Playing DVDs with Windows Media Player 11

Posted in Technopati by Savvy? on October 2, 2006

Sounds quite funny right? Well any modern media players are supposed to play my DVD by default. What the heck I should do more to play my DVD?

I would require proper Codecs to play DVDs in my laptop using any media player (just not windows media player). A CODEC is a combination of COder-DECoder. When media is written to DVD or CD, using some special algorithms, it will be encoded in to a specific compressed format. This encoding also decides the quality of the media. At the time you play the disc, this encoded media cannot be played as it is. It should be decoded on your computer before it can be played. There the Codecs come in to picture. DivX is one of the famous codec technologies that could compress a DVD Movie to a single CD with out loosing quality very much.

Some players automatically download the codecs from websites to play the media, and some dont. In my case, windows media player 11 has never been able to download a codec to play DVDs successfully. This could be by design.

Initially I struggled a bit to find out what to install in order to run my DVD movies. Then i found this cool website called www.free-codecs.net which is a codec heaven for anyone.

I have installed XP Codec Pack and voila ! Now i can enjoy my movies . So if you are not able to view DVD movies, do not re-install your windows XP many times, instead go and install a proper codec pack from the above website.

Technorati tags: codec, wmp11, DVDs

85 comments

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Avinash said, on October 8, 2006 at 10:09 pm

Really helpful…thanks a lot.
Shanthi said, on November 8, 2006 at 4:59 am

Well………am unable to play original DVD in mp11, but if i copy it i am able to play the same with a copy of the same DVD.
Sudhakar said, on November 8, 2006 at 4:47 pm

I think you have some restrictions applied on DVD itself.
Deborah said, on November 17, 2006 at 9:21 pm

I borrowed a laptop to project a slide show that I’ve created for my husband’s upcoming birthday party. It played on my computer but not on the laptop even with the same program – Windows Media Player. I found this info and uploaded the XP Codec Pack and it works perfect now. Thanks for sharing… Deborah
GOM : Codec Free Media Player « Savvy ? said, on December 14, 2006 at 1:45 am

[...] We are movie lovers, We are DVD lovers ! But we hate the media players out there. The ultimate reason is, most of these media players (Including WIndows Media Player) does not play DVDs or Video for some unknown reason. In many cases It will be a codec problem. Earlier I have explained what is a Codec and Why should you need it to play Videos. I feel sometimes that what on this earth would lead Windows Media player not to have any required Codecs by default on an Operating system like Windows XP Professional. It’s weird and drives me nuts. [...]
john smith said, on December 18, 2006 at 6:59 am

It doesnt play says “Windows Media Player cannot play this DVD because there is a problem with digital copy protection between your DVD drive, decoder, and video card. Try installing an updated driver for your video card.” What do i need to do i already downloaded and installed the codecs
hamid said, on December 19, 2006 at 11:36 pm

hello……
please help me…
i’am very sad
help me_______DVD Decoder For windows media player 11
tanks
goodluck
Pihil said, on December 27, 2006 at 11:22 am

You’re a freakin’ genius. Thank You.
Robert Zellin said, on December 28, 2006 at 10:52 pm

A genius has been borned
Thank’s a lot
Happy New Year!
Dominic said, on February 13, 2007 at 6:34 pm

“windows media player cannot play this dvd because there is a problem with digital copy protection between your dvd drive, decoder and video card”

Here’s the solution..and best of all its free:
Storm Codec 6.11 from Free-Codecs.com. It includes the NVIDIA decoder!
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Storm_Codec.htm
Morgan said, on February 16, 2007 at 11:36 am

You are so awesome!
Tony said, on February 21, 2007 at 11:21 pm

This really helped alot, Thanks for this article!!!!

~tv
Koen said, on February 24, 2007 at 7:12 pm

yo,

I’m using vista and wmp11, can i use the same DVD decoder as xp?

koen
Praveen said, on March 1, 2007 at 2:27 pm

Hey there,
I tried installing that codec but it still isnt working in WMP11… i get an error… “Windows Media Player cannot play DVD video. You might need to adjust your Windows display settings. Open display settings in Control Panel, and then try lowering your screen resolution and color quality settings.”… I already tried lowering both the resolution and colour, but still the same error pops up…
Any idea what i need to do? I’m goin nuts here…
Thanks
Komash said, on March 4, 2007 at 12:38 am

Eternally grateful.

Where would people like us be, without supremos like you.

Many thanks….
VICTORIA said, on March 8, 2007 at 2:06 pm

Thanks this helped a great deal!!!!!

Chicago, IL
kim said, on March 18, 2007 at 12:00 am

We shall see if this works. I will let you know! I’ve been crazy with rage over my windows media players inability to play dvds from the start. It played one ONCE I think, years ago. Sigh. We shall see.
raiden said, on March 22, 2007 at 5:40 am

it worked perfectly after first install!
thank you so much
i really got worried when it gave me the decoder error as i was thinking something was up with my dvd player.
I am running windows media player 11 so i thought it happened because of that but this worked great!
THANK YOU once again!
Another thanks said, on March 26, 2007 at 7:00 pm

Thanks
helped alot espesialy link
Thanks agian !!
ginger said, on April 8, 2007 at 1:01 pm

i tried it but only the first mpeg video worked with it,after that ,t didnt work anymore.so how?
JTB said, on April 23, 2007 at 6:30 pm

Thanks for the advice, worked without a hitch *thumbs up*
Mike said, on April 25, 2007 at 10:40 pm

I just got a laptop and it wont play half of my DVDs… I’m going to try this. BTW, for some reason the download page would not load in Firefox, but it worked fine in IE7…
Greg said, on May 12, 2007 at 6:46 am

Have been researching this MOD/MPEG-2 problem with WMP11 for too many painful hours and finally found upon a clean, easy, solution that seems to have worked. Downloaded this file and all of the sudden WMP plays the MOD files (no renaming required). (Also plays if .MPG)
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=7420&package_id=123423
sourceforge comes to the rescue again!
Miranda said, on May 26, 2007 at 8:42 am

i hope this works i have windows vista which has windows MP 11. i was extreamly mad when i found that error…i have hunted all day for sum thing i really hope it works
suvarna said, on June 6, 2007 at 7:13 am

I installed windows media player 11. I am unable to play DVD. I saw your site but i didn’t find which codec is suitable for my laptop.I am new person to install media player. Please tell me which codec is suitable for my laptop. My laptop is hp company and installed windows xp.
sravanthi said, on June 6, 2007 at 7:49 am

I installed xp codec pack for windows media player 11. But i didn’t play DVD.It give error message as “Windows Media Player cannot play this DVD because there is a problem with digital copy protection between your DVD drive, decoder, and video card. Try installing an updated driver for your video card.
Please help me what can i do. I new to install.
Christiaan said, on June 28, 2007 at 9:17 am

i did what you said but it come up with Windows Media Player cannot play this DVD because there is a problem with digital copy protection between your DVD drive, decoder, and video card. Try installing an updated driver for your video card. so what do i do. help me.
joseph said, on June 30, 2007 at 9:37 am

same error with playing dvds on vista computers why ?
Paul Naughton said, on July 4, 2007 at 3:12 pm

Gidday, thanks for your help. One quick one, it will play but it jitters, sort of stops and starts quickly, any ideas. Thanks so much.
Pat said, on July 7, 2007 at 6:08 am

Works great…ty
Rika said, on July 8, 2007 at 8:18 pm

omg … I nearly wasted my whole Sunday upgrading my XP and installing various codecs. Thanks for the tip!
dregs said, on July 9, 2007 at 11:19 pm

You freaking rock dude, keep up the great work!!

Cheers mate.
drew said, on July 29, 2007 at 3:31 am

Hey, this is great.
Never played DVDs on my laptop before and WTF??? I need a decoder to play one on my laptop??? And what I found on windows support center? nothing’s free, what the…???

Eh, and I googling and googling and stumbled upon here. What a great one, this XP Codec Pack. It play them all, DVD, DivX, ogg, and this and that.

Thank you Savvy, you’re great!
JYNFTY02 said, on July 29, 2007 at 6:32 pm

Download link for the XP Codec Pack seems to have been removed once you get to the site. Clicking the download links only brings you back and forth between alternate pages with no download. Maybe Microsoft had it pulled?
JYNFTY02 said, on July 29, 2007 at 6:38 pm

Remove my previous comment… Forgot I had my Firefox browser in use when trying to download it. Worked fine using Explorer. (I feel so… DUH!!!)
Matty said, on August 5, 2007 at 1:44 pm

GENIUS, man!!

I downloaded the XP Codec pack not thinking it would work, because nothing else did.. out of desperation, but WMP 11 flickered into life straight away.

I love you!
Danielle said, on August 10, 2007 at 8:04 pm

hey thnx for the info. i had to send my tv in to get it fix so now icant watch movies thnx i be sure to let others kno well ill talk to you later. byz
chris said, on August 19, 2007 at 6:52 pm

Not able to play DVD’s. i had windows media player 9. updated it to windows media player 11. still no go. downloaded the XP codec pack. still the same message pops up again and again. “Windows Media Player cannot play DVD video. You might need to adjust your Windows display settings. Open display settings in Control Panel, and then try lowering your screen resolution and color quality settings.”.. Any good ideas by you people out there…???
Sajid said, on August 21, 2007 at 4:15 am

Thank you so much – this problem arose after uninstalling Nero. Works perfectly after installing the mentioned XP codec pack
gazzasbeer said, on August 22, 2007 at 5:19 am

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!

AFTER SEVEN DAYS AND NIGHTS OF (PULLING MY f*****G HAIR OUT) TRYING TO FIND SOMETHING THAT WILL ALLOW ME TO PLAY DVDS WITH WMP 11, I CAME ACROSS THIS SITE BY CHANCE.

HEY PRESTO, DOWNLOADED, INSTALLED, AND NOW ALL IS HUNKY DORRY!!!!!!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, I’M NOT WORTHY!!!
Stephanie said, on August 24, 2007 at 7:44 pm

perhaps you can help me with this problem. i have followed your instructions and i am still getting an error message that says “Windows Media Player cannot play this DVD because there is a problem with digital copy protection between your DVD drive, decoder, and video card. Try installing an updated driver for your video card.” i went to the windows update website and updated the video card driver and that still didn’t work. i have no idea what to do. did i delete something i shouldn’t have?? this is weird and frustrating…
danny said, on August 26, 2007 at 2:31 am

why you use windows player when you can use 3x as good free vlc is behond me
jay said, on September 7, 2007 at 4:55 am

downloaded the codec but the player doesnt respond. what else can i do?
jay said, on September 7, 2007 at 6:18 am

savvy u r the king man mplayer is sizzli ma nizzli after installing video driver
zsam said, on September 8, 2007 at 10:29 pm

I have bought ACER Aspire5710 & Windows Vista Premium comes with it. This has Windows Media Player11, which is unable to play DVD and other files giving C00D119A error mostly. Kindly help!
Li said, on September 10, 2007 at 10:00 am

down with microsoft is all i say.. I hate that we rely on them so much when they are so bloody crap at making software that doesnt work correctly straight away..
theres always an alternative to using their software that is way better and more reliable.
The macdonalds of computing..
everyone hates them, but everyone still goes back for more…
Andrew Harlan said, on September 23, 2007 at 2:14 pm

It play the video but no sound on some mpg files? Does anyone have similar problem still after installing XP Codec Pack?

Please email me if you have a workaround solution.
WMP 11 is such a pain in the rear.
Azazel said, on September 23, 2007 at 11:49 pm

Thanks man !
Blah Riesah said, on September 26, 2007 at 10:45 am

I’ve downloaded all this crap I could find and 11 still won’t play a dvd !!! Someone please !!!! B.
Bryk said, on September 27, 2007 at 7:00 pm

Hi Guys / Gals, dunno if this will help but i had this problem for 2 days and eventually i realised that i had downloaded and installed WMP11 instead of upgrading !!! All i did was roll back to WMP10 then upgraded to WMP11 and it worked…..no messing with Codecs or nutin……… By the way i did try to remove and re-install WMP11 a few times before i treid this.
jurie said, on September 29, 2007 at 1:03 pm

would like to watch my ordinary dvd’s on media player
Nicholas said, on October 6, 2007 at 5:47 am

This is what it keepssaying, Windows Media Player cannot play DVD video. You might need to adjust your Windows display settings. Open display settings in Control Panel, and then try lowering your screen resolution and color quality settings. please tell me how to fix this.
DocShasta said, on October 11, 2007 at 1:39 am

XP CODEC IS GOD
DIllIGaS said, on October 18, 2007 at 8:37 am

….will some of you look up and do some reading before making posts, when all your answers can be solved by doing this first.
ForgetAll said, on October 30, 2007 at 1:16 pm

Just forget all and get Miro http://www.getmiro.com then you may never need another media player
ozzy said, on November 6, 2007 at 2:04 am

it really works. Now i can watch dvd’s on wmp11 but now i can’t hear the sounds
vinny said, on November 16, 2007 at 4:53 pm

i have the problem of playing stored dvd on my windows media player 11

i request that kindly send me the solution with the link asap.
vinny said, on November 16, 2007 at 5:39 pm

after having the wmp 11 codec now the sound is not working plz help………….

thnx
Taral said, on November 18, 2007 at 2:23 pm

Not able to play DVD’s. i had windows media player 9. updated it to windows media player 11. still no go. downloaded the XP codec pack. still the same message pops up again and again. “Windows Media Player cannot play DVD video. You might need to adjust your Windows display settings. Open display settings in Control Panel, and then try lowering your screen resolution and color quality settings.”..

Please Help Guys
AznGothic said, on November 22, 2007 at 7:28 am

I’m usually not a rude person but in all honesty, if you can’t do something as simple as playing a dvd on your computer maybe you should rethink what exactly it is you have a computer for. Also, this guy isn’t as smart as yall think he is. He’s wondering why media player doesn’t play dvd’s right out the box? Did you ever stop and think maybe it’s because Microsoft isn’t a “DVD Player” company? They are in the market to build computers, not dvd players. You can get a dvd codec from just about anywhere. Cyberlink DVD Player to name one. Almost half the dvd’s today come with a dvd software -on- the dvd itself.

Anywho, I guess since I’ve taken the time to bash some people I can take the time to help a lil too. For those of you that are having a “copyright protection” type error even after installing the codecs, you probably have a CD Burner or DVD Burner on the same IDE cable as the DVDROM that you are trying to play the DVD from. For those wondering if you can run XP codecs on Vista, 9 times out of 10 yes you can. Codecs usually aren’t OS specific like programs are but I don’t see why you would want to use an XP DVD Codec on Vista when Vista comes with it’s own DVD Codec. MP11 in Vista Home Premium and up already plays DVD’s with absolutely no problems. And last but not least, for those of you having the “Adjust your resolution” error, you probably have something a lil more serious wrong with your computer then just not being able to play dvd’s seeing how media player automatically adjusts your resolution when you play a DVD but if you’d rather ignore the more serious issue and just play the DVD, have you tried setting your resolution to 800×600? That is the resolution that TV’s run in so it is the same resolution that DVD’s are encoded in.

Well that’s it for me. Have fun with your DVD adventures.
Mariah said, on December 3, 2007 at 5:31 pm

This worked great for me! Thanks a ton.

To AznGothic: Please know what you’re talking about before making some wordy tl;dr post. The issue this addressed and solved, for me at least, wasn’t for someone just pulling a computer out of its box and wondering why the DVDs aren’t working. In my case I’ve had the computer for over a year and watched countless DVDs. Just three days ago I watched the newest Die Hard movie on my computer, then last night for some reason the system won’t play the first Matrix movie on DVD. Microsoft’s “help” was of no use (as usual).
Also, this wasn’t just an issue with Windows Media Player. DVDs wouldn’t play in that, in Media Center, OR in Sonic CinePlayer. Whatever codec this guy had in his pack fixed the entire problem.
Carissa said, on December 7, 2007 at 6:33 am

Yeah I tried downloading the XP Codec pack and about 5 other different ones and none of them are letting me play the dvd. I really don’t want to have to spend money on a decoder so help would be greatly appreciated.
DrunkSkunk said, on December 8, 2007 at 4:55 pm

Worked as said. To all who make fun of us who don’t know everything about PC’s & take the mickey out of this fix….
William Librata said, on December 11, 2007 at 6:05 pm

Man, u rock. i love u soooooo damn much. good job man.
Animus Pugna said, on December 15, 2007 at 6:54 pm

hi all! glad many of you have solved your problems with the ” cannot play this DVD because there is a problem with digital copy protection between your DVD drive, decoder, and video card” error.

i have Vista Home Premium, supposed to play DVDs out of the box. i know (not to sound rude) that i could find free codecs online that will likely work. this doesn’t satisfy me as i spent good money for a PC w/Vista Premium, it’s the PRINCIPLE of the issue.

if Microsoft says it will play DVDs, it NEEDS to play them as promised. my only option aside from 3rd party codecs is $30 to Circ-City (which i will watch as they do to ensure they don’t just install a 3rd party codec). MS help, HP help both useless. again, it’s the Principle of the matter- i expect to get what i paid for, esp. after dropping almost a grand on a new PC.

glad many of you gave/found solutions, but i’m still witch-hunting MS; they owe me and everyone else they’ve cheated out of promised features.
tx, Animus Pugna
DrunkenCoder said, on December 25, 2007 at 6:08 am

Hey AznGothic,

I didn’t realize people as stup1d as us need to know exactly how the inner workings of computers operate before using one. According to your logic, everyone driving on the road should have a mechanical engineering degree? or at least be a mechanic? haha MS is in the business of building software. Last I checked, the thing that enables the physical dvd player to communicate with Windows is, in fact, (drum roll please) software!!. Also, my grade school english may be a little off, but doesn’t the very name “Media Player” suggest that it plays media e.g. DVD’s?

Oh and thanks for your “help” too. Guessing solutions are clearly reserved for computer gods such as yourself. hahahahhahahahhahahhha
Chris said, on January 31, 2008 at 9:33 am

Thank you for this useful information.. It works.. and easy to do.. Thanks a Million!
FASEEN ABDUL SALAM said, on February 11, 2008 at 10:28 pm

IT IS REALLY HELPFUL.THANK YOU VERY MUCH………………
vince said, on February 13, 2008 at 2:40 pm

Thanks a lot mate, it got my media plaer 11 to play with sound again. cheers
adam said, on February 16, 2008 at 10:32 am

thanks a lot for the advice and taking the time yo post it for all to use.
Riff said, on February 19, 2008 at 7:30 pm

Well, I’ve tried installing Media Player Classic, but when I try to play my 100% legal DVD, I get the error message “DVD: Copy-Protect Fail”.

Windows Media (I get the message about lowering screen resolution even though I’m on the lowest setting) and RealPlayer (“The DVD cannot be played. Key exchange for DVD copy protection failed”) don’t want to know either!

Any clues people?
kyle said, on February 22, 2008 at 7:45 am

i have a recent acer laptop/computer…. i can play dvd’s on it through acer arcade but not wmp11.
why is that?
please help
AM Conway said, on February 26, 2008 at 1:53 am

THANKS!

exactly what i was looking for. i have a small fijitsu laptop that does not have a cd/dvd. i put daemon tools and an iso and wanted to be able to watch the iso dvd on a plane next week. since the laptop did not have a dvd player it did not have the codec. i guess i could have paid for one but i think this was a much better solution.
scott said, on February 27, 2008 at 6:29 am

same thing, Player cannot play DVD because of resolution…. why is that?
Paul said, on March 9, 2008 at 10:03 pm

Thanks a bunch. I installed and ran DVD43 4.2 on my computer, and now my crappy Windows Media Player 11 is playing my South Park DVDs.
aldo said, on March 10, 2008 at 6:25 am

Copy-protct failed!!!!!!!!!!!
what do i do!!!
cs said, on March 17, 2008 at 10:38 am

I love you already. This is really helpful. Mwahugs! :*>:D<
mimi said, on March 17, 2008 at 11:16 pm

Merci!!!!!!!!! (thanks !
MrSheen said, on March 21, 2008 at 3:38 pm

I have a new laptop with Vista and WMP 11. I tried to play a DVD but got the error saying I need to lower my resolution. Ive lowered it all the way 800×600 and it still gives me the same error. I have VLC media player, and where this will play the DVD, its jerky all the way through, which is kind of off-putting.

I do think it’s crap that windows MEDIA player, can’t play the most popular format of media out there.

Ive tried the XP Codec too, and it didnt help.

The quest continues…
tips4pc said, on March 28, 2008 at 10:44 am

If you have no sound when your dvd is playing it could mean that your audio is not plugged into your dvd player and motherboard. (inside your computer)

And I have had the problem with the error message “” change your screen resolution..Bla Bla Bla….”"”
I installed a demo of Nero essentials 7 and upgraded to media player 11 and it worked fine.
Luke said, on March 30, 2008 at 6:17 pm

Hi there

In relation to the link posted below, I have queston:

I went in to download this application and it noted that it may include spyware or adware in the program.

Can someone tell me if this is safe to download, as I don’t want anything on my computer being tracked…

I’m only new to computers (well, to this level anyway) and would appreciate some advice.

Thanks!!

Luke

“Dominic, on February 13th, 2007 at 6:34 pm Said:
“windows media player cannot play this dvd because there is a problem with digital copy protection between our dvd drive, decoder and video card”

Here’s the solution..and best of all its free:
Storm Codec 6.11 from Free-Codecs.com. It includes the NVIDIA decoder!
http://www.freecodecs.com/download/Storm_Codec.htm“
Lilika said, on March 31, 2008 at 5:26 am

Thanks for this post! It really helped alot!
I was using WMP 11 and it kept acting up with my DVDs suddenly.
Jill said, on April 4, 2008 at 1:47 am

Awesome! Been pulling my hair out trying to get codecs that are compatible with vista! Can finally watch movies in AVI and WMV format thank you very much for taking the time to help others out, much appreciated man! Anyone wondering if it works for vista…YES it works!!!
Biplab said, on April 12, 2008 at 12:03 pm

Thank you very much for the post
Great job
Geoff said, on May 23, 2008 at 12:52 pm

the XP Codec Pack didn’t work for me…I still have the same problem. A few days ago my Windows media player was working perfectly playing dvds, but now all of a sudden, it doesn’t show the video! The disc’s dvd menu buttons work because I can scroll over the windows media player’s screen and the arrow changes to a hand when I scroll over them -but I still can’t see anything. It’s all black…the dvd plays, with sound, but the players screen is black and doesn’t show the video. I have no problem playing avi or any other video files though. any help?