vista

[Baz]

is it possible to uninstall media player from Vista

[Rik]

I have no idea, of course, Baz, but someone will shortly.

[Baz]

the majority of google links say no way as microsoft, in their wisdom, embedded it into the OS, but this site says you can.

sounds far too easy 

[Rik]

Make a backup and then give it a try, Baz.

[Baz]

might do Rik. its the sons laptop and he decided he doesnt like media player, cant see why 


I actually think its ok compared to the early versions

[Baz]

if I try it will a system restore be able to roll it back if it doesnt work

[Rik]

It should, Baz.

[zappaDPJ]

I'd be very surprised if that worked as the Media Player is as you've found out embedded into the operating system.

You can roll it back to a previous version by removing an update or assign any associated file extensions to another player but that's about it as far as I'm aware.

[Baz]

yeah but doesnt vista not have any earlier versions

[Sebby]

It's probably not worth uninstalling. Perhaps just remove the shortcuts to it and install another media player, such a VLC, and make that the default for all file types.

[Lance]

I certainly wouldn't bother trying to uninstall it, and would follow Sebby's advice of making something else the default player

[Rik]

Like XP, maybe? 

[psp83]

run services.msc and set all the startup stuff belonging to media player to manual. this way, it'll still be there and you can use it when you want and wont cause any issues with your pc.

then start button > default programs > associate a file type or protocol with a program.
you can now set file types to open in a different media player.

[colonelsun]

I believe the same applies to Media Player as it does Messenger....you can't uninstall without wrecking your registry somehow...so i was told.

[Baz]

thanks all. beginning to realise its hard to uninstall, if at all. he says hes using a prog called foobar. never heard of it myself

[vitriol]

VLC would be my choice coupled with WMV11.  Pretty much those two will play anything.

[Baz]

yeah I have VLC too and its ok

[Baz]

run services.msc and set all the startup stuff belonging to media player to manual. this way, it'll still be there and you can use it when you want and wont cause any issues with your pc.

then start button > default programs > associate a file type or protocol with a program.
you can now set file types to open in a different media player.

sorry Paul, im not up with vista yet could you give me a run down to doing this.What stuff belongs to media player,associate a protocol?

  I should know this stuff really

[Simon]

I certainly wouldn't bother trying to uninstall it, and would follow Sebby's advice of making something else the default player

So would I. 

[Sebby]

sorry Paul, im not up with vista yet could you give me a run down to doing this.What stuff belongs to media player,associate a protocol?

  I should know this stuff really

The other way to do it is let the new player associate itself with certain file types. VLC, for example, will ask you when you install it what you want it to associate with.

[D-Dan]

I haven't searched for instructions, but one of the first anti trust cases successfully brought against MS was in respect of forcing WMP on customers, and they were forced to stop the practice. Since this was pre-vista there must be a way to remove it without killing your OS.

Steve

[Lance]

Actually, i think they sold a version of Windows without it built in. It was the same price as a normal copy of windows and the last statistic i saw was only one copy had been sold in England!

[psp83]

sorry Paul, im not up with vista yet could you give me a run down to doing this.What stuff belongs to media player,associate a protocol?

  I should know this stuff really

Ignore the services.msc stuff i said. i've looked on my vista and it only has one service running at startup, this is a sharing service and nothing to worry about.

Associate file type or protocol is just telling vista what extension runs in what program. You can do what sebby says but i find that doesn't always work..

Follow my steps in my last reply to load it up... find .mp3 in the list, double click it and you will get a list of programs, if the program you want to play the mp3 in isn't in the list then click the browse button to find it.

Hope that helps.

I don't use media player myself and set all audio files to load itunes this way, media player sits away to one side (where it belongs) and i think you need media player installed if you have media center on your pc.

[Sebby]

Actually, i think they sold a version of Windows without it built in. It was the same price as a normal copy of windows and the last statistic i saw was only one copy had been sold in England!

Are you thinking of SP1a, which didn't include Java?

[Lance]

Nope, I'm thinking of Windows XP N http://support.microsoft.com/kb/886540 and http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/legal/european/04-24-06windowsxpnsalesfs.mspx

[Sebby]

Ah. I've always wondered what "N" meant, so thanks!

[Sebby]

I love this quote on that Microsoft knowledgebase article:

where "N" stands for "Not with Windows Media Player"

Highly imaginative!

[Rik]

It probably took a committee six months to come up with that, Seb.

[Lance]

Thanks for the karma!

[Sebby]

It probably took a committee six months to come up with that, Seb.

And at a cost of millions.

[Rik]

At least...