Windows Media Player 11 on WHS

From WGSWiki

Jump to: navigation, search


There are a number of reasons to install Windows Media Player 11 on Windows Home Server. One of the talked about is that Windows Media Connect 2.0 doesn't support a lot of newer devices. Or if you just want better support for Windows Media Connect. The Windows Media Player 11 has better codec support (read more) and organizes files much more intuitively.

What You Will Need

  • Windows Media Player 11 Installer for Windows XP
  • WinRAR, WinZip, or any other program capable of opening up executable files as archives.
  • Registry Editor - We will be making a small hack to trick Windows Home Server so it doesn't prompt you that Windows Media Connect isn't running.

What To Do

Installation

  1. Download "wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu.exe" and save it to the server
  2. Gain Remote Access to Windows Home Server
  3. Run "wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu.exe /T:C:\WMP11 /C" to extract the contents to "C:\WMP11"
  4. First, we need to install Windows Media Foundation for WMP11:
    1. Right-click the "wmfdist11.exe" file and click properties.
    2. Go to the Compatibility tab and check the "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" box, and select Windows XP.
    3. Click OK, and run the "wmfdisk11.exe". Do not restart yet. If it gives you the option, select "Do not restart now".
  5. Now, to install Windows Media Player 11
    1. Right-click the "wmp11.exe" file and click properties.
    2. Go to the Compatibility tab and check the "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" box, and select Windows XP.
    3. Click OK, and run the "wmp11.exe".
  6. Reboot WHS. Now onto configuring your Windows Media Player 11 installation.

Configuration

Need to rename pictures! Now, that doesn't alter your Media Sharing setup at all. If you had Media Sharing turned on before, it will still be using Windows Media Connect 2.0 as included with WHS. So, to set up the newer sharing system:

  1. Open the WHS Console, go to Settings, and turn off Media Sharing (turn off for all directories)
  2. Now we need to disable the Windows Media Connect Service, temporarily
    1. Open up "Administrative Tools" located in either Advanced Admin Console, or in the Control Panel
    2. Open "Services"
    3. Find the "Windows Media Connect" Service, right click it and click Properties
    4. Click Stop (if it is not already stopped)
    5. Set Startup type to Disabled (if not already)
    6. Click OK.
  3. Open Windows Media Player on WHS.
  4. Go ahead and use the "Express Setup"
  5. Click the down arrow right beneath the Library tab and click "More Options"
  6. Click the "Monitor Folders" button, and click on the "Advanced Options >>"
  7. Add "D:\shares\Music", "D:\shares\video" and/or "D:\shares\photos" to the list. You may add any other folders that you want.
  8. Click "OK" and wait for files to be added to the library. This may take a while depending on how much you have.
  9. Now click the "Configure Sharing" button
  10. Check the "Share my media to:" box
  11. Click "Settings..."
  12. Click "Allow new devices and computers automatically (not recommended)"
    • NOTE: While this setting isn't recommended by Microsoft, this allows new clients on your network to automatically access Windows Media Connect. Otherwise, you will have to access the server and allow each device manually.
    • NOTE: You can specify the name WMP11 shares your media as, instead of just "Administrator" or "1".
  13. Click "OK", "OK", "OK", and close Windows Media Player
  14. Start your client of choice and relax.

Done

If you find after following these steps that the Remote Access web page is throwing an ASP.NET error, simply reboot WHS. This seems to be caused by stopping the Windows Media Connect Service.

Credit

Jay Schlackman from the MS WHS forums

Retrieved from "http://wiki.wegotserved.com/index.php?title=Windows_Media_Player_11_on_WHS"
Windows Media Center