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

Dear All
I found something interesting topic on google search.

how to change WMP 12 to WMP11

If you are one such user, unconformable with WMP 12 then here is the way to downgrade your Windows 7 WMP 12 to Window Media player 11. Thanks who has made Windows Media Player 11 installer for Windows 7.
How to Downgrade Windows Media Player 12 to Windows Media Player 11 on Windows 7

1. Download Windows Media Player 11 Installer for Windows 7

2. Now Type services.msc on windows 7 search bar

3. Stop Windows Media Player network Sharing Service.

4. Take Ownership of following files
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
5. Now Run Windows Media Player 11 Installer
6. Now type Regedit on Start Menu Search bar
7. Delete following Registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Setup\Installed Versions“
(Don’t forget to take Backup of Registry before modifying/editing/deleting any registry key)
8. Reboot your Windows 7
Screenshot of Windows Media Player 11 in Widows 7 (Media Player Gadget)


Please Note :I will not be responsible if you damage your Windows 7 with above information. Do it at your own risk. I have not created or nor host any files for download here. ( not tested by me ).


thank you .


(Note: If you found this stuff is useful or interesting dont forget to give me reputation)

This thing worked for me. Thanks Yogi! Was happy to get rid of the disgusting WMP12.

Only Microsoft can downgrade in the name of upgrade. WMP12 doesn't have many useful features of WMP11. Like increase in playback speed.

I really miss the mini player of WMP11
"Now playing" panel is such a bad idea, and have no sens at all for me.

Maybe will I switch back to WMP11 thanks to you

When I upgraded to 7077 I was severely annoyed WMP 12 decided to *automatically* record everything in my libraries. I don't even use WMP for video files, but need to keep it on hand for viewing DVD's and Windows streaming media files. Anyways, I had to resort to denying write access to CurrentDatabase_372.wmdb in the AppData folder to prevent it from cataloging my files (but not before I had spent an hour dorking around in the settings trying to find an option to manaually manage the library). By the time I had made the change, it had a 900 MB database file and 1.2 gigabytes of cover thumbnails (which I promptly deleted) -- talk about bloat!

Thanks yogi I could use this to help a friend. I personally love WMP12 though, and think its leagues better than WMP11.

sgsawant said:

Only Microsoft can downgrade in the name of upgrade. WMP12 doesn't have many useful features of WMP11. Like increase in playback speed.

Click to expand...

Huh? Of what do you speak good sir, 12 has everything 11 had and more from my observations. Play speed settings can be easily accessed by right clicking the now playing screen or simply pressing the alt button and navigating the menus towards the enhancements. I use play speed settings all the time.

LePoilu said:

I really miss the mini player of WMP11
"Now playing" panel is such a bad idea, and have no sens at all for me.

Maybe will I switch back to WMP11 thanks to you

Click to expand...

The miniplayer would be nice to have back, but with aeropeek I find I hardly miss it personally. Still, it would be nice as an option.

The purpose of the now playing panel is that its much lighter than having everything in one window like before. Thats why WMP12 opens much quicker for us folk on slower hardware.

I prefer WMP12 because it is much more minimalist and stuffies. It's just "nicer" to me.

sgsawant said:

This thing worked for me. Thanks Yogi! Was happy to get rid of the disgusting WMP12.

Only Microsoft can downgrade in the name of upgrade. WMP12 doesn't have many useful features of WMP11. Like increase in playback speed.

Click to expand...

napilopez said:

Thanks yogi I could use this to help a friend. I personally love WMP12 though, and think its leagues better than WMP11.

sgsawant said:

This thing worked for me. Thanks Yogi! Was happy to get rid of the disgusting WMP12.

Only Microsoft can downgrade in the name of upgrade. WMP12 doesn't have many useful features of WMP11. Like increase in playback speed.

Click to expand...

Huh? Of what do you speak good sir, 12 has everything 11 had and more from my observations. Play speed settings can be easily accessed by right clicking the now playing screen or simply pressing the alt button and navigating the menus towards the enhancements. I use play speed settings all the time.

Click to expand...

Agreed - CTRL + SHIFT + G is play fast, N is for normal, and (I think) B is for slow, if you don't want to use the slider....

sgsawant said:

The miniplayer would be nice to have back, but with aeropeek I find I hardly miss it personally. Still, it would be nice as an option.

The purpose of the now playing panel is that its much lighter than having everything in one window like before. Thats why WMP12 opens much quicker for us folk on slower hardware.

I prefer WMP12 because it is much more minimalist and stuffies. It's just "nicer" to me.

Click to expand...

Again, agreed.

Thank you very much, man. WMP12 was good at first, because I didnt have that annoying store button but after some time i realized its ability to find music was horrible and didnt work over network.

hey i have done what u said. and i would like to say thank you. everything that you said worked perfectly.

now that being said. i need to know how to undo it. yes i know but why. well i have recently upgraded another computer on the network, and i would like to start streaming media.
(this option is taken out of the wmp 11 version for windows 7)

so if you can .please let me know how to undo the downgrade. if this is not possible then i will have to reformat.

Didin't work for me. I tried multiple ways of taking control of the files (which i've done before) and it just gave errors when trying to install. Now i don't have 11 or 12. I have no media player

not working for you

ephumuris said:

Didin't work for me. I tried multiple ways of taking control of the files (which i've done before) and it just gave errors when trying to install. Now i don't have 11 or 12. I have no media player

Click to expand...

what version of windows 7 are you running.

computer properties should tell you. if not go to

start menu>access ores>system tools>

click the system information button and it will tell you the exact OS that you have please post it.
I would very much like to figure out why its not working for you.

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

fixit now

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

Click to expand...

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

Get access

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 .

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.

The system file checker will usually fix things like this b/c it performs a complete check on your system for files that are supposed to be there that are not as well as files that are corrupted, broken, etc.

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??

sgsawant said:

This thing worked for me. Thanks Yogi! Was happy to get rid of the disgusting WMP12.

Only Microsoft can downgrade in the name of upgrade. WMP12 doesn't have many useful features of WMP11. Like increase in playback speed.

Click to expand...

Thats the way I think too!

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. :/