Fix: Windows Media Player is not installed properly and must be reinstalled.

You might have faced the problem, when you try to run Windows Media Player. An error dialog box appears “Windows Media Player is not installed properly and must be reinstalled.”

Literally it happens due to mismatch version of some core Windows Media Player files. Following reasons may cause the problem like this-

Windows Updates might have failed to installed Windows Media Player updates.
You might have patched Windows Media Player files like wmplayer.exe, wmp.dll and so on.

The error messages may differ, but primarily it state

Windows Media Player is not installed properly and must be reinstalled. Do you want to reinstall from Microsoft website?

Windows Media Player is not installed properly

By following guide, you can also get rid of following errors-

“The file wmp.dll has a version 12.0.XXXX.YYYY where 12.0.AAAA.BBBB was expected. Windows media player is not properly installed and must be reinstalled. Do you want to reinstall from Microsoft website?”

“The file wmplayer.exe has a version 12.0.XXXX.YYYY where 12.0.AAAA.BBBB was expected. Windows media player is not properly installed and must be reinstalled. Do you want to reinstall from Microsoft website?”

“The file wmploc.dll has a version 12.0.XXXX.YYYY where 12.0.AAAA.BBBB was expected. Windows media player is not properly installed and must be reinstalled. Do you want to reinstall from Microsoft website?”

The major version of Windows Media Player may differ as per your Windows and Windows Media Player, for case it is 12

How To:

1. Close all Windows Media Player instances and Run Command Prompt as Administrator

2. Execute the following command-

UNREGMP2.EXE /UPDATEWMPVERSION Or UNREGMP2.EXE /UPDATEWMP

REGSVR32.EXE WMP.DLL

3. That’s it, now you can re-launch Windows Media Player and you won’t get error message anymore.

Applies To:

Windows Media Player 11
Windows Media Player 12

47 responses to “Fix: Windows Media Player is not installed properly and must be reinstalled.”

Yuri

2010-12-28

Thank you very much christian, it works.

Reply
Bdo

2010-11-25

I’m having the same problems and tried everything above…and still it doesn’t work. Any suggestions?

Reply
baidu

2010-11-23

Thank you so much for your tip, it resolved my issue which was bugging me for the last 2 days..

Reply
Harish

2010-11-11

@chirstian

Thank you so much for your tip, it resolved my issue which was bugging me for the last 2 days..

Thank you so much…

Reply
john

2010-11-10

@Christian..

Solved with your troubleshooting technique..

Thanks for the help

Reply
Virg

2010-11-07

I have tried TROUBLESHOOTING and what CHRISTIAN suggest and COMMAND PROMT nothing works.
I have tried to turn of WMP 12 on my Windows 7 and still nothing. I get the message over and over.

Please Help!

Reply
christian

2010-11-04

i found a solution…

this is for windows 7…
click start and locate windows media player in there…dont click, instead right click on it and properties…click the “shortcut” tab…check in the “target”, is it says this:(“%ProgramFiles*86%Windows Media Playerwmplayer.exe”) or something like that….delete “*86″…and the delete the rest after the qoutations…i forgot what it says the last time…but im pretty sure its like “prefetch=1” or something…delete that…
and still in shortcut tab…check in the “startin” delete *86 too…and try opening the media player again…see if it works

Reply
1. Emily
  
  2011-01-02
  
  That WORKED! Thank you because nothing else worked and I didn’t want to do a system restore. You are awesome!!!
2. use_vlc
  
  2011-01-04
  
  Yes, this one worked flawlessly. Thanks a bunch! Even still I use vlc as main player, just have to use wmp for drm protected files…
3. rio
  
  2011-05-18
  
  christian can you just tell me what kind of sentence must be after deleting this files ?????
4. Rjkriby316
  
  2011-08-06
  
  It didnt work :(
5. Nick
  
  2011-08-10
  
  THAAAAAAAANK YOUUUUUU!!!!!!!
6. Y_abse
  
  2011-10-03
  
  thaaaaaaaanks man it worked ,, i was suffering for that , love u
7. James
  
  2011-10-18
  
  Thanks for your great help, it works.
8. mememe
  
  2011-10-23
  
  OMG – I JUST JIZZED MY PANTS! I have been trying to get my WMP to work ever since I first installed windows 7 when it first came out. This finally fixed it.
Tim

2010-08-28

1. First, please delte the DRM folder on your computer. Depending on your OS, it can be found in different locations:
* Windows 2000 and XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\DRM
* Windows 98: C:\Windows\All Users\DRM
* Windows Millennium Edition: C:\Windows\DRM
If you cannot find the folder, it may be ‘hidden’. Please use the following steps to view hidden files and folders.
* In Windows Explorer go to Tools > Folder Options > View
* Under ‘Hidden files and folders’ heading, make the following changes:
o Select ‘Show Hidden Files and Folders’
o Un-check ‘Hide Protected Operating System Files’
* Click the button ‘Apply to All Folders’. This will ensure the changes affect all folders on the system.

Reply
Kate

2010-07-16

Sorry, I run Windows XP. On Windows XP the resolution is:

Start -> Run -> Type in: %SystemRoot%\inf\unregmp2.exe /UpdateWMP -> OK

Besides, I found a solution to my problem:

1. Uninstall Windows Media Player 11 and Restart.
2. Uninstall Windows Media Format 11 Runtime and Restart.
3. Reset existing DRM License Key by deleting the contents (hidden) of DRM Folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\DRM\

4. Install Windows Media Player 11.
5. Go to Microsoft secure server for WMP DRM individualization.

Thanks.

Reply
1. Bas
  
  2010-10-10
  
  Thanks that worked for me too.
2. Christopher Robin
  
  2010-11-13
  
  Yay, your Start/Run solution worked where others failed. Thanks! :-)
Kate

2010-07-15

1. I receive this message:

“Windows Media Player is not installed properly. Reinstall the Player.”

when WMP11 opens DRM protected videos as well as when trying to start WMP DRM individualization process at Microsoft secure server:

http://drmlicense.one.microsoft.com/Indivsite/en/indivit.asp

2. The problem appeared after System restore to a previous restore point, made a day earlier, when WMP11 played DRM protected videos without problems.

3. The above solution did not work as such a file “unregmp2.exe” does not exist on my C:\ drive.

4. Other solutions ?

Thanks

Reply
1. Author
  
  2010-07-15
  
  unregmp2.exe is located in C:WindowsSystem32 folder. So move to that folder and execute the given command. Like:
  C:WindowsSystem32>unregmp2.exe /UPDATEWMP