How To Uninstall / Reinstall Windows Media Player 12 In Windows 7

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So over a period of time, you installed and uninstalled many third party Media Players, DVD Players on your Windows 7 PC. Each of these third party software try to associate media files with themselves and finally you end up with messed file associations for audio and video files. Sometimes even codecs get messed up. You might be entangled in a situation in which the media files that used to launch via Windows Media Player now launches with some other software. You may want to revert it to WMP12. In such cases as well as when your want to repair WMP12, it’s a good idea to reinstall Windows Media Player 12.

Following is the step-by-step guide.

Uninstall Windows Media Player 12

Note that uninstalling Windows Media Player 12 also disables Windows Media Center because WMC uses WMP12 for it’s operation.

1. Click “Start” button, type “windows features” in the program search box and hit enter.

windows-features-launch

2. In the “Windows Features” dialog box, look for “Media Features” and expand it.

3. Clear “Windows Media Player” check box.

wmp-uninstall

4. As soon as you clear the check box, you will see a pop-up saying that “The following Windows features will also be turned off because they are dependent on Windows Media Player.” The listed program is “Windows Media Center”.

windows-features-turned-off

Go ahead and click “Yes”.

Windows will now begin uninstalling WMP12.

wait

You to restart Windows for the uninstallation to complete.

restart

Reinstall Windows Media Player 12 and Windows Media Center

Follow step 1 and 2 from same as above.

3. Check boxes “Windows Media Player” and “Windows Media Center”.

reinstall-wmp12

4. Click “OK”.

Windows will take some time in reinstalling them. Wait for the process to finish.

wait

Published on March 24, 2010
  • http://www.cubgame.com Antonette Bahner

    Hey, nice post, really well written. You should write more about this.

  • elyo busta

    thanks, big help!

  • maurice belanger

    well written post. as far as uninstall and reinstall, it works well, but my problem was :

    I can´trip from CDs because THERE IS NO BUTTON FOR RIPPING APPEARING ON NEITHER SIDE O MY MEDIA PLAYER. uninst. and reinst. did not change the situation.

    Thanks for help.

  • http://www.thewindowsplanet.com The Windows Planet

    Did you insert valid CD Audio and then tried the option “Rip”?

  • Pierre26

    Better way and for all languages of Win7 : Start, then “Execute” and fill this :
    –> OptionalFeatures.exe then hit “Enter” and you have all you want and also WMP in Multimedia features.
    Right Men ???

  • Deepak

    Thank’s dude.
    Gr8 help!

  • abel

    出现错误，并非所有的功能被成功更改
    error,not all functions would be modified

  • koki

    thanks a lot,,,, very helpful

  • Aaron

    Did not fix my problem of not being able to rip. I still get an error no matter what cd I have in there. I think I am missing some codecs or files in my registry and I cannot figure out how to fix it. Great post though! I learned something new!

  • S O’C

    This does not unintall WMP, it merely deactivates it. When you recheck the boxes, it brings back the same install that had been there, flaws and all.

  • mahjong

    Once I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now every time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Thanks!

  • Szigi

    Very useful!! Thank you very much!! :)

  • Jecho

    Tried it at least 5 times.
    Had a problem that windows was saying that wmp is corrupted. Tried to “uninstall” it en to “reinstall” it, but still the same error.
    Restarted the computer so many times after installing and uninstalling, but for some reason, still the same problem.
    Also tried a system recovery from day’s ago, and then the uninstall and install, still no luck.
    Why there is no way to download it and reinstall it again.

  • Rafi Ramadhan

    Same as Jecho It not Uninstallit But Just Hide it …

  • Rafi Ramadhan

    n Can i Ask How To Download it N install it ?

    N Once More.. my Paint Has been Gone too..
    Can I KnowWhat Way i Can Make it Again ?

  • Commer

    wow very helpful . thnx so lot .. 5 star …. ;)

  • WM Player

    Worth Less. Worthless. does not reinstall anything. What is this, Ehow?

  • jason

    Get the message

    —————————
    Windows Media Player
    —————————
    Windows Media Player is not installed properly and must be reinstalled.
    Do you want to install the Player from the Microsoft Web site?
    —————————
    Yes No
    —————————

    Follow this article, reboot, does not fix the issue.

  • Nolio

    I want to thank you for this easy to use explanation.
    I bought a netbook 2 weeks ago and it did not have WMP12 properly installed.
    This caused me a lot of hassle.

    Following your instructions I now have WMP12 running perfectly.

    Thank you very much – wonderful website!

  • Tom

    Was having issues with WMP starting in the background and taking up memory so this has helped greatly. Big thanks

  • Alexandrine

    Finally, instructions that work.
    Thanks a lot!!

  • Darlene

    Thanks so much. This was explained very well and fixed my problem perfectly. I was worried as Windows Media Player was already installed on my computer so I did not have a CD like was explained on Windows website. I wish everything was this easy. I liked on Facebook and will bookmark your website for future reference. I am one happy lady tonight! Thanks so much! WMP12 now works perfectly!!! Maybe Microsoft should hire you as your way to fix was way better than theirs!

  • solid D

    Hello everyone, I could use some advice. My problem with Windows media player 12 is that I can’t use it to stream video or share files. When I click on “TURN ON MEDIA SHARING” none of my other computers nor my ps3 appear in the list. Do you think I should reinstall WMP12

  • Gavroche

    Wish all advices were as clear and reliable !
    Thanks

  • F Gade

    no, my problem is that i can’t open media player up and use it.

    i can’t find anything about media features

  • hett

    I tried doing the above, it only hides it, it didn’t fix it. I can’t rip cd’s to burn new ones and my music doesn’t stay loaded in the player. Every time I turn it on, it has to search my music folders, load them, and then I can play music. Please help!!!

  • Anonymous

    Helpful! thanks!

  • Sofus Busch-Jensen

    Me too…. have you found any solution to this issue?

  • Pankajsharma Una

    i like this