Can't individualize in WMP 9! - Can't license content

[leepell]

I have Windows XP Home SP3. I still have Windows Media Player 9 because I like the interface and controls better than 10, and because everything HAD BEEN working fine re licensing and stripping via FairUse4WM.

But recently some DRM-licensed files stopped playing, perhaps because of hardware changes. Unfortunately, in (stupidly) attempting to restore some old licenses I somehow wiped out my ability to license anything at all. I can still make a purchase via the usual license-purchase interface, but after my credentials are accepted and I click on "get license," the Play button remains grayed out and I get a message about how the licensing failed. It's clearly a WMP issue as my account with the content seller shows me as having sucessfully made the license purchase.

In the past when I had a similar issue, I simply cleared my DRM folder In (Documents & Settings/All Users), then went to the WMP individualization site (http://services.wmdrm.windowsmedia.c...IndivIt211.wma) to re-individualize, but now when I do that it eventually comes back with the error "A connection with the server could not be established." Same thing happens if I try the alternate site (http://services.wmdrm.windowsmedia.c...en/indivit.asp).

Other times I get an error message that says something along the lines of "could not be updated because the requested update is not available on this server."

Any ideas? I thought perhaps MS stopped offering individualization for WMP 9, but I can't find anything on the net suggesting that's the case.

Originally Posted by leepell

Same thing happens if I try the alternate site (http://services.wmdrm.windowsmedia.c...en/indivit.asp).

Your link works just fine for me:
http://services.wmdrm.windowsmedia.com/indivSite/en/indivit.asp
Make sure to use it in the Internet Explorer

[leepell]

I am indeed using IE for this (still at version 6), but the process still doesn't work for me now, even though I know this page did the trick in the past.

Specifically:
The link takes me to the Windows Media Technologies "Security component upgrade" page. The Upgrade button is grayed out when I arrive at the page, but soon becomes active. When I click it I get a WMP pop-up that says (among other things) that the owner of the protected content I'm trying to access requires me to first upgrade some of my Microsoft DRM components. I click OK, and the screen says "Progress Status: Upgrading Security Components" (actually, that first appears at the same time as the WMP message). Then after about a minute, I get the IE error "a Connection with the server could not be established." This despite the fact that I can use IE 6 to connect to websites with no problem -- including Microsft Update -- and I do not use a proxy server.

But if you are able to access it, that suggests I have some other problem going on. A few questions:

-- Are you doing this with WMP 9, or a later version? As I mentioned, I still have 9 and thought maybe it was no longer supported for individualization.

-- You did verify that this actually *completed* the individualization process, right?

-- With respect to the whole strip-DRM process, is there any harm with upgrading IE to the latest version? Conversely, do you think that might help? (My default browser is Firefox 3.6.16.)

Thanks much for your help on this.

I didn't try to hit the Upgrade button.

As for upgrading I.E., upgrade to v.10. See the following thread for more details:
2009-01-10 FairUse4WM DRM-Remover Fix (by milOtis)