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General discussion

Windows Media Player 6.4 playing videos in Firefox and IE

Dec 23, 2004 10:00AM PST

In the past few days whenever I watch a windows media player compatible video clip in either Firefox or IE, WMP Version 6.4 plays the video instead of the smoother, nicer looking Version 10. This just started a few days ago; before, Version 10 was playing the videos fine. The other day I downloaded some programs to convert some clips to VCD and I also recently updated Limewire. I deleted all the conversion programs in hopes that those changed my settings. But I'm still seeing that old version. I know I'm just doing this for aesthetic reasons but any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you sooo much for any help you can offer.

Thank you,
Matthew

Discussion is locked

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Uninstall the Old One
Dec 23, 2004 6:53PM PST

Can't you just uninstall the old one?

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I tried, but....
Dec 24, 2004 7:07AM PST

I located it using the search tool with windows. I found Windows media player 6.4 in the Windows media player folder - the same folder that holds the windows media player version 10. I tried deleting it, but it always comes back!

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Media Player
Dec 24, 2004 9:56AM PST

Weird..... Does it appear in the Install/Uninstall Programs window in the Control Panel?

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No, but...
Dec 24, 2004 11:12AM PST

Under the "Add/Remove Windows Components" button in the "Add or Remove Programs" window, there is the "Windows Media Player", but it says that it is currently taking up 0 MBs, so I think that that is the shortcut to the program - probably version 10 anyways.

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MP 10
Dec 24, 2004 3:50PM PST

Does Media Player 10 (34.32 MB) appear there?

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Reinstall WMP10 and check, fix the registry
Dec 25, 2004 3:09PM PST

Escomatt,

I had the same problem. I solved it by reinstalling WMP10 over itself. That, in fact, is the recommended way to solve most problems with WMP (as per the wmp mini-faq).

If you don't have the full installation setup file just go to the Windows Media Player website and download it from there.

Before running the install it's a good idea to check a section of your registry. Go to Start, Run and type in regedit and open it. Look in Hkey, Local Machine, Software, Microsoft, Media Player, Shim Inclusion List. See if it has MOZILLA.EXE, PHOENIX.EXE, MOZILLAFIREBIRD.EXE, and FIREFOX.EXE listed there. If they aren't, add them.

Also check the Shim Exclusion List in the same area and make sure those files aren't listed. If they are, remove them.

Then just run the WMP10 setup.

There is a reg file that has been circulating called wmp9.reg. That file adds the references to the registry for you. But, it doesn't remove the references that sometimes show up in the Shim Exclusion List. If you don't want to add the files yourself, you might check the Bugzilla website for Bug #193883. I think there is a link in there for the wmp9.reg file. You can also read about my struggles with the problem near the bottom. I had the proper references, Firefox detected and had activated the proper plugins (about:plugins revealed that), but still got WMP6.4's embedded interface in Firefox web pages. I needed to reinstall WMP10 to get back the WMP10 embedded player.

Don't be concerned with the posts and links regarding the ActiveX Control for Firefox 1.0. You don't need, and shouldn't use that if you value the security the non-ActiveX Firefox provides over the ActiveX infected (!) Internet Explorer.

I think this problem develops when certain websites insist on calling WMP6.4 and once it does that even one time, then 6.4 takes embeds over. I've had it switch back to 6.4 several times. Reinstalling WMP10 puts back the association to the WMP10 embedded player. No fooling around with Options or File Type Associations helped me. I had wmp6.4 not associated with any file types and WMP10 associated almost all and still got the 6.4.

Good Luck. This was driving me crazy for a while!

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It worked!...but
Dec 26, 2004 1:44AM PST

I followed your instructions and WMP 10 plays media now. It works great on all sites I've tried so far except for videos at the comedy central?s the daily show's website. When a video begins to load there, firefox invariably freezes then I get an error message before firefox crashes.

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That's a Flash problem
Dec 26, 2004 2:36AM PST

That site has Flash movies playing on the main web page. It crashed on me as well the first time I used their movies with the WMP10 embedded player. Of course, these don't use Flash but somehow when the site tries to open the WMP10 movies the running Flash movies make Firefox crash.

Although this happened the first time, when I cleared the cache of Firefox and Internet Explorer and also deleted the Comedy Central cookies and then closed and restarted Firefox, the next time I went to Comedy Central I didn't get the crash.

Make sure you have the latest versions of the Flash and Shockwave players from macromedia.com. Go there with both Firefox and Internet Explorer to ensure your system has the same versions installed for both browsers.

You should be able to get the site working after ensuring you've got the latest Flash and Shockwave, then entering the Comedy Central site and letting it reset the cookies. If it still crashes the first time, try emptying the cache again and going back to the site. Then try it without emptying the cache. The site is a little finicky.

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I followed all instructions...
Dec 26, 2004 3:25PM PST

I updated shockwave and flash in Firefox and IE, deleted the cache and cookies - so I'm all up to date. Firefox still crashes at the daily show website, but this isn't too bad since I keep IE around for things likes this. Thanks for all you help.