Apps Install or Uninstall Windows Media Player Legacy app in Windows 11

thepineapple · Oct 29, 2024

Am I the only one who still prefers this over the UWP Media Apps? (For built-in media apps)

Ghot · Oct 29, 2024

thepineapple said:
Am I the only one who still prefers this over the Modern Media Apps? (For built-in media apps)

Yes.

VLC for videos
Foobar2000 for music.

Side note: UWP is pure evil, as is Windows Media Player.

thepineapple · Oct 29, 2024

Ghot said:
Yes.

VLC for videos
Foobar2000 for music.

Okay Im talking about apps built in to Windows. But I agree with VLC and Foobar nonetheless.

Ghot · Oct 29, 2024

thepineapple said:
Okay Im talking about apps built in to Windows. But I agree with VLC and Foobar nonetheless.

I removed 99% of the Windows Apps too... (with REVO Uninstaller (free))

antspants · Oct 29, 2024

With 23H2, Windows Media Player (Legacy) was already available. I found the same with 24H2. But I keep reading that people can’t activate it or have to use this tutorial. Why the discrepancies? Why did I have it without taking steps to add it? I have never manually enabled it.

garlin · Oct 29, 2024

antspants said:
With 23H2, Windows Media Player (Legacy) was already available. I found the same with 24H2. But I keep reading that people can’t activate it or have to use this tutorial. Why the discrepancies? Why did I have it without taking steps to add it? I have never manually enabled it.

WMP is missing if you're running any of the N or KN editions, which have WMP removed by government mandate.

antspants · Oct 29, 2024

garlin said:
WMP is missing if you're running any of the N or KN editions, which have WMP removed by government mandate.

Right, gotcha, thanks

antspants · Oct 30, 2024

garlin said:
WMP is missing if you're running any of the N or KN editions, which have WMP removed by government mandate.

Seems not only those editions.

Enable or Disable DLNA Media Streaming in Windows 10 and Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off DLNA media streaming for your account or all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11. DLNA media streaming allows you to share media from your account's personal Music, Pictures, PlayLists, and Videos folders to other users (same computer)...

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Edwin · Oct 30, 2024

thepineapple said:
Am I the only one who still prefers this over the UWP Media Apps? (For built-in media apps)

Many do, as long as they can figure out how to enable it.

I use foobar2000 for everything now, audio, video, tagging, ripping, converting, etc.

glasskuter · Jan 7, 2025

Hey @Brink I have tried every method here to install Media Player Legacy. They all appear to complete successfuly but still no WMP.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe does not exist.

I did a clean install in Oct. and immediately made an image. When I browse that image the above folder does exist. Even though I do not remember removing WMP between then and now, I must have.

Is there a way for me to reinstall WMP legacy
using option 3 or 4 from either the mounted Macrium image OR from the iso I used to install 24h2?

Brink · Jan 7, 2025

glasskuter said:
Hey @Brink I have tried every method here to install Media Player Legacy. They all appear to complete successfuly but still no WMP.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe does not exist.

I did a clean install in Oct. and immediately made an image. When I browse that image the above folder does exist. Even though I do not remember removing WMP between then and now, I must have.

Is there a way for me to reinstall WMP legacy
using option 3 or 4 from either the mounted Macrium image OR from the iso I used to install 24h2?

Hello Linda,

Does it still show Windows Media Player Legacy (App) as installed in either option 1 or 2?

If so, you might see if restarting the computer may help even though it's usually not required.

glasskuter · Jan 7, 2025

I restarted after every attempt.

Brink said:
Does it still show Windows Media Player Legacy (App) as installed in either option 1 or 2?

No it didn't show up as WMP Legacy in All Apps or through Revo after either method and i did restart after each one. Media Player was listed.
But I found a round about way and just got it working so I can use it but I may be up the proverbial creek if I ever want to go back the new Media Player.

I did a repair install which gave me the C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\ folder. I tried powershell and got the result in screenshot #1 but still had Media Player in "all apps", not WMP Legacy. At this point I did not check my context menu so it may well have been there.

Inside that folder I saw the file named setup_wm.exe. That's like waving a red flag in front of a bull so I thought "what the heck. Charge ahead and try it." I did and though I still do not have WMP Legacy in my "all apps" list nor can Revo detect it, I do now see it under "default apps" and in my context menu (which is where I usually run it from when playing my albums.) It works fine. Media Player is now no longer listed in all apps list either.

Since I accomplished this using Linda's wrong way, rather than Brink's right way, I have no idea if using your methods of uninstalling WMP legacy would being back new Media Player or not but I'm fine with that. So all's well that ends well....even if it's wrong.

Brink · Jan 7, 2025

glasskuter said:
I restarted after every attempt.

No it didn't show up as WMP Legacy in All Apps or through Revo after either method and i did restart after each one. Media Player was listed.
But I found a round about way and just got it working so I can use it but I may be up the proverbial creek if I ever want to go back the new Media Player.

I did a repair install which gave me the C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\ folder. I tried powershell and got the result in screenshot #1 but still had Media Player in "all apps", not WMP Legacy. At this point I did not check my context menu so it may well have been there.

Inside that folder I saw the file named setup_wm.exe. That's like waving a red flag in front of a bull so I thought "what the heck. Charge ahead and try it." I did and though I still do not have WMP Legacy in my "all apps" list nor can Revo detect it, I do now see it under "default apps" and in my context menu (which is where I usually run it from when playing my albums.) It works fine. Media Player is now no longer listed in all apps list either.

Since I accomplished this using Linda's wrong way, rather than Brink's right way, I have no idea if using your methods of uninstalling WMP legacy would being back new Media Player or not but I'm fine with that. So all's well that ends well....even if it's wrong.

You should be able to have both the new "Media Player" and legacy "Windows Media Player" installed and open if wanted.

You will not have the legacy "Windows Media Player" app listed in the Start Menu. It'll only be available as the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe" file if successfully installed (added).

dacrone · Jan 7, 2025

it shows under the Windows Tools, but since they made that a control panel item and not a start-subfolder, it doesnt show unless you open Windows Tools. you'll have to copy it from there to the %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs (for your user start menu\all apps list)

@Brink - you can throw this in if you want:

save as .bat file:

Code:

xcopy /y "%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Windows Media Player Legacy.lnk" "%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\"

glasskuter · Jan 7, 2025

@dacrone @Brink Thank you both. My obtusity is growing with my age.

Brink · Jan 7, 2025

glasskuter said:
@dacrone @Brink Thank you both. My obtusity is growing with my age.

dacrone · Jan 8, 2025

Brink said:

i was testing this on another 24h2 (insider build) pc and kept it would only show under option 1's location. both powershell and command prompt's commands output "feature name "windowsmediaplayer" unknown". so i dug up another command for dism and got it working. i made an installer and uninstaller .bat for anyone that wants them for future use @glasskuter

DISM Commands by themselves if you want to do them manually:

Code:

dism /online /add-capability /capabilityname:Media.WindowsMediaPlayer~~~~0.0.12.0

Code:

dism /online /remove-capability /capabilityname:Media.WindowsMediaPlayer~~~~0.0.12.0

WMPLegacy_Installer.bat (paste in notepad & save code as .bat (don't forget to remove .txt file extension)) (this will install and copy a shortcut to current user's start menu all apps list:

Code:

@echo off

:init
setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
set "batchPath=%~0"
for %%k in (%0) do set batchName=%%~nk
set "vbsGetPrivileges=%temp%\OEgetPriv_%batchName%.vbs"
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

:checkPrivileges
NET FILE 1>NUL 2>NUL
if '%errorlevel%' == '0' ( goto gotPrivileges ) else ( goto getPrivileges )

:getPrivileges
if '%1'=='ELEV' (echo ELEV & shift /1 & goto gotPrivileges)

ECHO Set UAC = CreateObject^("Shell.Application"^) > "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO args = "ELEV " >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO For Each strArg in WScript.Arguments >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO args = args ^& strArg ^& " "  >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO Next >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO UAC.ShellExecute "!batchPath!", args, "", "runas", 1 >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
"%SystemRoot%\System32\WScript.exe" "%vbsGetPrivileges%" %*
exit /B

:gotPrivileges
setlocal & pushd .
cd /d %~dp0
if '%1'=='ELEV' (del "%vbsGetPrivileges%" 1>nul 2>nul  &  shift /1)

REM Run shell as admin (example) - put here code as you like
ECHO %batchName% Arguments: %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
@echo off
dism /online /add-capability /capabilityname:Media.WindowsMediaPlayer~~~~0.0.12.0
xcopy /y "%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Windows Media Player Legacy.lnk" "%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\"
pause

WMPLegacy_Uninstaller.bat (paste in notepad & save code as .bat (don't forget to remove .txt file extension)) (this will uninstall and remove the shortcut from current user's start menu all apps list:

Code:

@echo off

:init
setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
set "batchPath=%~0"
for %%k in (%0) do set batchName=%%~nk
set "vbsGetPrivileges=%temp%\OEgetPriv_%batchName%.vbs"
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

:checkPrivileges
NET FILE 1>NUL 2>NUL
if '%errorlevel%' == '0' ( goto gotPrivileges ) else ( goto getPrivileges )

:getPrivileges
if '%1'=='ELEV' (echo ELEV & shift /1 & goto gotPrivileges)

ECHO Set UAC = CreateObject^("Shell.Application"^) > "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO args = "ELEV " >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO For Each strArg in WScript.Arguments >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO args = args ^& strArg ^& " "  >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO Next >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO UAC.ShellExecute "!batchPath!", args, "", "runas", 1 >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
"%SystemRoot%\System32\WScript.exe" "%vbsGetPrivileges%" %*
exit /B

:gotPrivileges
setlocal & pushd .
cd /d %~dp0
if '%1'=='ELEV' (del "%vbsGetPrivileges%" 1>nul 2>nul  &  shift /1)

REM Run shell as admin (example) - put here code as you like
ECHO %batchName% Arguments: %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
@echo off
dism /online /remove-capability /capabilityname:Media.WindowsMediaPlayer~~~~0.0.12.0
del "%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Media Player Legacy.lnk"
pause

glasskuter · Jan 8, 2025

@dacrone I'll be the guina pig here. Before I do anything I want to make an image of what I have as I can use it if necessary, It doesn't matter to me if it's not in the start menu now that I know I should not expect it to be there. .

To test your method, I'm assuming I need to uninstll it first before testing this out. , Right??? Since I improperly ran that setup_wm.exe file to get it in default apps and in my right click context menu,
Should I run your bat file to remove it?
OR
Brink's dism comand to remove it? DISM /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:"WindowsMediaPlayer"
OR
Your dism command to remove it? dism /online /remove-capability /capabilityname:Media.WindowsMediaPlayer~~~~0.0.12.0

I ask because before when I was trying to install it using dism I never got a response that it completed.

dacrone · Jan 8, 2025

You can run the dism to remove it that I shared in an elevated command prompt, then save the install batch and run that (it’s self elevated so only need to double click it). That’ll reinstall Wmp legacy and give you your start menu shortcut.

Apps Install or Uninstall Windows Media Player Legacy app in Windows 11

Install or Uninstall "Windows Media Player Legacy (App)" in Settings

Install or Uninstall "Windows Media Player Legacy (App)" in Windows Features

Install or Uninstall "Windows Media Player Legacy (App)" using DISM Command

Install or Uninstall "Windows Media Player Legacy (App)" in PowerShell

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