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Windows MediaPlayer question

Started by Dookie Oct 9, 2006 at 9:53 PM 8 replies 1.7k views

Original Post

Oct 9, 2006 at 9:53 PM

Hey guys, what a Monday. Sheesh, I'm glad it's almost over! [grin] I've got a problem with Windows MediaPlayer 9/10 in Windows XP Pro and just can't seem to figure out what's wrong. This problem has happened ever since I first installed Windows XP, and MediaPlayer has never worked. Whenever I click a .wmv video (or any other Windows Media file) on the internet, I get this error: "Windows Media Player cannot play the file. If the file is located on the Internet, connect to the Internet. If the file is located a removable storage card, insert the storage card." But if I download and then play the file from my harddrive, it plays fine. I'm not sure why I cannot play Windows Media files from the internet, and I don't know what I need to do to get it to work. But here's the kicker - My wife connects to the internet through the same Linksys router as me, and she can play wmv files off the internet just fine (she's running Windows 2000). Anybody have any ideas why this is happening? I imagine it's a setting somewhere that needs to be tweaked, but I don't know where to look to fix this problem. Thanks in advance for the help, I really appreciate it!

Colin Jeanne

Oct 9, 2006 at 9:55 PM

Do you have a firewall on your computer? Is it blocking WMP?

dave

Oct 9, 2006 at 9:58 PM

Have you tried Windows Media Player Live or whatever it is, it works on there for me.

Dookie

Oct 9, 2006 at 10:01 PM

Dang, you guys are fast! [grin] Thanks for the quick reply!

I have a firewall on my router, but my wife is also connected through it and can play videos just fine. I also have the firewall that came with Windows XP, but I still cannot play videos off the internet even if I disable that firewall. I'm not sure if WMP for Windows 2000 and Windows XP are any different from each other, but if they're not then my Linksys router is not blocking WMP.

Colin Jeanne

Oct 9, 2006 at 10:03 PM

Can you watch them when you're not connected through your router? This will help decide if the router is the problem (I dont believe it is).

dave

Oct 9, 2006 at 10:04 PM

Just to confirm, you are passing something like http://www.DaveRocks.com/DaveRocksMovie.wmv to the Open Url dialog on the file menu?

Dookie

Oct 9, 2006 at 10:13 PM

If I put this:

http://www.e-fliterc.com/ProdInfo/Files/EFLH1300_lo.wmv

in "File -> Open Url..." in MediaPlayer, the movie still doesn't play. If I download it to my harddrive and play it from there, it plays fine. I also cannot play media files when connected directly to the internet (bypassing the router). Shucks!

outRider

Oct 9, 2006 at 10:19 PM

In the File menu is the Work Offline item checked? Happens to me with IE sometimes.

Dookie

Oct 9, 2006 at 10:26 PM

Thanks for the reply, outRider.

No, 'Work Offline' isn't checked. Although I had that happen to a network printer once, and it took me forever to track down that problem. Pretty embarassing! [grin]

Dookie

Oct 9, 2006 at 11:01 PM

Well, what the frickin' frickity frack!? I looked at my internet settings and found this:

Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced -> Use Passive FTP (for firewall and DSL modem compatibility)

I had this option 'checked' so I could remote into a friend's computer to test an online game I was working on, but didn't think it would have anything to do with video playback. Unchecked that option and videos started playing over the internet just fine... Now what the heck does video playback have to do with FTP??? Well, it IS Microsoft we're talkin' about so who the heck really knows.

Anyways, the problem is fixed. Thanks for all the suggestions! [smile]

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