How To Uninstall Windows Media Player 12 on Windows 7?
By default Windows 7 has Windows Media Player 12 as the default media player, if you are not happy with the performance of the Media player, you can easily downgrade the Windows Media Player 12 to WMP 11.
Though the method is not straightforward and you will need to perform a hack uninstall of WMP 12. There are several steps you will need to follow to do this.
Step 1: Download Windows Media Player 11 Installer for Windows 7
Step 2: Type services.msc in Windows 7 search bar and open the services application.
Step 3: Find the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service and Stop it.
Step 4: You will need to take Ownership of several files which include:
- All files in Program Files\Windows Media Player\ folder
- All files starting with wmp in System32 folder
- wmploc.dll.mui in Sytem32\en-us\ folder
Step 5: Run the Windows Media Player 11 Installer you had downloaded earlier.
Step 6: Type Regedit in Windows 7 search bar and open the registry editor application.
Step 7: Delete following Registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Setup\Installed Versions
Step 8: Reboot your Windows 7 for the changes to take effect.
That’s it, with these steps you will be able to downgrade WMP 12 and use WMP 11 instead. Want to share any Windows 7 tips? Feel free to contact us with your tips.
Hacks n Mods Tip From BlogsDNA
Cekş
February 14th, 2009 at 9:38 am #
Dont work!
Server Execution Failed error
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Velik
February 17th, 2009 at 10:35 pm #
Didnt work for me, but I did find that there is a procedure for setting up hidden beta features in windows 7 which allow a similar feature for wmp 12. Now my question is how do i get WMP 12 back : (
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Blake
February 24th, 2009 at 3:37 pm #
Didn’t work for me either. it only crapped up the installation. as for a fix for this, i did a system restore to about a day before and now it works fine. i still wish i had wmp11 back tho because it was more stable for me.
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Blake
February 24th, 2009 at 3:40 pm #
http://www.winmatrix.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22459
states that it only works for 32-bit system. this solves the puzzle for me as mine is 64-bit.
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DenyM
March 4th, 2009 at 10:07 am #
Windows+R
cmd
chkdsk
I think this command is restore windows media player 12…
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wart0g
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:26 pm #
Side note: Oh, and by the way, this only works for 32-bit operating systems.
Would’ve been nice to know before screwing up WMP 12.
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Jason Kingsbury
July 16th, 2009 at 2:07 pm #
This is a good tutorial, however once I uninstalled wmp 12 I realised you cant go back – or I don’t know how. IF YOU ARE UNSURE WHETHER YOU WANT TO KEEP WMP 12 OR NOT DO NOT UNINSTALL. Now I have to wait until Wmp 12 is released to reinstall it..
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Justin
August 15th, 2009 at 2:52 pm #
Is it maybe possible to actually give directions for the title of the article…uninstalling something does not mean to downgrade it. A complete uninstall is more productive considering WMP is basically garbage to begin with
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Val
September 6th, 2009 at 12:25 pm #
Hey guys! I discovered how to uninstall windows media player 12 from windows 7 without a scratch!!!
1- Go to control Panel
2- Choose programs and feature (not uninstall)
3- CHoose Turn Windows Feature On or Off on the left of the screen
4- Find Media Features
5- Unmark Media Features then press Ok
6- Simply restart, and reinstall media player 11 (or the one you’d like)
(Sorry for my bad English, I’m usually speaking french
)
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Tony Reply:
September 14th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
This works fine on any version. Best recommendation.
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Persi
September 6th, 2009 at 7:22 pm #
Even it didn’t worked for me. After step 4, while following the step 5 installing the Windows Media Player 11 Installer I got lot off error messages. I ignored all those and after that continued with 6,7,8. But at last the windows media player crashed
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André Almeida
September 13th, 2009 at 10:32 am #
Between step 6 and 7, you can EXPORT the key, before the deletion, and in the future, you can restore the key too. This solves the problems of “windows media 12 crash”.
Other way is to create a system restore point.
I hope this helps you guys!
Hugs
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