a simple fix, but I did notice the pauses when my Wife was listening to some music.

The only negative thing I'm noticing is that there is a slight pause/delay while accessing menus. Is anyone else having this issue?

I've been noticing some pauses, but nothing like as bad as the ones in previous versions of WMP. The exception to that is when accessing anything to do with URGE, but I think that's due more to the loading of the URGE web pages into WMP's internal browser.

I have noticed a loooong loading time in WMP11,{compared to WMP10}I have not figured it out yet

Ive noticed the following file has been loaded into "services"

Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service

Ive disabled it,as I too am in Australia,and it may be the URGE thingo for US only, and I will find out if this speeds it up a bit soon enough.

Edit= problem appears to be me not resetting WMP11 as default player{ Set Program Access and Defaults-accessed thru Add Remove in Control panel}

That service says it "Shares Windows Media Player libraries to other networked players and media devices using Universal Plug and Play", so I assume it's only necessary if you use connected devices like portable media players or other computers. It should be safe to set to Disabled if you don't.

I like the visual side of things, haven't found any problems with it yet.. Looks nice with my Vista style and this Silverish theme I use in Opera 9 (beta) - Kinda matches my monitor :D

For some reason WMP11 wont go into the mini-player on the task bar in Vista Beta 2. Not too terribly, but slightly inconvenient. :-/

For some reason WMP11 wont go into the mini-player on the task bar in Vista Beta 2. Not too terribly, but slightly inconvenient. :-/
You must have forgotten to turn off the taskbar mini player option off before installing WMP11. Try this and see if it helps.

1) Right click your Taskbar>Toolbars>Windows Media Player (make sure its unticked)
2) Open Up WMP 11 and then shut it down.
3) Right-click your Takbar>Toolbars>Windows Media Player (make sure that its now ticked)
4) Open up WMP 11 amd minimise it. Hopefully that should get you the taskbar mini player.

I didnt install WMP11, it kinda came with Vista.

The "taskbar>toolbars>windows media player" thing wont stay checked.

I can't believe I'm saying this but I realy like WMP11. It has taken some of the best features of iTunes and some other media players, mixed them together and come out with something that is actually quite good.

The default theme for it looks realy nice too.

A few things I've noticed:
When in the media libary for videos it randomly picks a frame from the video to show what it contains
For me it loads in slightly faster than media player 9
The media player 9 skin doesn't look much like 9 did, but with the default one being as good as it is, it doesn't matter
The equaliser when turned off sounds great, when on it sounds better (may be sound card related though ;) )
It's easier to add things to the media libary, as well as playlists :D

Since installing the only change I've noticed to any programs other than Media Player is that the Steam Media player videos no longer take up the full screen, instead it's like watching a widescreen DVD.

Anyone know when this leaves beta?

*edit*
Just noticed a small bug here, when playing mpeg video files, if I switch to the libary view the video file will stop playing. However when playing other video files like avi ones or divx ones it will continue playing normally. Also with the mpeg file the time index slider won't work :(

when i tried jetBar (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/27996824/) and XBoxLive-Remix skin in WMP11
they seem not to work properly (and many other skins too) :mad:

as i have made jetBar, i need to fix it. but im totally clueless about the problem. as far as i can see, the moving animation [ moveTo() ] and the alphablending animation [ alphablendTo() ] seem not to work properly.:confused:

i have searched a lot about it but still im totally clueless.
can anyone confirm about the problem?
and may be some help about how to fix it?

Windows media player doesnt cope to well playing cd's of vids when it comes to codecs, the player maybe beta, but why bring out a player the is more redundant than its previous player?

I find it alot quicker and smoother than previos versions. Love the black look as it matches my current black theme I have installed for windows. i have noticed that when playing mp3's it users a little more cpu power (usage) than what foobar does but I'll live.

Please don't quote a large posts - only quote the relevant portion as necessary

Can I go ahead and remove the URGE music store feature? Because I don't plan on using it, I just want to be sure it doesnt effect anything else if I uninstall it.

Ahh, forget I even posted this. I read back a few pages and discovered my answer. I really need to read more than 2 pages when there are over 5 total...:o

I think you can't remove the URGE button (short of changing your computer's sytem to another language/English version). It built into WMP just like iTunes store is built into iTunes.

If you click the URGE button, all it does is launched IE in the WMP window and bring you to the store.

Well after abit more playing with media player 11 I find it very slow and unresponsive when I have larger amounts of media in the library so I have gone back to mp classic for video and foobar for music (I like simple programs)

I would prefer to remove the the beta myself and go back to windows media player 10. but how is this done? I dont see an entry in add/remove programs and removing it through windows components doesnt do the job?

I would prefer to remove the the beta myself and go back to windows media player 10. but how is this done? I dont see an entry in add/remove programs and removing it through windows components doesnt do the job?

Instructions on how to roll back to previous version of WMP from WMP 11 can be found on Microsoft's site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/readme.aspx#RollingbacktoapreviousversionofthePlay er

I would prefer to remove the the beta myself and go back to windows media player 10. but how is this done? I dont see an entry in add/remove programs and removing it through windows components doesnt do the job?

It's in the add remove programs dialog box, you need to make sure the box show updates is ticked and it is in the windows update section with all the other windows updates I have noticed, thats how I removed it.

Hello all,

Sometimes when I am viewing videos on websites, the video screen all of a sudden turns pink (this doesn't happen all the time, it just happens once in a while). Click here for a screenshot of the problem. I tried to find what the problem was but it was to no avail; I looked at the video card driver and saw that it was up to date (91.47), I had the latest DirectX updates, and this happens BOTH in Firefox and IE. Has anyone ever experienced this problem before? I believe it may be a software issue but i'm not exactly sure. Thanks for your feedback.

SSVegeta184

Merged into existing thread - please search before posting

i cant say i have experienced that, however i have noticed a few other oddities when using WMP11 and browsing. for example, when launching mediaplayer without a browser open there is a little network traffic of 10kb/s or so. just a few little spikes. however if i launch mediaplayer with a browser open, i see spikes of 2MB/s. i've also noticed weird audio anomolies when watching dvd's with a browser open, however that dissapeared when i installed new codecs.

Well after abit more playing with media player 11 I find it very slow and unresponsive when I have larger amounts of media in the library so I have gone back to mp classic for video and foobar for music (I like simple programs)
Well, I like how (in my opinion) WMP 11 is a little more organized, it's easier to find my stuff (although I did get used to the old fashioned way). It's just more organized and it looks better.

it is alot more orgainsed i find. it is a little less responsive, i think mainly due to the high amount of visual content which has to be dragged off the HDD everytime you move around in the library. i've also found it does a few weird things when importing albums where the file names arent all in the exact same format. like what it's done with this The Cure album.

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/5954/wmp11cf0.th.jpg (http://img108.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wmp11cf0.jpg)

it can be a real pain to fix. The interface isnt quite as intuitive as WMP10 when it comes to changing the details of audio files, especially when trying to fix these kinda mistakes and make those 13 files show as one album with the correct album art. in WMP10 if a file had the exact artist name and album title of others it would automatically join that album. apparently not in wmp11 as these are identicle but for the format of the file name for the individual tracks.

I have had WMP 10 for a long time and it always worked fine. But just recently it started reverting back to an older looking version when I play it is played in a browser window. It is very square off looking, shows no info such as length of video, and will not let me skip ahead in the videos. Anyone know why this would happen and have a solution for it?

PS. using windows xp home.

Merged into existing thread, please search before posting

Hey all, I was wondering if any of you successfully removed the wmpnscfg.exe from startup. I tried disabling it in the msconfig startup and then I disabled the network sharing service hoping to get rid of it. It works initially, but every time I use the player it pops right back up as a startup item. Kind of annoying.

I don't have this item in my startup - I disabled the 'Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service' when I first installed WMP11 Beta, and if it was in my startup I suppose I removed it at that point, and since then I've never seen it reappear even though I run WMP11 daily.

Since it relates to sharing libraries in WMP11, under the WMP11 options>Libraries>Configure Sharing untick the 'share my media' box.

Note that the final version of WMP11 is set to come out in the next day or two.

Yeah I had unticked that already as well, sorry I didn't mention it. I also googled and found other people complaining of the same issue. I guess the option left is to do the rollback and hope a fresh install of the official release doesn't give me the same trouble. Thanks for the reply :)

EDIT: I neglected to mention it was beta 2 that introduced the persistent startup.

WMP11 has been released.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1d224714-e238-4e45-8668-5166114010ca&DisplayLang=en

Well I installed the official after uninstalling the beta. Ran RegCleaner after the uninstall as well but I still get WMPNSCFG.EXE in startup every time I open the WMP. It uses a little less than 4,000 K. I'll continue to poke around, and if anyone else has this problem PM me, maybe we can narrow it down.

Mediaplayer 11 I guess is okay, but what they don't tell you is that if you keep intire cd's on your computer is that 11 will put pix's in each folder of the cd cover. Sense I have copied them into my drive with Musicmatch the mp3 already has an image in the file and doesn't need that pix. This waste a lot of space when you have 13gig's of cd music on your system. Mediaplayer 10 doesn't do that. Note you can re-install wmp9 codecs over the 10 version and fix problems with games as I have done that.

Quick question.

Does anyone know if Microsoft is going to be putting this on the Microsoft Update site? If that's the case, I'd rather wait in case they find something wrong and decide to patch it.

meh I used it once and then went back to Winamp


iTunes clone anyone?
I really don't like it, I don't like how they do ID3 tags and stuff..
and the Now Playing is really annoying as it takes awhile to get use to as opposed to iTunes/Winamp which is straightforward (well Winamp for me is straightforward..)

Yep I prefer Winamp for music playing, itune and wmp are just to much of a resource hog for playing just music files. I still use wmp once in while, but I would chose media player classic as you can control settings and change filters/codecs manually, which media player 10,11 don't have.

I just upgraded to WMP 11 and I have to say its the best music player in my situation. For people who dont like the cd cover option you can easily switch the layout by clicking on the small icon next to the layout options button.
This gives you a normal detailed view just like WMP11 without the CD cover pics.

Strong points for me with Windoes media 11 are for one, the ability to customize the layout any way you want, as far as song options and what is and what isn't shown, and the way songs are grouped under each artist with a space before the next artist comes up. This is unlike WMP10 which just had the songs in one big list without specific artist songs having their own group. The improved color scheme and buttons also look very good.

Well let's see, they said that internet explorer would be an install on the sp3 when it comes out and it is on the windows update site now as a critical update. WMP 11 is also supposed to be in the sp3 but it's been pushed back to 2008. who know microsoft might put it on the update website as a critical update as well. you just never really know until it happens. myself I declined the update to explorer 7 I don't use it but use firefox. use WMP 10 for avi video only so I see no need for 11. I use winamp and musicmatch for my music.

Ever since i've upgraded to the Geforce cards, i've come to realize that there are more problems with Geforce cards right now than with ATI cards. Older games don't work right with them, all videos including high def. videos show really weird colors.

This problem i'm encountering is extremely weird, since it never ever surfaced on my previous card (x1600XT), the video playback quality was crisp, sharp and gorgeous. When i got this card, i installed a clean installation of XP, installed all the required codecs using from K-lite codec pack and pure video decoder. Whenever i play a video file using media player's "high quality mode" video mixing renderer, all i get is a greenish black screen. Overlay mode works fine, but it's quality is much worse and blurry than VMR9. THe problem was never experienced on a radeon card, all videos play without a hitch and with crystal clear reception with "high quality mode" enabled. In order to give you a better idea of what i'm talking about, here' the pic:

http://img273.imageshack.us/img273/8816/brokenimagedb5.th.jpg (http://img273.imageshack.us/my.php?image=brokenimagedb5.jpg)

This is a 720p x264 high def. vid, which as you can see is still blurry as hell. I don't really like to watch in overlay mode, since the color are oversaturated and almost look as if they're about to explode on screen. I have already searched around numerous forums, inlcuding nvidia's, but seems to me that it only works for a couple of people and not for everyone.

Well, from what I can see in the pic your playing a video that has been encoded in Div X format, hence the Div X watermark. Its normal for videos to look like that in WMP if they are of the Div X format. Download Div X player and play it through there. It should play correctly.

http://www.divx.com/divx/windows/

Its free, try it out.

Hey all, I was wondering if any of you successfully removed the wmpnscfg.exe from startup. I tried disabling it in the msconfig startup and then I disabled the network sharing service hoping to get rid of it. It works initially, but every time I use the player it pops right back up as a startup item. Kind of annoying.

Interesting...

When I installed the final version this item didn't startup and it was set to 'Manual' in the services list. I just set it to 'Disabled' anyway.

I skipped a couple of pages in this thread, but my experiences with WMP 11 are mixed. I absolutely LOVE the interface, however, [details removed]


*** I just want to add that yes, I do have the rights to play the WMA files I convert. (for anyone who cares)

Note that removing DRM/copy protection from music is not legal - circumvention/removal of copy protection is technically illegal and hence not discussed here

I use this player tons, but ever since version 11 it has the auto fade out when you play it in skin mode. How do I turn that off? I searched under options didnt find it there.

Hey all, I was wondering if any of you successfully removed the wmpnscfg.exe from startup. I tried disabling it in the msconfig startup and then I disabled the network sharing service hoping to get rid of it. It works initially, but every time I use the player it pops right back up as a startup item. Kind of annoying.


I've been having the same problem as well. I've tried all the solutions in this topic and none of them seem to work. Has anyone figured this problem out yet?

I exhausted all of my resources and came up dry. I finally just went back to Winamp for my mp3s. I use Media Player Classic with the K-Lite pack for all my video and audio other than mp3.

Strange that so many people don't have this issue, yet if you Google it you find a handful of people that are tearing their hair out about it. If you make any progress please let me know.

Hey,
I just updated to Windows Media Player 11 and theres 2 things that really bug me.
In WMP 10 to enter and exit the full screen you could double click the mouse or use alt+enter. Now in WMP 11 to enter full screen you can double click, but you cant exit using double click. I looked all over the options but couldnt find a way to change it .. anyone know a tweak for this.. ?

Seconed, the new icons WMP 11 put look awful, could I put back the old WMP 10 icons ?

Thanks alot. ;)

Thread merged, please search and post in the relevant thread. - 7thSeal

If you don't like WMP 11, why use it?

I don't use WMP, but I did and never really liked it...

but, to go back on-topic...can't you just exit full screen by using Esc? seems a bit easier then a double-click.

I do like WMP, I use it only for videos.
I can use the Esc button, but it's much more convenient for me to double click.

Any word on 64 bit support?

Note that a 'new version' of WMP11 is out on the MS Site (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1d224714-e238-4e45-8668-5166114010ca&displaylang=en). I've installed this and the build number is exactly the same as it was before (11.0.5721.5145). Feedback on various sites indicates it may be exactly the same, but a few people have said it resolves some bugs for them. So for those having problems with WMP11 try installing the latest version over your existing install.

I have the same wmpnscfg.exe problem as others have had and I can not find a way of stopping it from running.

What is stange is that I have the same version of wmp11 at home and at work and wmpnscfg.exe only starts at home. It is in the program files folder the same but just doesn't run.

I can't understand why it is affecting only certain computers....

It may be because it detects certain hardware on your system. It is designed for sharing on media players, so perhaps if you've connected any portable media device to your system at any point, since this is stored in the registry, the service automatically reenables itself every time due to this.

To remove unused/old devices from Device Manager, see the 'remove unused devices' section on this page (http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_4.html).

Could be but I'm not sure. Maybe it is something to do with the differences between xp pro and home editions? Has anyone had this issue with xp pro?

is there any way to turn off the grouping in "details" view?

Could be but I'm not sure. Maybe it is something to do with the differences between xp pro and home editions? Has anyone had this issue with xp pro?

Well I was having the problem on XP Pro until I unistalled it. ;)
I don't use WMP enough to really need the latest version so I'm not going to bother with it anymore.

Looks to me like the newest version is just an update to the installer itself. It makes it very clear to shutdown all media player programs including the miniplayer taskbar.

It may be because it detects certain hardware on your system. It is designed for sharing on media players, so perhaps if you've connected any portable media device to your system at any point, since this is stored in the registry, the service automatically reenables itself every time due to this.

To remove unused/old devices from Device Manager, see the 'remove unused devices' section on this page (http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_4.html).

Thanks, that's a nice tweak, but it hasn't helped.

Well I was having the problem on XP Pro until I unistalled it. ;)
I don't use WMP enough to really need the latest version so I'm not going to bother with it anymore.

Yeah, it's a strange problem, and only affects certain machines.

I exhausted all of my resources and came up dry. I finally just went back to Winamp for my mp3s. I use Media Player Classic with the K-Lite pack for all my video and audio other than mp3.

Strange that so many people don't have this issue, yet if you Google it you find a handful of people that are tearing their hair out about it. If you make any progress please let me know.

I've had this problem as well and couldn't find any documented way of keeping it from placing it in my startup folder. So instead, I used my old standby method.

- I renamed the "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmpnscfg.exe" file to "wmpnscfg.exe.feh".

- Created a new empty text file in the same directory then renamed it "wmpnscfg.exe" as a placeholder. I create this dummy exe file and remove the security so that the program can't overwrite it with a working copy.

- Right click the new exe file -> select Properties and click the Security tab.

- Click on "Advanced" and uncheck the "Inherit from the parent permissions..." box. Select "Remove" option and all of the permissions will be removed from that file.

Now WMP won't be able to run the wmpnscfg.exe service.

It's a cheap and dirty fix but it is working for me, I've used this for other apps that take over my pc and if it breaks anything you can just restore the original file you renamed. Hopefully this helps.

heya, i was wandering if there is a way to make it NOT startup every single time in my library... because i have a rather large collection and it would just make the program feel more responsive without that.

also, stoicite there is no security tab there for windows XP home sp2.