# can't play dvd with windows media player 11



## djscissorhands (Aug 5, 2009)

Hello, I can't play dvd's on my laptop running windows xp pro sp3 with windows media player 11. when I try to play the dvd it tells me that i do not have the proper codec. So I installed PowerDVD 7.0. Now I can play my dvds with PowerDVD 7.0 just fine but not in wmp. Every time I insert a dvd the PowerDVD program immediately opens. How can I play dvds with WMP?

my friends laptop running xp pro sp3 i just pop in the dvd and a menu comes up asking if I want to play with windows media player, power dvd, real player, quick time etc. so I choose wmp and the dvd plays just fine. 

Please help me be able to play dvds on windows media player...


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## leroys1000 (Aug 16, 2007)

You will probably need to set media player as default.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/332003

I think you can also go to start/run and type dvdplay
and hit enter to just start it.


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## djscissorhands (Aug 5, 2009)

thank you for the advice but this did not help me at all. i already have windows media player set as the defalut player.


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## vicks (Jan 31, 2005)

djscissorhands said:


> Hello, I can't play dvd's on my laptop running windows xp pro sp3 with windows media player 11. when I try to play the dvd it tells me that i do not have the proper codec. So I installed PowerDVD 7.0. Now I can play my dvds with PowerDVD 7.0 just fine but not in wmp. Every time I insert a dvd the PowerDVD program immediately opens. How can I play dvds with WMP?
> 
> my friends laptop running xp pro sp3 i just pop in the dvd and a menu comes up asking if I want to play with windows media player, power dvd, real player, quick time etc. so I choose wmp and the dvd plays just fine.
> 
> Please help me be able to play dvds on windows media player...


I had that problem with XP pro/WM11 also. Solution for me was to revert back to WMP 10.
vicks


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## Ratboy (Feb 12, 1999)

djscissorhands,

Welcome to TSG!

You need to have an MPEG-2 codec to play DVDs with Windows Media Player.

This from M$:


> Decompressing MPEG-2 requires a lot of computing power. DVD players contain a chip specifically designed to decompress MPEG-2 data. However, modern PCs have enough computing power to decode MPEG-2 entirely by software. For a couple of years now, computers equipped with DVD drives have contained DVD decoder software capable of playing DVDs. These decoders were provided by the PC or DVD drive manufacturer. Until Windows XP, you also needed a DVD player application, but Windows Media Player for Windows XP now fully supports DVD playback, as long as a compatible DVD decoder is installed.
> 
> *Do You Have a DVD Decoder Installed?*
> 
> ...


http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/bridgman02april15.mspx


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## leroys1000 (Aug 16, 2007)

They installed power DVD.
That includes a software decoder.


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## Ratboy (Feb 12, 1999)

*leroys1000*,

Oops, thanks for catching that. :up:

*djscissorhands*,

Try downloading and running the Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility. It will show you a list of the MPEG-2 decoders that installed on your system and tell you if they are compatable with WMP.

Select the _CyberLink decoder_ and set it as the _Preferred Decoder_ and see if that helps.


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