How to Downgrade Windows Media Player 12 to WMP 11 on Windows 7

I'm using the RC1. And i just get an error saying server execution failed if i double click a .mp3. I can drag and drop a file into WMP11 and it works now but not if i double click. I tried changing the associations but no luck. Don't want to have to do a clean install

ephumuris said:

I'm using the RC1. And i just get an error saying server execution failed if i double click a .mp3. I can drag and drop a file into WMP11 and it works now but not if i double click. I tried changing the associations but no luck. Don't want to have to do a clean install

A quick fix for that problem would be to add all the music you would like to play to a monitor folder, so that the music and mp3 files would already be in your WM11 library.

If you are not a quick fix guy:
(this is assuming that you did everything that was in the org instruction.txt file for example: the take owner ship step, and registry entry deletion steps.)

1) Control Penal> Programs and features
2) Uninstall the copy of WM11
a) select the "Windows Media Player 11 for Windows 7" and click uninstall
3)reboot the computer.
4) Control Penal> Programs and features
5)In the upper left hand corner you will see the "file menu" right under neath that you will see "control panel home" , "view installed updates", and last "turn windows features on or off"
6) Click that "turn windows features on or off" button
7) look down the list and expand the media feature folder
8) the only box with a check inside of it should be the first one "windows dvd maker" , the rest "media center" and "media player" uncheck.
(if you use windows media center then reinstall it after wm11 is working up to your standards, insuring that , that is not the cause)
9) restart computer.

now re-install the application, and again before it restarts your computer, delete the registry entry that is in the org instruction.txt, you must have it.

restart, and let me know what happens

I did follow the instructions to the letter and i have done all the take ownership stuff before. I will give your thing a try when i have time but i think the ideal situation would be an option to reinstall 12.

I appreciate the time you took to reply :)

I made a batch script to take control of the WMP12 files in Win32 and Win32/en-US folders, it then moves on to delete them automatically for you!

Take the code below and copy/paste it into a New Text Document, then save it as;
Filename : WMP12Remover.BAT
Save As Type: All Files

Hope this helps :).

Code:

takeown /f c:\windows\system32\wmp.dll /A
icacls c:\windows\system32\wmp.dll /grant Administrators:F
del c:\windows\system32\wmp.dll

takeown /f c:\windows\system32\wmpcm.dll /A
icacls c:\windows\system32\wmpcm.dll /grant Administrators:F
del c:\windows\system32\wmpcm.dll

takeown /f c:\windows\system32\WmpDui.dll /A
icacls c:\windows\system32\WmpDui.dll /grant Administrators:F
del c:\windows\system32\WmpDui.dll

takeown /f c:\windows\system32\wmpdxm.dll /A
icacls c:\windows\system32\wmpdxm.dll /grant Administrators:F
del c:\windows\system32\wmpdxm.dll

takeown /f c:\windows\system32\wmpeffects.dll /A
icacls c:\windows\system32\wmpeffects.dll /grant Administrators:F
del c:\windows\system32\wmpeffects.dll

takeown /f c:\windows\system32\WMPEncEn.dll /A
icacls c:\windows\system32\WMPEncEn.dll /grant Administrators:F
del c:\windows\system32\WMPEncEn.dll

takeown /f c:\windows\system32\WMPhoto.dll /A
icacls c:\windows\system32\WMPhoto.dll /grant Administrators:F
del c:\windows\system32\WMPhoto.dll

takeown /f c:\windows\system32\wmploc.dll /A
icacls c:\windows\system32\wmploc.dll /grant Administrators:F
del c:\windows\system32\wmploc.dll

takeown /f c:\windows\system32\wmpmde.dll /A
icacls c:\windows\system32\wmpmde.dll /grant Administrators:F
del c:\windows\system32\wmpmde.dll
 
takeown /f c:\windows\system32\wmpps.dll /A
icacls c:\windows\system32\wmpps.dll /grant Administrators:F
del c:\windows\system32\wmpps.dll

takeown /f c:\windows\system32\wmpshell.dll /A
icacls c:\windows\system32\wmpshell.dll /grant Administrators:F
del c:\windows\system32\wmpshell.dll
 
takeown /f c:\windows\system32\wmpsrcwp.dll /A
icacls c:\windows\system32\wmpsrcwp.dll /grant Administrators:F
del c:\windows\system32\wmpsrcwp.dll

takeown /f C:\Windows\System32\en-US\wmploc.DLL.mui /A
icacls C:\Windows\System32\en-US\wmploc.DLL.mui /grant Administrators:F
del C:\Windows\System32\en-US\wmploc.DLL.mui

In the end it seemed to fix itself...not sure if it was the system file check thing but i'm back to WMP12 :)

I'll save your thing incase i need to try again though. :)

I'm on the verge of giving up here.

I have tried several ways to downgrade to WMP 11. My main reason being Compatibility issues. Many websites etc. does not have support for WMP 12. I have some online Pay Per View TV but even they do not support WMP12. Too bad i paid for a whole year

I run the 64bit version of Windows 7. I even found a "self downgrader". Even this doesnt work. It tells me i need to run it with administrator rights. But even if i do that it still tells me i don't have administrator rights.

I did every step by step guide i could find without success. The WMP 11 for win7 installer still comes up with some errors...

What do i do? Any specific fixes for 64-bit users out there??

i followed all of the instructions too for installing WMP 11.

I've also had the problem that i cant double click my MP3s and have them open in WMP, instead i get the "Server execution failed" error.

Another thing that has happened is now when i have Task Manager open i cant see all of the processes, but when i click the "All processes from all users" button, i get a UAC box appear to which i select Yes, after this a small DOS window flicks on the screen for 1 second, and task manager never opens again. This is annoying as something is taking 50% of my CPU and i'm unable to see which program it is.

Does anyone have a fix for this?

Unfortunately this doesn't work for me either. Running x64 Build 7600.16385 so most of the DLL files i find don't work. I even tried finding a full installer for Build 7000 and using a resource editor to change version numbers, nothing seems to work. :/