Windows Media Player cannot access the file. The file might be in use, you might not have access to the computer where the file is stored, or your proxy settings might not be correct.

I tried the recommendations for fixing this below:
Follow these steps to grant full permissions to the folder where the files are stored: 1. Right click on the folder on the external drive and click on
properties. 2. On the property window, click Security tab.
3. Now click on Edit and then click Add.
4. Now type everyone in the box and
click OK.
5. Then check Full control check box.
6. Click on Apply and then click OK.
You may also try the below mentioned steps:
1. Click on Start. 2. Go to Control Panel. 3. Select "SOUND". 4. Double click on speakers. 5. Click on advanced tab and then uncheck enable audio enhancements.
But then I received the error message that I don't have rights to edit and add. Why would this be? I am the administrator?
Thanks!

Hi,
Please first take ownership of the folder or files, then give yourself full control permission.
Learn How to Take or Assign Ownership of Files and Folders
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ff404240.aspx
Yolanda Zhu
TechNet Community Support

Similar Messages

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

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
How do I fix this?

That would probably be a question best taken up in on a site for Windows support questions. Not knowing anything about the movie you're trying to play, all I can suggest is to confirm that the format of the movie you wish to play is supported in your version of WMP. If it isn't, you'll either need to convert the movie or use some other player software.
Regards.

Windows Media Player cannot play the file because the required video codec is not installed on your computer

I can not find solution to the issue "Windows Media Player cannot play the file because the required video codec is not installed on your computer" while attempting to play the file with *.wmv extension. Some computer fail in spite of said missing codec
being present according the windrows media player in Windows 7 box

If Rashid's link does not resolve it... consider the below:
A) As of this writing, the codec for GoToMeeting webinar recordings ("G2M4" codec) was only mentioned in *one* web page, of about 10 Microsoft web pages I read, to resolve this problem (and that codec is not included, yet, in their diagnostic tool),
so if you're trying to play a GoToMeeting webinar, simply get the codec for it from their site: http://www.GoToMeeting.com/codec
B) If Windows Media Player (WMP) will not even open the file, you won't be able to get the 4-character codec's name (like "G2M4") from WMP. But VLC's media player will tell you that code, even when it fails to run the video.... and then you can
search the internet for it.
C) The problem sometimes is not actually a missing codec. Other things that have helped others, some from:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-pictures/the-windows-media-player-12-could-not-play-the-wma/bb823460-44df-4e8d-ba2c-42ec0e111e5a?page=3
(1) running the System File Checker (SFC.exe),
(2) opening WMP first (running both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions) then opening the file from inside them,
(3) confirming that WMP was the file association for WMV files,
(4) Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Sound, selecting my audio device, and looking for a "5.1" setting (I didn't have one), to change to "stereo",
(5) checking Tools\Options\Devices\Speakers\Properties\Speaker Properties\AdvancedPlayback\ Speakers /HP\Properties\Advanced\Default Format, to select "CD or DVD Quality" (if that setting appears for your device),
Good luck,
-- Doug
Doug Ivison

Windows Media Player cannot play the audio files

Hi, I have Toshiba laptop, it's my baby, and suddenly I cannot play any sounds! When I click to play a song on windows media player it says:
Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There might not be a sound device installed on your computer, it might be in use by another program, or it might not be functioning properly.
I have tried everything and I'm on my last nerve! Basically, I'm really rubbish with computers, I can't understand this at all, I've followed every path suggested by the 'help' section in my computer and I still can't listen to 'The Feeling!' Please help, I'm going mad here!

Hello
I have had similar problem after usage of Windows Live messenger (talk option). The sound was suddenly gone without any reason. I have done follow steps:
Close all running applications
Enter start control panel system hardware tab device manager and remove listed sound card
Start Add Hardware option in control panel.
The sound card should be detected and installed properly. After doing this try please to use Windows Media player again
Good luck!

Windows Media Player cannot play the file after ame encode with out audio?

strange behavior using media encoder today
ive selected no audio when encoding an h264 for the android...every time (5x) I tried to encode I got "Windows Media Player cannot play the file" when I selected audio the error went away..
the other issue I had was the work area only , my encodes were including the whole sequence an not the "work area only" when selected?
buggy day ..love to edit ..
mike d Oakland ca.
cs6 premiere

The export without audio is an .m4v file, which many plays have trouble with. For now, use the audio, which creates a playable .mp4 file.

Using Windows Media player to view .3gp files

I really need help opening up a .3gp file that was sent from a cell phone. It said that I had to choose a file to open it with, and I chose Windows media player, but I keep getting this 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.
Can someone please tell me how I can correct this problem. I must see this video right away.
Thanks!

Looking for a way to play 3GP or 3G2 files on your computer? If so,
there are a couple of ways you can do this. First of all, 3GP files are
usually movies that are taken from a mobile phone.
If you want to play these on your computer, you can either install a
codec or download third-party software to play these files. In this
article, I will try to mention all the different ways to play 3GP and
3G2 files.
Method 1 – Install Video Codec
Firstly, if you want to play 3GP files in Windows Media Player, you have to install one of the two following programs:
Haali media splitter
FFFDShow MPEG_4 Video Decoder
However, during the installation, you also have to select a specific configuration in order for it to work properly.
For FFDShow, you need to make sure that AMR is enabled on the Audio
Decoder screen and H263(+) is enabled on the Video Decoder screen.
For the Haali Media Splitter program, just make sure that the Enable MP4 support box is checked.
Method 2 – Convert File
The second way you can play these videos is to simply convert them.
This might be a better way so that you can play these videos on anyone’s
computer or stream them to devices like the XBox, etc.

While installing a program (MediaCenter.exe) to handle audiobooks from the library, I erroneously associated the download site with Windows Media Player instead of the actual application (NetLibrary Media Center). How can I reverse/change this?

While installing a program (MediaCenter.exe) to handle audiobooks from the library, I erroneously associated the download site with Windows Media Player instead of the actual application (NetLibrary Media Center). How can I reverse/change this? Reinstalling the application does not clear the error, so I'm assuming the association is somewhere in Firefox.

Never mind -- I just found it under Tools/Options.../Applications, where I changed the incorrect association of "nlmcp" from Windows Media Player to the correct one, NetLibrary Media Center. Done!

Windows media player crash dumps when i try to play songs or use most functions i.e. drag and drop,

I've been trying to download music from Amazon to my MP3 player. It successfully downloads to my computer, but when I try to do anything in Windows Media Player, I get the crash dump screen. I have, somehow, been able to download some music to the player, but now almost every time the Windows Media Player crashes. Help!

Did you copy the songs directly from a CD or did you download the files from a website?
You can use a different player than the Windows Media Player to play the songs if you copied them from a CD to avoid that.

Windows Media Player Cannot rip one or more tracks from the CD

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2443/5710817524_d48bd2f72e_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3136/5710819548_669c665675_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3473/5710257413_9c6e03214e_b.jpg
I have tried to fix it. However, it is not work. The methods i have used which are
(from: DT20Three) open windows media player, click Organise -> Manage Libraries -> Music and make sure you aren't referencing any unavailable locations. For me, I was referencing an old hdd location for my music. Remove this dead location and update
your default save location and all is good.
(From Vivian Xing) You can also try the following steps:
1. Load Windows Media Player.
2. Click Tools\options\devices\ then choose properties of the CD reader and enable Digital for both ripping and playback, uncheck "Use error correction", click OK.
3. Click Rip music tab, change the Audio Quality to another value (higher or lower than 128kbps). Click OK and then try to rip.
(from Roi A. _) Edit: Also there is a problem with the Rip music tab: 1- nothing happens when i click change save location and it doesn't show the place where it saves now. 2- if I change a setting in the Rip tab and click save or apply, it says "The settings
for ripping music could not be applied."
(from Vivan Xing) I suggest resetting it as below:
1. Open Control Panel/Programs and Features.
2. Click "Turn Windows features on or off" in the left pane.
3. Expand "Media Features", uncheck "Windows Media Player". Click "Yes" to continue, and click OK to quit. Then Restart.
Note: If you turn off WMP, Windows Media Center will be turned off either. You may need to re-configure settings for Windows Media Center after re-enabling it.
4. Open "Turn Windows features on or off" again. Turn on the features "Windows Media Player" and "Windows Media Center". Restart.
5. Launch Windows Media Player, initialize the program.
You can also try restoring Media Library as Zachd mentioned.
[The only one method I didn't try is Insert the Windows 7 DVD, it is because I scared if I click install, I might loose all the files in my computer]
Please, I hope there is someone can solve my problem.
Thank you.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2443/5710817524_d48bd2f72e_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3136/5710819548_669c665675_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3473/5710257413_9c6e03214e_b.jpg
I have tried to fix it. However, it is not work. The methods i have used which are
(from: DT20Three) open windows media player, click Organise -> Manage Libraries -> Music and make sure you aren't referencing any unavailable locations. For me, I was referencing an old hdd location for my music. Remove this dead location and update
your default save location and all is good.
(From Vivian Xing) You can also try the following steps:
1. Load Windows Media Player.
2. Click Tools\options\devices\ then choose properties of the CD reader and enable Digital for both ripping and playback, uncheck "Use error correction", click OK.
3. Click Rip music tab, change the Audio Quality to another value (higher or lower than 128kbps). Click OK and then try to rip.
(from Roi A. _) Edit: Also there is a problem with the Rip music tab: 1- nothing happens when i click change save location and it doesn't show the place where it saves now. 2- if I change a setting in the Rip tab and click save or apply, it says "The settings
for ripping music could not be applied."
(from Vivan Xing) I suggest resetting it as below:
1. Open Control Panel/Programs and Features.
2. Click "Turn Windows features on or off" in the left pane.
3. Expand "Media Features", uncheck "Windows Media Player". Click "Yes" to continue, and click OK to quit. Then Restart.
Note: If you turn off WMP, Windows Media Center will be turned off either. You may need to re-configure settings for Windows Media Center after re-enabling it.
4. Open "Turn Windows features on or off" again. Turn on the features "Windows Media Player" and "Windows Media Center". Restart.
5. Launch Windows Media Player, initialize the program.
You can also try restoring Media Library as Zachd mentioned.
[The only one method I didn't try is Insert the Windows 7 DVD, it is because I scared if I click install, I might loose all the files in my computer]
Please, I hope there is someone can solve my problem.
Thank you.
(from: DT20Three) open windows media player, click Organise -> Manage Libraries -> Music and make sure you aren't referencing any unavailable locations. For me, I was referencing an old hdd location for my music. Remove this dead location and update
your default save location and all is good.
Thanks a lot you were very helpfull for me thanks againn .
Ah sorry for my impolite . HUPPY NEW YEAR MY FRIEND FROM GREECE

When I transfer my music from windows media player, itunes places the music all over the place instead of in the album its suppose to be in. Why?????

WhenI transfer my music from Windows Media Player why does Itunes place the music all over the place instead of in the Album its suppose to be in? Why???

Delete and redownload them if doing so is free in your country.
(98014)

Safari with Windows Media Player cannot use PHP as filename/src/url

I'm running Windows XP Pro SP2 with Windows Media Player 11
and Safari 3 public beta. In addition to being the absolute
slowest browser among MSIE, Firefox, Netscape, and Opera, the
Safari browser has two annoying WMP defects.
1) Even with WMP 11 installed, the code below for embedding
can use either the classid for WMP v6.4 or v7+ but Safari
(or rather it's plugin) always displays a v6.4 looking UI.
All other browsers display the media player using the v11 UI
2) Safari will not download the movie if the "filename" param
is a web url (e.g. getmovie.php?select=1234 ) rather than the
precise name of the movie file itself (e.g. "movie.wmv"). The
other browsers may differ in use of the param name="xxxx", where
xxxx is "filename" or "src" or "url" or "data" ... but Safari
will not work using any of these.
Has anyone successfully embedded a WMP object that uses the
URL as a PHP page (or other server-side script) ? I have already
my server-side PHP code that works perfectly for MSIE, Firefox,
Netscape, and opera. Safari is the only problem browser.
------------------------CODE------------
//Media Player v6.4
// CLSID:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95
//Media Player v7,9,10,11
// CLSID:6BF52A52-394A-11d3-B153-00C04F79FAA6
<object id="MediaPlayer"
classid="CLSID:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95"
type="application/x-oleobject"
height="300" width="300"
codebase="http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/mplayer/en/nsmp2inf.cab #Version=6,4,5,715"
standby="Loading Microsoft Windows Media Player components...">
<param name="url" value="http://www.yourdomain.com/movie.wmv">


<object type="application/x-mplayer2" height="300" width="300">
<param name="filename" value="http://www.yourdomain.com/movie.wmv">
</object>

</object>

I have run into several issues pointing to what you are describing...
I fixed my Safari by installing the WMP plugin. I am able to view visualizations embedded into a webpage, one of which I created...I am able to view videos and so on.. Before I installed the plugin, All that would load is a place holder which looked like the old WMP and would not function properly. However this is what is displayed beside the media which is embedded.
I think that I got the plugin by going to the download page for Safari and looking for plugins. Funny thing was that the plugin that I installed was the one for Firefox on its site that nobody every installs because Firefox gets the plugin if you already have WMP11 installed. Anyway this should solve your problem...with most..
I have noticed just now that PHP served links or applications which launch in their own window and are protected by PHP script do work but still display a lack of functionality showing the Version 6.4 that you are speaking of. I checked it out using the KDGE Live Stream which opens another window, and displays version 11 properly ( in other browsers ), the link which is served is also protected and will close any media player that tries to play it on its own. It soley depends on the script which is coded into the page or window for the player. I can see this method as useful for a corporation as large and well advertised as ClearChannel Productions, because of the lack of bandwidth and cost to the company. Several sources do this and it winds up being an issue for the website administrator and designers to take care of, or update the script, or the person who has written the plugin, which could be from a number of resource; this particular instance would be the author of the WMP Plugin for Firefox.
For any other purpose though the plugin I mentioned above should get rid of ( MOST ) of that problem.
http://www.apple.com/safari/download/plugins.html
Message was edited by: heath28m
This is also a good link for sources and coding issues when embedding WMP.. Hope some of this helps..http://www.codingforums.com/showthread.php?t=50666&page=39
Message was edited by: heath28m

Embedded Windows Media PLayer With Non-Standard File Extension

I have embedded a windows media player in a asp.net web page, using the usual
<object> and <embed> tags. The video is served by an ashx (http handler). When I try to play the video, I usually (but not always) get an error message telling me that the file extension (ashx) does not match the file format.
This happens in IE (8, 9, 10, 11) and also in Firefox (latest) with the WMP plugin.
I know that the tags (with classid, etc) are correct because the media player displays and allows me to click the 'play' button.
The ashx returns the correct mime type (video/x-ms-wmv) and a valid file name (somevideo.wmv) in the response headers. I have tried content-disposition attachment and inline.
I have tried urls using 'http://', 'https://', and '//' (which I prefer)
If I put the url (including the .ashx) of the video file in the browser address bar directly, the video downloads and plays in the standalone media player.
If I modify the object tag to use a direct path to the video file (/somewhere/somevideo.wmv), it works - but I can't use this as a solution.
The same ashx serves up video and audio in various other formats with out any fuss - it just seems that the embedded windows media player doesn't like it.
This has been working for several years - I think this is some new behavior, though I can't identify what has changed, other than browser updates.
Any ideas on what could be causing this? Am I missing something simple?

Hi,
Tools>Internet Options>Security tab, click "Reset all zones to default"
Advanced tab of Internet Options>uncheck "Do not save encrypted files to disk"
f12>Networking tab, click the Start button, navigate to your page and observer the response header and content.
To determine if you page is being rendered in a x64 host (all IE versions and WaterFox, type
navigator.platform in the IE Developer tools Console tab,
Post questions about html, css and scripting for website development using MSIE browsers to the IE Web Development forum... WITH a link to your website.
Rob^_^

Windows Media Player opens my .exe files

Basically, all my .exex files switched over to using Windows Media Player to open, and i cant restore from backup because that is a .exe can anyone help me out and help me fix this? im desperate
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Hi,
Please try this fix
Hope this helps.
BH
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Make it easier for other people to find solutions by marking a Reply 'Accept as Solution' if it solves your problem.

Windows Media Player - How clear recent files?

Hello There,
I use Windows Media Player ver 9.0
How can I clear the list of recent played files?
Thanks

Exit WMP
Delete the following file from your User Library area.
User/Library/Preferences/Windows Media Player Prefs
Empty Trash
Start WMP again.
iFelix

Do I have to buy windows media player to watch wmv files on my imac?

please advise

Hi and welcome to Discussions,
for OSX use Flip4Mac http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponents.mspx
for Windows you can download the Media Player from Microsoft.
Regards
Stefan

Windows Media Player cannot access the file. The file might be in use, you might not have access to the computer where the file is stored, or your proxy settings might not be correct.

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