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 (Update: January 31, 2012 – Link updated)

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:

1. All files in Program Files\Windows Media Player\ folder
2. All files starting with wmp in System32 folder
3. 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.

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Tip: Click here if you are looking for more interesting Windows 7 tips and tricks.

Windows Media Player by default does not support many popular codecs and there are many alternatives you could use to get playback support for those codecs in WMP. However in Windows 12, Microsoft has build native support for popular formats such as DivX and MP4.

However there are still some unsupported codecs in WMP 12 on Windows 7, which will result in some videos not playing, to overcome the issue you can download the Windows 7 Codec pack, which will add support for the missing codecs.

Also Read: How To Play Any Video File In Windows Media Player

The new Win7codecs which I have created do not change or mess with what Microsoft has going on with native support.This includes the native H264 playback in WMP12 and Media Center. DXVA accelerated H264 playback is provided by the codec package for all other capable non Microsoft players.

Download Windows 7 Codec Pack

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