Re: WMP 11: I click and nothing! [Vista RANT]

There is indeed a format involved somewhere in the process, since I have an
OEM version of Vista that came preinstalled on my notebook. Instructions on
the System restore disk that came with my Toshiba system indicate that to
restore the system, the software on the system restore cd set formats the
hard drive, and installs the factory image. This seems to be standard
operating procedure, since the desktop my mom got that was a Compaq also had
similar instructions on the System restore disk for that computer. My
understanding is that this "factory image" contains the operating system, and
all preinstalled software and trial version packages that came with the
computer. Too bad more manufacturers do not include "go back" utilities
preinstalled on their computers. I may just invest in Norton systemworks 2008
or something similar like PC Mechanic, if it is Vista compatible and includes
their great "go-back" utility - it has saved me a couple times on my xp
desktop.

I was disappointed that the latest version of WMP 11 did not appear to be
available to download for reinstall on the site for Windows Media Player 11
for Vista.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/mediaplayer/default.mspx
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/mediaplayer11/default.mspx
http://support.microsoft.com/ph/11732

One thing I was also disappointed to see was that when I went to Control
panel, then to programs and features, then with the option to "turn windows
features on or off", Windows Media Player 11 is not on the list of features
that can be turned on or off, but yet it is part of the operating system. One
suggestion for future improvement might be to use this idea to "turn off"
Windows Media Player 11 temporarily (uninstalling various related files and
removing shortcuts), reboot the computer, turn it back on (reinstalling the
features and restoring corrupted files), and then install any updates from
the Windows update site.



"zachd [MSFT]" wrote:


An uninstall then reinstall should be significantly inferior to a
straight-over-the-top reinstall. I actually put code in a long time (WMP7?)
to make that be the case. (Since a reinstall-over-the-top implies something
strange, whereas a "cleaner" install implies that it's a normal install and
doesn't need any special handling.)

Err, I worked all night last night on my own unofficial time to devise a
solution to the "can't reinstall Windows Media Player problem". Please be
patient. It is a difficult problem simply because that's NOT how the
component based system works, but I did put the time in to and will put more
time in to make that stuff happen. It's a non-trivial problem that required
ingenuity to solve. *shrug* (And no, nobody else in the entire world knows
about this yet, really, so I wouldn't expect anybody else to have had any
comments or knowledge of this. Standard operating procedure should be
"reinstall Vista" here, and that's arguably always going to be the best
choice regardless of all else. This angle of discussion gets into the huge
boring discussion of what the reinstall is meant to reaccomplish... let's
not go there. It's best to deal with the problem head-on. A reinstall is
generally a cop-out implying some random undetermined corruption. )

I'm pretty unaware that a Vista reinstall would cause data loss. How? If
it offers an "upgrade" option, that's what you would want. You should only
lose data if there were some sort of format... ? I'll break out my Vista CD
tomorrow and take a look at this.

--
Speaking for myself only.
See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
--

"afwseattle" <afwseattle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4EC1B591-28F2-4195-9693-3FD983619A3D@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Are you using Windows XP or Windows Vista? If you have XP, you are in
luck.
You can uninstall Windows Media Player 11, then reinstall it from
Microsoft's
site.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/download/default.aspx

But if you are using Windows Vista, you may have to reinstall the whole
operating system since they foolishly packaged it with the whole operating
system. This of course means you also will need to reinstall all your
applications after the operating system is reinstalled. I have a similar
problem with Windows Media Player 11 for Vista - it is installed, but no
longer works properly after trying to install the wrong program (one
designed
to work for XP). Microsoft refers all inquiries into operating system
components back to the computer manufacturer unless you bought the retail
upgrade separately from your computer. My OEM support options and restore
cd
do not let me uninstall and reinstall parts of the operating system, its
an
all or nothing deal. If I restore my system with the restore cd set that
shipped with my system, it restores it to "new" state, which means I lose
all
the DRM protected music that I purchased since I bought my notebook, and
all
my applications that did not ship with the system, all my documents, all
my
saved emails, all my saved videos and pictures, and everything else,
except
for what I can back up to USB flash drives (2 Gig or less) or CD, or DVD.

This is why I recommend Vista for only 3 types of people: Corporate IT
systems professionals (who are knowledgeable about setting group policies
and
generally favor standard configurations for everything), software
development
professionals (who need to develop applications for Vista), and
overprotective parents or those with young children under 12 (who need to
control their children's activities). For anyone else, it really just
isn't
worth all the hassle. Stick with XP (or migrate to Linux). At this point,
I
am actually considering trying the latter on my next computer.

"mel" wrote:

please help me. i dont know alot about computers but have been everywhere
trying to get back my windows media player 11. i click on the icons and
nothing. one day it was there and now its not. i have uninstalled all
other
music players, i have tried to redownload but i cant because my version
is
newer, system restore has failed me too. please help



.

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