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I have a laptop with Windows 8 Pro with Media Center (64-bit), but neither Media Player or Media Center can play DVDs.

Have I done something wrong? Did the Feature Pack not install correctly? Should this work?

Can I somehow uninstall and reinstall the Media Pack?

Details

So I upgraded by Windows 7 Home Premium laptop to Windows 8 Pro based on Microsoft's low pricing. I also grabbed my free upgrade to Media Pack and followed the instructions on that page to add my feature pack.

Alas! I still cannot play DVDs via either Media Center or Player.

Various Context

Thinking I might need to re-install the pack, I found that I could no longer add any more feature packs (searching for "add features" settings only shows "Turn Windows Features On and Off"). Media Center and Media Player are both enabled in Windows Features. I cannot see any way to remove or downgrade from the Media Pack, nor to add any more feature packs.

I installed a codec pack (32-bit) from Shark007, which has not allowed me to play DVDs (although did allow me to play various other media files).

Media Player can play DTV recorded on another Windows 7 box, but Media Center cannot.

VLC plays DVDs OK, but I'd prefer to figure out what the root cause of this problem is.

There were no errors or other indications that the Media Pack failed to install; the installation itself was quite smooth. I've checked over the event log and can't see anything obviously out of place.

Before upgrading to Windows 7, I could play DVDs OK.

Screenshots

System Information, showing I have Windows 8 Pro with Media Center

System Information

When playing a DVD, Media Player gives an error: "The selected file has an extension that is not recognised by Windows..."

Media Player Error 1

When I click "Yes", it fails saying: "Windows Media Player cannot find the file..."

Media Player Error 2

Media Center says: "The file type is not recognized and cannot be played", along with some codec related stuff.

Media Center Error

I can browse the files OK via My Computer on any video DVD.

I seem to remember seeing the DVD listed in the left pane, but that's not the case any more. The DVD is listed as "unknown".

The actual error reported by Media Player is C00D1197, which links to a rather generic help web page.

Media Player Left Pane

Additional

So I got a list of the codecs Media Player has installed. Do these look right?

TYPE   NAME                             BINARY           VERSION 
video  LAV Video Decoder                LAVVideo.ax      0.52.0.0
video  Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder  msmpeg2vdec.dll  12.0.9200.16429
audio  LAV Audio Decoder                lavaudio.ax      0.52.0.0
audio  Microsoft DTV-DVD Audio Decoder  msmpeg2adec.dll  12.0.8506.0

lavaudio.ax is not reported when running the 64 bit Media Player, for whatever that's worth.

Running sfc /scannow as admin found corrupted files and repaired them. But still cannot play DVDs. Relevant logs:

2012-11-23 09:22:53, Info  CSI    000006db [SR] Repairing 2 components
2012-11-23 09:22:53, Info  CSI    000006dc [SR] Beginning Verify and Repair transaction
2012-11-23 09:22:53, Info  CSI    000006dd [SR] Repairing corrupted file [ml:60{30},l:58{29}]"\??\C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\en-US"\[l:46{23}]"windows.ui.xaml.dll.mui" from store
2012-11-23 09:22:53, Info  CSI    000006de [SR] Repairing corrupted file [ml:48{24},l:46{23}]"\??\C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64"\[l:16{8}]"mfds.dll" from store
2012-11-23 09:22:53, Info  CSI    000006df [SR] Repair complete
Improve this question
7
  • Go into control panel and try to reset the file associations for video files, that's what's wrong. I upgraded my Windows 8 and can now play DVDs via Windows Media Center.
    – Mark Allen
    Commented Nov 22, 2012 at 3:56
  • Media Player has all its default associations. I associated VOB files to Media Player. And reset Media Player and Center. Tried as admin and my normal user. Still no go. I presume you're referring to Control Panel -> Programs -> Default Programs? There isn't an option there to associate things with a DVD (VOB files, yes, but not a whole DVD).
    – ligos
    Commented Nov 22, 2012 at 6:05
  • I can't see anything in the event log which looks wrong either.
    – ligos
    Commented Nov 22, 2012 at 6:05
  • @ligos read this MSDN blog and then note the second last para, maybe its helpful for you.
    – avirk
    Commented Nov 22, 2012 at 15:37
  • 1
    Try running sfc /scannow from an elevated cmd prompt. Also, instead of directly opening a VOB try going to WMP's Library, click the disc name in the navigation pane and then the DVD title or chapter name.
    – Karan
    Commented Nov 22, 2012 at 15:44

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

You can't play DVDs natively with Windows 8, you need to install third party codecs or a player like VLC.

This article dates back to June and says they should work in WMC, but it appears Microsoft may have removed support since then.

http://winsupersite.com/article/windows8/windows-8-tip-play-dvd-movies-143506

Improve this answer
22
  • He says he added the pro pack, he should be able to play DVDs.
    – Mark Allen
    Commented Nov 22, 2012 at 3:55
  • So the Media Pack is just to install Media Center and does not allow you to play DVDs, yes?
    – ligos
    Commented Nov 22, 2012 at 3:56
  • Ah yes, I just tried on the PC on which I have Windows 8 + Media Center and it does work. Did you try with multiple DVDs? Are they original movies or something you burned at home?
    – Pier-Luc Gendreau
    Commented Nov 22, 2012 at 4:08
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    Try going to "Program and Features" then click "Turn Windows features on or off". Uncheck "Media Features", let it do its thing, restart, re-enable it and see it the DVDs work.
    – Pier-Luc Gendreau
    Commented Nov 22, 2012 at 22:46
  • 1
    Have you tried a repair install? ie.: running the Windows 8 from inside Windows 8 and choosing "Upgrade"
    – Pier-Luc Gendreau
    Commented Nov 26, 2012 at 23:07

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