Restore media player 8 to XP home edition after wmp 9 uninstall (how)

[Humvee]

I inadvertently installed the wmp 9 as a series of patches from microsoft,
on a new Toshiba Notebook with XP Home Edition.

I found a way to restore wmp but it gave me version 6.4. What I really want
is version 8 but I cannot find it at the microsoft downloads, nor anywhere
on the web. Microsoft seems to only be offering a version 9 upgrade.

WMP9 does not play all my existing video files in the right aspect, but
WMP8 plays them just fine.

Anybody got know how I can install WMP8 on XP Home?

(Or make WMP9 behave same as WMP8)

Thanks

 

[Anando [MS-MVP]]

Hi,
All the versions of Media Players can be found here :
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp

--

Anando
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User
www.microsoft.com/mvp
www.mvps.org
www.dts-l.org

 

[Donald L McDaniel]

I inadvertently installed the wmp 9 as a series of patches from
microsoft, on a new Toshiba Notebook with XP Home Edition.

I found a way to restore wmp but it gave me version 6.4. What I
really want is version 8 but I cannot find it at the microsoft
downloads, nor anywhere on the web. Microsoft seems to only be
offering a version 9 upgrade.

WMP9 does not play all my existing video files in the right aspect,
but WMP8 plays them just fine.

Anybody got know how I can install WMP8 on XP Home?

(Or make WMP9 behave same as WMP8)

Thanks

To return Media Player to version 8, use the Restore Point created by the
WMP 9 setup program.

 

[Humvee]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp

Thanks for the suggestion, but I was unable to find ANY reference to WMP 8
anywhere on that page. Did I miss something? Please indicate exactly where
on that page the WMP8 download exists? Thanks!

 

[Humvee]

To return Media Player to version 8, use the Restore Point created by
the WMP 9 setup program.

That would be an option except it isn't and here's why:

It is a NEW notebook, and was shipped with the WMP9 wizard/setup
routine. WMP 8 never existed previously on that computer. What I need is
a WMP8 install executable. Does anybody know where to find one?

Thanks, again for your reply.

 

[Humvee]

To return Media Player to version 8, use the Restore Point created by the
WMP 9 setup program.

Also, I can't use the restore point mechanism, because it was turned off in
order to troubleshoot the blaster32 worm.

 

[Anando [MS-MVP]]

Hi,
Not too sure but i think Windows Media 8 is installed with Windows XP and as
such the setup for it cannot be downloaded separately. A question...what
exact problems are you facing with Windows Media 9 series ?

--

Anando
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User
www.microsoft.com/mvp
www.mvps.org
www.dts-l.org

 

[Donald L McDaniel]

Also, I can't use the restore point mechanism, because it was turned
off in order to troubleshoot the blaster32 worm.

Then your only choice is to reinstall a version of XP which does not include
SP1. If Im not mistaken, Microsoft does not distribute a stand-alone
version of WMP8.

However, I just found this doing a Google search:
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1038747146

 

[Humvee]

Hi,
Not too sure but i think Windows Media 8 is installed with Windows XP
and as such the setup for it cannot be downloaded separately. A
question...what exact problems are you facing with Windows Media 9
series ?

Anando,

Thanks for the reply. The problem I am having is that I have 100's of
video files collected over the years that are MPG's and some of them
don't play properly in WMP9. They all play OK with WMP8 which I have
installed on my 3 desktop computers. I have XP Pro on my three desktop
computers. The problem is with the notebook I just bought which has XP
Home on it.

The problem seems to be with MPGs that are VCD resolution (352x180 I
think). There are 2 problems I have noticed so far:

1. WMP9 plays the files as a very small picture in the middle of the
frame. WMP9 plays the same file in the full frame of whatever size frame
I have scaled the player to. (My issue is not whether WMP9 will play the
movie in the "full frame" feature. It will but at that resolution the
picture is not good. I have looked and looked for any view settings that
would make WMP9 behave same as WMP8 but so far have not found any.

2. Some of the files that are MPG play with the picture squeezed (wrong
aspect), but play perfectly in WMP8. I am thinking that Microsoft has
changed something in the codecs but ??? how can I solve such an esoteric
problem? Best to just go back to WMP8.

Thanks..

 

[Humvee]

Then your only choice is to reinstall a version of XP which does not
include SP1. If Im not mistaken, Microsoft does not distribute a
stand-alone version of WMP8.

However, I just found this doing a Google search:
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1038747146

Thanks,

Yeah I found the same. I found two links at Annoyances.org. One
successfully removed wmp9 and the other one restored wmp but restored wmp
6.4! I wanted wmp8.

 

[Maureen Goldman]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I was unable to find ANY reference to WMP 8
anywhere on that page. Did I miss something? Please indicate exactly where
on that page the WMP8 download exists? Thanks!

If version 7.1 will do, it's available at http://www.oldversion.com.

 

[Humvee]

http://www.oldversion.com

Thanks, Maureen. At the Windows Media Player download site they also have
this version but Microsoft indicates that it is for WIN98 (only? Does
anyone know?).

Can I install it on XP Home edition safely? Who knows.

I have XP SP1 install disk which I would install on the Toshiba notebook,
but Toshiba has some Wi-fi utilities and other stuff that I may need and I
don't really know if all the drivers are available without using the
Toshiba OEM install disk (XP Home Edition).

It is times like this that I really get frustrated with Microsoft. Why
didn't they just let us uninstall WMP9 and Install WMP8? There is no reason
I can think of since surely WMP8 works perfectly on XP Pro as I have it now
on 3 of my desktops.

Anyway enough whining. Thanks again.

 

[Donald L McDaniel]

Thanks,

Yeah I found the same. I found two links at Annoyances.org. One
successfully removed wmp9 and the other one restored wmp but restored
wmp
6.4! I wanted wmp8.

As I indicated in my last post, Microsoft does not provide a stand-alone
version of WMP8. It is provided on the Windows XP install CD only. The
only way to restore it if you already tried using System Restore to remove
WMP9 is to do a complete install of XP without SP1.

You might also try doing a Repair install of XP.

 

[§kullywag©-]

As I indicated in my last post, Microsoft does not provide a stand-alone
version of WMP8. It is provided on the Windows XP install CD only. The
only way to restore it if you already tried using System Restore to remove
WMP9 is to do a complete install of XP without SP1.

You might also try doing a Repair install of XP.

If he does not wish to do a repair install (which should restore Media
Player8, but possibaly mess up some settings and
registrations)............. another option is to find a "Plus for XP",
"Picture It 2002", "Works 7.0", "Office XP", ect.... disc, and
install it.
Almost all Microsoft's graphics, and OS enhancement cd's will install
it's "latest version" of media player (8). Just a matter of finding
an app that was released between XP's time, and now.

A quick web search found Plus for XP, for a mere $20.


§kullywag©-