Windows Media Player 11 Icon Gone

[Mark S.]

In an attempt to reinstall Media Player 11, I trashed all icons associated
with the media player and am now unable to create a shortcut icon for the
desktop; it turned out that the problem I was trying to resolve needed only
the download of an update, which I did, and now the program works.

I know that the program is on my computer because it opens when I click on
video files, but surprisingily it does not appear in the list of programs, so
I can't make a shortcut icon from it. How do I make the icon so that I can
open the program from the desktop??

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

You and your darned desktop icons for the player, I hate those. ;-)

Does running:
unregmp2.exe /Shortcuts
fix you up? That'll recreate the existing shortcut set for the player.

 

[Mark S.]

Thanks for the information, zachd. I have found unregmp2 on my computer, but
1) I can't open it and 2) I honestly wouldn't know what to do if I could. I
certainly cannot tackle major problems of computer functionality because I
don't have the expertise that you obviously have. In desperation I Googled
"unregmp2.exe" and found a site called TuneupAdvidor.com where an item to fix
unregmp2.exe is being sold; I don't think I need to buy this item, do I?

BTW, why doesn't my computer caution me that removing the icons will not
remove the program that is part of the Vista package? If I had been told, I
would not have tampered with the icon and I wouldn't have this access problem.

Thanks again for your help. Now what?

Mark S.

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

I would think that any offer to "fix" unregmp2.exe would be a scam. Almost
every line in that binary is my code. That's not prideful, it's just -- I
doubt they know something I don't know about it. And if they do, it's shame
that they're hogging this valuable advice. Plus hey, I'll help you for free.


Press Windows+R to get the Run prompt. Enter:
unregmp2.exe /Shortcuts
then press return. You don't want to directly run it, you just need to run
it with that command line. You can also run it that way from a cmd.exe
prompt. There are other ways to get this net effect, this is simply to me
the quickest one.

Well, removing shortcuts is your prerogative and never removes the actual
binaries. There are warning to that effect when you generally remove any
shortcut to an EXE ("removing this shortcut will not remove this
binary..."), I don't know if there's one in that context. Generally an
uninstall should not be relevant or beneficial for the Player (let alone
possible, but assuming we lived in some crazy fantasy world where that did
work... it wouldn't). Even in a "I need to reinstall" case (such as if
SatelliteForTV2006 broke your machine, which it would), an uninstall isn't
needed there: a flat reinstall or repair is all that would be needed.

Anyways, that's a major major digression which is boring to you.
Just run "unregmp2.exe /Shortcuts" at the Run prompt and you should be good
to go.

Or-- you can also go to the Set Program Access and Defaults control panel
and Hide then Show WMP to reshow the shortcuts, but that's just a fancy
front-end to unregmp2.exe, really. =)

Peace,
-Zach

 

[Mark S.]

I followed your Windows+R instruction and opened up the Run window. But when
I typed in "unregmp2.exe/Shortcuts" and hit Enter, I was informed that
"Windows cannot find unregmp2.exe/Shortcuts". This struck me as odd since an
earlier search for it showed "unregmp2", though I couldn't open it.

A couple of hours ago, I did, however, stumble on a way to make a shortcut
of WMC. In the Control Panel, I chose System and Maintenance, which took me
to Welcome Centre, where I chose Getting Started with Windows; there, I hit
"Show all 14 items" and discovered the Windows Media Centre icon. Using the
right side of the mouse, I made a shortcut, which then appeared on the
desktop.

Have I accidentally resolved the problem just through dumb luck?

Mark S.

 

[Not Me]

make sure not to forget the space
unregmp2.exe /Shortcuts