Windows Media Center & Media Player icons are missing

[Bakmendo]

When I click Start, All Programs, there are no icons/listings for Windows Media Center or Windows Media Player. How do I get them back? How do I re-install Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player? I am running Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

 

[AngelProcesser]

click 'start' then right click a blank area of the start menu and then click 'properties' then click 'customize' and then click 'Use Default Settings' and/or review the settings in this window.

You can also use the search bar (text box in start menu) and just type in Media, when you see the shorcuts, right click on them and send them to your desktop, or pin to taskbar or start menu.

From control panel>programs>turn windows features on or off>media features> check for on, uncheck for off, I suggest leaving it installed (on) and if you do not want to use it just delete the shortcuts.

 

[Bakmendo]

Thanks Swanson Photos.

I recovered the icons by copying the shortcuts from my laptop. The media features were already turned on. Now when I click on the Media Center shortcut, I receive an error message stating “Windows cannot open this program because it has been prevented by a software restriction policy. For more information, contact your system administrator”. Anyone know where I can find these software restrictions?

When I first did a clean install of Win 7, I think I turned off services that WMC needs, figuring that I would never use WMC (this logic has now bit me in the rear!). At the time of the application of this misbegotten logic, I was smart enough to create a file containing all the changes I made. During the last month old age must have crept in, because I can’t remember where I put the file (nor it’s name, nor the creation date). Wish I’d been smart enough to create a file telling me where I put this file.

So if anyone can tell me where I can find the “software restriction policy” and which services WMC needs, I would appreciate it. This whole thing is starting to feel like another clean install.

 

[AngelProcesser]

Typically, software restrictions are done in a business network environment to stop workers from performing non-work related tasks and often a person can be discharged for even attempting to modify such settings...that being said...

Software Restrictons are found in Group Policy settings. They may be managed by a network admin and you may not have access to them. You also need at least Windows Enterprise or Ultimate to use the group policy editor.

The pre-release versions of W7 were all W7 Ultimate. The RTM versions vary. I'm betting you actually used a common hack to update to W7 RTM and did not actually do a clean install or are actually running a pre-release version.

Is either accurate? In the first case, the settings may have migrated at upgrade but the tool required to change them is not available to you unless your have the proper version installed. In the latter, you can access group policy through the admin links in the start menu or run gpedit.msc and edit software restrictions policy - use extreme care here as it is easy to break things when making changes here.

 

[Bakmendo]

Not accurate. When I received my copies of Windows 7 Home Premium at the end of October, I formatted my hard drive and did a clean install of Windows 7 64bit.

Since this install is Home Premium, I don’t have gpedit.msc. This computer is at my house and is on my home network. The only administrator is me. Not sure how the policies would have been changed. Group policies are one thing I don’t mess with (there’s probably a whole bunch of other things in windows I shouldn’t mess with, but re-installing the OS keeps my little pea brain occupied and helps keep me out of trouble).

I appreciate your taking the time to respond to my post, but I think it’s time to re-install the system. This time after installing Win 7, the first program I installed was Macrium Reflect and I then made a backup image of the C drive. Using this image, it’ll only take about 15 minutes to have a fresh clean install of the OS. I know you’ve already wasted more time than that on your responses.

Once again I thank you

 

[rsvr85]

I hope i catch you before you reinstall W7. You can uninstall WMP & WMC and of course reinstall

It's worth a shot instead of reinstall the whole OS IMO


There are also a few services you can check.

 

[reghakr]

Not all version come with Media Center.

Do you have a TV tuner installed.

As for Windows Media Player,. go to Start > Run,. and paste this in the run box optionalfeatures.

Now look under Media Services and check or uncheck Windows Media Player. If it;s not working at all you can uncheck it Ito "uninstalll" it and then go back in and check the box to re-install it.

 

[AngelProcesser]

I would not attempt to mirror my system and use it to reinstall if I was having system problems...do a full backup of your important files and do a clean install is my advise.

Have you tried creating a new admin account and see if things properly work there?

 

[Bakmendo]

Sorry to take so long to reply to the advice I’m getting here. Had to winterize my motor home since the temps went to below freezing.

rsvr85
Windows Media Center and Media Player are (and were) checked in “Turn Windows features on or off”

Windows Media Center Receiver Service & Windows Media Center Scheduler Service are set to manual. When I try to start either service I get the message “Windows could not start the Windows Media Center Receiver Service service on Local computer. Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.”. Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service is set to Automatic and was already started when I checked.

reghakr
Windows 7 Home Premium comes with Media Center and, if I’m correct, is installed by default when Win 7 is installed.
Installing the TV Tuner and wanting to try out Media Center is what started this mess.
“optionalfeatures” is one of the things I checked (see my reply to rsvr85)

Swanson Photos
Already tried the new “Admin” account. No luck. As for “I would not attempt to mirror my system and use it to reinstall if I was having system problems”, it’s no problem and as I said earlier the image I use is a clean install with Macrium Reflect as the only additional installed program. It’s clean and has everything that Win 7 installs by default.

I don’t really think this is a system problem, but a “Idiot Operator” created problem. Any time I install a Windows OS, I clean out all of the Microsoft garbage that I never use (programs, services, etc). This time it bit me in the butt when I decided to try Media Center.

It will only take me a few minutes to re-install from the image (the way I type, by the time I finish this reply, I could have already re-installed Win 7 and all the programs I use).

Once again, I appreciate all the time the three of you have spent giving me advice to help correct my own errors

 

[AngelProcesser]

When you create a new admin account, the default settings are used...if an issue continues to occur, it is not a user issue, ie, not a setting that was changed that messed stuff up. That tells me the problem is system wide and I would attempt system restore, repair or re-install, then test each step taken afterwards in an attempt to find out how the system was either compromised or changed that is causing the adverse affects. Take only one step at a time and check if the issue has occured again. This should isolate the issue.

 

[austinmc]

This can happen if you have Windows Ultimate N - certain less common SKUs of Windows 7 like Ultimate N come without WM player. Probably some European or OEM mandate...

 

[wileyC]

Reminding a pro that basics count

I too had lost all functionality on my Media Center. Was going to flip this entire platform over the weekend but not now. Something glitched-ate it as it was checked. However--investigating it and clicking OK--Win 7 reloaded.