How to unlink WMP library from Windows Libraries

i have been dealing with this since Windows 7 was released.

What i was doing was letting WMP index everything, then delete the indexed files from WMP.
Once it's done, it wont do it again. Time consuming considering i have 1TB of music.

Until i found this solution :)

SOLUTION:
1. turn off everything related to Media Sharing in WMP, and "WMP Network Service" in Services.msc.
2. Disable "Maintain my star ratings as global ratings in files" in WMP.

That will stop WMP from indexing altogether.

dbgarza said:

RudeBoySes said:

i have been dealing with this since Windows 7 was released.

What i was doing was letting WMP index everything, then delete the indexed files from WMP.
Once it's done, it wont do it again. Time consuming considering i have 1TB of music.

Until i found this solution :)

SOLUTION:
1. turn off everything related to Media Sharing in WMP, and "WMP Network Service" in Services.msc.
2. Disable "Maintain my star ratings as global ratings in files" in WMP.

That will stop WMP from indexing altogether.

Nice solution but in my case the issue was with the pictures, I have no stars on them and they kept getting indexed o.o

In fact I did what you suggested a long ago, both things and didn't changed a thing when it comes to the pictures library, they kept getting added as soon I saved a new picture on a folder that was within the pictures libray.

That's why I simply created a new library for pictures which Media Player doesn't touches at all XD

you're right.. it doesn't work
it worked as soon as i implemented it..
but after a restart .. it started indexing again! wtf!

creating personal libraries is a pain because my folders are named exactly the same as "Music", "Pictures", "Videos", etc.. which if it's the same name.. it gets replaced by Windows' default Libraries.. and if you delete the default Libraries from Windows Explorer not the navigation pane. but inside Explorer.. WMP will put them back..

i know i can rename them and use "Win7 Library Tool" to change the Icons.. but i just don't like it..

What i do instead is let it index completely..
Then navigate to C:/users/user/appdata/local/Media Player
and backup the database..
this way.. i can just paste it to avoid reindexing..
then delete the indexed files from WMP which improves WMP's performance ..
and WMP won't re-index again... except if i add new files.. which is not too hard to delete..

I learned the hard way with CCleaner..
i accidentally cleaned WMP's database and had to re-index everything..
a pain in the butt..

i hope Win8 resolves this or atleast gives option to disable..

dbgarza said:

I only got rid of the pictures library renaming it and creating a new one, then I hid the old one so it won't show on the left side panel on windows explorer so I only see my new non-linked to WMP library ^^

I have no problem with the music or videos ones because I have very few files there so is not much an issue as long as I don't save anything there.

thanks for the tip, i tried it, but whenever i deleted "Music", "Video", and "Pictures" in Windows Explorer, not the navigation pane, WMP would restore the folders with the default shared folders. No matter what i did.



I gave up, because backing up the Database does not work either.
I tried it yesterday, by pasting the old database in Local > Media Player
It still re-indexed everything.

That was the last straw.
I like WMP, but im on a Notebook and cannot deal with it constantly indexing 1TB worth of music.

I disabled it, and installed Foobar2000, and Media Player Classic - Home Cinema x64.
I LOVE Foobar because my music collection is strictly FLAC, which i create Cue sheets for, and it's able to use them gaplessly.

Media Player Classic is just great, but especially because it does not index.

yea.. i understand how to do the left side..

but i also want the right side to match..

do you know of a way?

FIGURED IT OUT!!!!!!!!

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