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4 Posts
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16423
March 11th, 2008 20:00
Windows Media Player only runs as Administrator
Discovered two things yesterday :
1 - Dell Support Center now runs but is completely blank, I'll try reinstalling that eventually.
2 - and most importantly WMP has stopped running. Won't run from the start menu, won't run when double clicking or right clicking/play an MP3 file.
Runs fine when run as administrator, library is all there etc, but this is on an administrator account it doesn't work. it's version 11 for Vista running on Home Premium on a Dimension E521. There doesn't seem to be a standalone version to download from the Microsoft downloads site, so re-instaling isn't an option. Or can I do something with my D drive or the install CD Dell eventually sent me ?
Nothing in the update history directly obvious, sounds like a permissions thing and I did read something about the DRM folder but can't see why it would work one day, then not the next ?
1 - Dell Support Center now runs but is completely blank, I'll try reinstalling that eventually.
2 - and most importantly WMP has stopped running. Won't run from the start menu, won't run when double clicking or right clicking/play an MP3 file.
Runs fine when run as administrator, library is all there etc, but this is on an administrator account it doesn't work. it's version 11 for Vista running on Home Premium on a Dimension E521. There doesn't seem to be a standalone version to download from the Microsoft downloads site, so re-instaling isn't an option. Or can I do something with my D drive or the install CD Dell eventually sent me ?
Nothing in the update history directly obvious, sounds like a permissions thing and I did read something about the DRM folder but can't see why it would work one day, then not the next ?
No Events found!
keithg2
2 Intern
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935 Posts
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March 11th, 2008 23:00
francois.golay
1 Message
0
March 11th, 2008 23:00
In addition, the gadgets of the Windows sidebar seem "dead" (no content / empty).
The only noticeable change I made to my configuration these last days was to install KMPlayer...
Thanks for any help !
Rebel9
2.9K Posts
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March 12th, 2008 14:00
keithg2,
Your link points to WMP for Windows XP. The OP is using a Vista system.
keithg2
2 Intern
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935 Posts
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March 12th, 2008 15:00
Thank you Rebel9. I updated the link in my reply above.
Mark Dee
4 Posts
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March 12th, 2008 20:00
download only available for N or KN version of Vista that doesn't inlude WMP.
No idea how to check for N or KN but mine does include WMP.
The Microsoft Vista community group also suggested this is only available as OEM with Vista, an upgrade with XP but bundled with Vista.
Anyway, I restored through a few restore points last night, eventualy found the earliest one I had was a working version. Irecommend anyone with this problem do this but ONLY after turning off your automatic update as after I'd done it the PC autmatically updated and broke everyhting again.
However I did notice some failed updates, I'll be checking them out later.
lt17
7 Posts
0
March 24th, 2008 10:00
This one is an important one !
I have the same Dimension 521, and the same symptoms :
- media player runs only as admin
- windows gadget bar "dead"
- some active links in webpages ... inactive (such as login in some places, vote on some pages, even reply on this forum,...)
On your advice, I restored on the point dated March 9, and it worked.
Yet, as the system on March 9th was set up with automaic update, it uploaded at once the guilty update, and everything went back to start...
So it seems the guilty patch is the march update of spam mails for Outlook.
Bad luck for me. When I tried to restore a 2nd time, my PC did not wake up from restore, and I am now logged on my professional PC. Even in safe mode, I get stuck in a black screen with only the mouse arrow on it. I fear I will have to reinstall from nil. Waiting for advice.
Mark Dee
4 Posts
0
March 24th, 2008 12:00
OK what I've done since then is buy a registry cleaner, and stop the automatic updates just in case.
The registry cleaner removed/fixed 1150 problems, I also removed McAfee which was knackered and support couldn't fix it.
they actually gae me a script to run which seems to fix the sidebar, run it from the cmd window as regsvr32 jscript.dll - there's a deliverate space in there !
But certainly try the registry cleaner first, the registry is the root of all evil after all !!
Good luck.
lt17
7 Posts
0
March 25th, 2008 21:00
Great news ! I got unstuck ! Thanks to Dell Tech support, I could make my PC work again.
I restored again to the March 9th restore point, stopped the Windows update, and then started praying...
With the tech support's advice, I uploaded a free registry cleaner : CCLEANER.
It cleaned everything and made a "zero point".
Then I uploaded manually all the March updates, 1 by 1. I can confim you that the bug comes from the 4 updates due to MS Office that came up March 11. Because when I came to these ones, my sidebar went away again. So we have the root cause of our problems : some bugged updates we received in march, that put a big mess in the registry.
So I ran Ccleaner again, and it found a big bunch of new issues. After that, it seems that all the programs were running properly. The Dell support center ran OK. But the sidebar was still down.
So I searched again in the forum, and found this post :
Vista Sidebar and Media Player stopped working after uninstalling Mcafee and AVG installation
It describes a solution. Gives your command instruction, plus 2 others. And now everything works.
Hurray !