Guide: How to uninstall/install Windows Media Player 9, 10, 11

[placebo]

PART ONE:

This thread is not a tutorial with step-by-step instructions but a guide with valuable hints. It is senseless trying to compose instructions because a tutorial would depend heavily on your system's initial state/condition, i.e. the history of your own installation and uninstallation attempts prior to following my step-by-step instructions. Hence no instructions are provided. Whatever i write in this thread, it refers to WindowsXP-sp3. I dont have Vista or Win7.

All you need to know (and the rest is your problem) is:
+ if you lost or deleted all winxp system restore points, no problem. you can uninstall your current working (or non-working) installation of WMP and re-install a working WMP version (same version or other). it IS possible.
+ system restore points are not needed in this guide
+ it is "impossible" nor any desirable to completely remove WMP such that, on your WinXP system, there is neither WMP9, WMP10 nor WMP11. but what you can do is uninstalling unwanted WMP versions such that the original WMP9 build is reinstated on your system the way it was shipped originally with WinXP-sp3.
+ a so-called rollback is an automatic uninstall procedure (Start >> Control Panel >> Software (Add or Remove Programs) >> enable option: Show Updates >> Currently installed programs and updates >> Remove: Windows Media Player)

.. which uninstalls your current WMP version (e.g. WMP10beta) and reinstalls the previous WMP version (e.g. WMP9.00.00.4510, instead of original WMP9). Afaik rollbacks are possible only from newer versions to older versions.
+ while it is possible to upgrade from an old WMP version to a newer WMP version, the installer wont let you install an older WMP version on/over/upon a newer WMP version. First you need to rollback to an even older version, for example you're on WMP11+ and went along the path WMP9 >> (updated to) WMP9+ >> (upgraded to) WMP10 >> (upgraded to) WMP11beta2 >> (updated to) WMP11+ and would like to install WMP10beta1, then your path is:
WMP11+ >> (uninstall KB-patches to) WMP11beta2 >> (rollback to) WMP10 >> (rollback to) WMP9+ >> (upgrade to) WMP10beta1.
+ Rollbacks might fail in rare cases but you can always generate the entry "Remove: Windows Media Player *.*" in the Add or Remove Programs dialogue (if the entry is missing) by reinstalling the same WMP version which is already on your system.
+ System Restore Points are created automatically by the WMP installer unless you deactivated the System Restore feature for drive C:\. Dont worry if there are no system restore points. The rollback procedure in addition to the manual deletion of *.DLL files is sufficient.
+ If system restore points and or rollbacks dont prove helpful to you for some known or unknown reason, then you can deracinate WMP9+, .., WMP11+ by deleting the key WMP *.DLL files:

• wmp.dll
• wmpdxm.dll
• wmpcore.dll
• wmvcore.dll (part of Windows Media Runtime and required for DRM-related actions, individualization, ..)
• wmploc.dll

The files might be difficult to delete during a Windows session, then boot your PC with MS DOS (diskette, bootCD, ..) and delete the files manually with the DEL command. It is possible to delete wmploc.dll and wmvcore.dll completely so that they dont reappear when you reboot the machine. If you fail to delete one or more of the 5 DLL's, then this is your problem. Not mine. And you lose, good-bye!
No, seriously. This is your problem. If you are too dumb to delete files from your system, then you are too dumb. Use Eraser (this works for sure, and also read How to delete files protected by TrustedInstaller or else use Cedric's Unlocker!) or call a RL friend of yours (a PC techie or Windows techie) and ask him for help with the Eraser installation! And dont bother me. I wont bother.
+ once you have deleted the above DLL's you can run the following command as is:

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %SystemRoot%\inf\wmp.inf,Uninstall

this will uninstall remaining WMP dirt (incl. registry entries) from your system and try to reinstate the original WMP9 build automatically.
+ even if the command returns some error, you'll be able to install a fresh copy of your preferred WMP version
+ the newly installed WMP version will work now. If there's some error message, then check if all 5 files are present. The error message will result from the missing wmvcore.dll file. then google for "Windows Media Format Runtime", download it and install it. this will install the DLL file
+ Do you have any questions? Of course you do. Your problem. As i said these are guiding points and no step-by-step instructions. You have to try some or all of the points, reboot in between to your liking, and experiment.
+ if none of the above points solve your problem then google. Dont be ashamed to use google

last versions ("latest build") of Windows Media Player 9, 10, and 11

Download of original builds:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...s-media-player

How to get 9.00.00.4507?
1) install WMP9. WinXP-sp3 comes with 9.00.00.4503
2) then install KB973540 (wmp.dll, wmpdxm.dll: 2009-07-12, updates to v9.00.00.4507)
3) then install: KB2378111 (wmp.dll: 2010-08-26, updates to v9.00.00.4510)
4) feel free to install, too: KB978695 (wmvcore.dll: 2010-04-08, updates to v9.00.00.4509)

How to get 10.00.00.4074?
1) install WMP10. it installs v10.00.00.3802
2) then install KB973540 (wmp.dll, wmpdxm.dll: 2009-07-13, updates to v10.00.00.4074)
3) then install: KB2378111 (wmp.dll: 2010-08-25, updates to v10.00.00.4081)
4) feel free to install, too: KB978695 (wmvcore.dll: 2010-04-03, updates to v10.00.00.4078 if everything goes right, otherwise the installer would install v11.0.5721.5275 (see below) and the individualization webpage would crash lol)

How to get 11.0.5721.5280?
0) beta versions are:
wmvcore.dll: 11.0.5358.4827 (Beta 1, May 2006)
wmvcore.dll: 11.0.5705.5043 (Beta 2, August 2006)
wmvcore.dll: 11.0.5721.5145 (Beta 3, October 2006)
1) install WMP11. it installs Windows Media Runtime 11 (wmvcore.dll 11.0.5721.5262)
2) then install KB973540 (wmp.dll, wmpdxm.dll: 2009-07-13, updates to v11.0.5721.5268)
3) then install KB2378111 (wmp.dll: 2010-08-25, v11.0.5721.5280)
4) feel free to install, too: KB978695 (wmvcore.dll: 2010-04-06 v11.0.5721.5275)

You can open all *.exe files (WMP setup.exe, KB-patches) with WinRAR and peek into them: they are SFX CAB archives! And if you need WMP11beta2 for the FairUse4WM, then google. They cant be downloaded from Microsoft servers anymore, sorry!

This WMP Uninstallation article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Originally Posted by placebo

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %SystemRoot%\inf\wmp.inf,Uninstall

Will this allow to uninstall WMP in Windows XP SP3?

[placebo]

Start >> Run... >> (and copy paste the code as is) >> click "OK" or hit "Enter"-key

Yes, it is a hardcore method to uninstall your current working (or faulty) version of WMP and force the rollback to WMP9, even if you havent set any system restore points.

The command is pretty hardcore and effective .. but it's just one possible step one can do when you want to change (upgrade or downgrade) your WMP version.

anyway, whenever i have time, i will try to expand the stub. Might take 2-5 months to complete it 99.9%..
I am not in a hurry

[placebo]

Again, the following info is valid for WindowsXP-SP3 only.

PART TWO:

This article is another collection of relevant facts, observations, and alike incl. restated material from PART ONE. It will give you full understanding of your (corrupt or working installation or uninstallation of) Windows Media Player and what your logical steps would be to fix the situation yourself. The installation of WMP9+ is always accompanied by the installation of DRM components and individualization ("Upgrade Of Security Components") so we will treat the two aspects too. After reading it, you should be able to troubleshoot your Windows Media related problems (e.g. understanding why your unDRM environment doesnt work and how to fix it) on your own, yourself. You may interpret this thread as conscious preparation for any type of unDRMing techniques with various unDRM tools. Before we begin let's introduce some abbreviations:

WMP = Windows Media Player (wmplayer.exe)
WMP9 = WMP version 9.0, WMP10 = WMP version 10.0, etc.
WMP9+ = any WMP version equal to or higher than 9.0
WMFR = Windows Media Format Runtime (or simply: Windows Media Runtime)
WMFR9 = Windows Media Runtime version 9.0, etc.
IBX = IndivBox.key (see C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\DRM\IndivBox.key)
IBX version = right-click on IBX, Properties, ..
indvpage = Microsoft's Individualization webpages: ALT1 vs. ALT2 vs. ALT3
thefive = the full set of { wmVcore.dll|wmPcore.dll|wmp.dll|wmpDXM.dll|wmpLOC.dll }
wvc = wmVcore.dll

And some loose text of what the above are about:

• thefive. Let's assume that you're on a (new|old|clean|dirty|etc) WindowsXP system with a working WMP. Then the WMP installation is fully represented by thefive; compared with a running man thefive would be the main organs {heart, brain, liver, lungs, genitals}: rip off one and the Schwarzenegger would stop running. On a fresh WinXP-SP3 system thefive are all present and bear the same version number 9.0.0.4503. thefive which are in use (i.e. loaded in your system's memory, RAM) are located in C:\WINDOWS\system32\*.dll, while copies of older/newer versions of (some of) thefive are stored elsewhere on hdd. On a dirty WinXP-SP3 system there are quite a few copies of thefive and you can/could ignore them.. because what really counts is the version numbers of thefive in the system32 dir. The \system32\dllcache directory typically contains exact version copies of thefive ... in case a system32 DLL file gets deleted (by user intervention, virus, malware), Windows would automatically "replace" the deleted file with the copy from the dllcache. The 5? Interestingly, it is possible to have a working WinXP with a working WMP where the wvc is not present at all. Clearly, this would be an incomplete WMP installation and the missing wvc would give you much trouble: continue to read and you will understand why.
• wvc. For our purpose, this is the most important file of thefive. It is the only part (=file) of a full WMP installation which handles all DRM-related activity, control and communication. This program (You could regard *.DLL files as programs.) creates the DRM-folder with the IBX and communicates with the online DRM license server. Only with the help of wvc is the online DRM license server then able to check if your wvc is (indeed) properly installed and if the contents of the DRM-folder are valid and if the IBX needs to be updated ("Upgrade"). No surprise, wvc is not present on older Windows systems where the Windows Media DRM (read this!) had not yet been introduced. Having full knowledge of which exact versions of Windows Media components are installed on your system will help you to get through subsequent unDRM procedures, especially because/since Microsoft is said to have released manipulated downloads. Also note that wvc must be present before you can perform certain actions such as: applying a wvc update patch, indvpage, installing WMFR, a.o.
  Question: Where to get different new/old versions of wvc? Answer: wvc is distributed within WMFR, within full version setups of WMP9+, and also within WMP (or WinXP) updates (Hotfixes, Updates, KB-Patches, however you call them)
• WMFR. In cases where you are supposedly required to install WMP11 (final version or beta version, doesnt matter!) as minimum software system requirement, you are likely not forced to install it but its corresponding WMFR -- Try it, and you will be surprised that installing WMFR11 (instead of WMP11) is sufficient in most cases!
  Question: Where to get different new/old version of WMFR? Answer: WMFR is downloadable as standalone download file (wmfdist.exe, wmfdist9.exe, wmfdist10.exe, wmfdist11.exe; not all of these versions are still downloadable as original standalone download file from the official Microsoft website.) and it is also found packaged within the full installer of WMP, for example open WMP11 installer with WinRAR and extract wmfdist11.exe from it. Then again, open wmfdist11.exe with WinRAR and locate wvc. Why wvc again? As mentioned before, wvc is the most relevant program in our discussion and it is the main part of WMFR. And as you know so far, in most cases for our purpose: A discussion of "which WMP version" can be reduced to "which WMFR version", and a discussion of "which WMFR version" can be ultimately reduced to a discussion of "which wvc version" to use. In the end, it all comes down to tinkering with different versions of wvc.
• indvpage. indvpage works with Internet Explorer only (e.g. IE8), not with Firefox. It is not mandatory to use this webpage but i recommend using it as helpful "tool" to determine if your system is "DRM-ready". For this page to work at all, wvc must exist on your system (and be in \Windows\system32, of course). If wvc is present (but) in a dubious version number, the Upgrade-button will be greyed out with an "Error on page"-notification in the bottom left corner. If your system is seemingly DRM-ready, then the Upgrade button becomes available: Click on it, it says "Upgrading security components" and then "Upgrade Complete". At this point, the webpage could crash , which would mean that your wvc version is incompatible with the rest of your WMP installation. Check the versions of thefive and replace the wvc with some other wvc version. Since wvc is contained in WMFR (and is in fact the main part of WMFR!), the easiest way to install a different wvc version is by installing a different WMFR version. Or do the replacement manually.
  Question: So what happens when the indvpage upgrades my security components? Answer: As soon as you press the Upgrade button, the online DRM license server (of the indvpage) connects to wvc and then the two together issue a "current" IBX version which corresponds to the installed wvc version. I say "together" because the IBX version does not exclusively depend on the installed wvc version. Since the online DRM license server can be setup in such a way that it checks if a wvc minimum version number is present, the IBX version indirectly/ultimately depends on the (decision taken by the) online DRM license server, too. So with the help of indvpage we are able to predict which IBX version will be generated if we did not use the indvpage Upgrade button but went straight away to our online player, i.e. the software application in question (standalone *.exe, or webpage with embedded WMP or Silverlight) which plays or downloads DRM-protected Windows Media content, for example zune.exe or napster.exe. When the player plays/downloads the DRM-media online, this has the same effect as pressing the Upgrade button of indvpage: the online DRM license server connects to wvc and if there are no further issues with the wvc installation, both "together" check if the IBX version is current, and if it's not, the IBX version is automatically updated.

[placebo]

PART THREE:

• IBX version. The IBX version primarily depends on the wvc version, as mentioned earlier. The wvc serves here as trigger: For each small range of valid wvc version numbers, the IBX version will be the same ... as long as the online DRM license server doesnt act bitchy. Since this thread treats 3 WMP versions (WMP9, WMP10, WMP11) we dont get more than 3 different IBX versions, on a WinXP-SP3 system.
• DRM components. Okay, the above statement that wvc is the only part of WMP which takes part in DRM-related activities is wrong. Other files which play an essential role are:
  blackbox.dll|drmclien.dll|drmv2clt.dll|drmstor.dll|wmdrmdev.dll|wmdrmnet.dll|wmdrmsdk.dll
  All 7 files are contained in WMFR, while wmdrmsdk.dll wasnt introduced until the release of WMFR11beta1. For example in zune.exe, ZUNE requires (any new or very old version of) wvc to play/download an online song, it requires blackbox.dll to set the IBX, and it requires dmrv2clt.dll to
  
  
  
  

(post is in progress, hold on... zzZZzz...)

[placebo]

Before you play with exchanging (or interchanging) DLL files, it is maybe interesting to know what original installations will result in regarding the IBX version. The following is true at the time of writing (September 2011):

• WMP9 (+WMFR9) => indvpage => IBX version 10.0.0.3646
• WMP10 => indvpage => IBX version 11.0.5497.6285
• WMP10 + full WMFR11 beta1 (incl. wvc 11.0.5358.4827) => indvpage => fail => IBX n/a
• WMP10 + full WMFR11 beta2 (incl. wvc 11.0.5705.5043) => indvpage => fail => IBX n/a
• WMP10 + full WMFR11 beta3 (incl. wvc 11.0.5721.5145) => indvpage => fail => IBX n/a
• WMP10 + full WMFR11 final (incl. wvc 11.0.5721.5262) => indvpage => IBX version 11.0.6001.8015
• WMP11 beta1 => indvpage => semi-fail => IBX version 11.0.6001.8015
• WMP11 beta2 => indvpage => semi-fail => IBX version 11.0.6001.8015
• WMP11 beta3 => indvpage => semi-fail => IBX version 11.0.6001.8015
• WMP11 final => indvpage => IBX version 11.0.6001.8015

The above info is relevant to people who try to undrm songs from online music services which allow full-length track downloads of DRM-protected *.WMA files, such as:

• RHDY, 160kbps *.WMA => IBX version 11.0.5497.6285 => undrm possible (untested, uninteresting because low bitrate)
• NAPS, 192kbps *.WMA => IBX version 11.0.5497.6285 => undrm possible (tested/reconfirmed)
• ZUNE, 192kbps *.WMA => IBX version 11.0.5497.6285 => undrm possible (tested/reconfirmed, works under special conditions only)
• MME, 192kbps *.WMA => IBX version 11.0.5497.6285 => undrm possible (untested, uninteresting because french)
• KAZAA, 192kbps *.WMA => IBX version 11.0.5497.6285 => undrm possible (tested/reconfirmed)

[bratwurst]

Two additional important aspects to know:

1. The indvpage and its outcome is not as powerful/crucial/significant as the individualization thru real commercial licensing servers of actual vendors, i.e. simply by trying to play a protected Windows Media file without prior visiting the indvpage(s) (either ALT1 or ALT or both). Commonly none of the users of real commercial DRM music services such as Rhapsody, Napster, Zune, MusicMe, Kazaa, etc. ever get in contact with the Microsoft indvpage(s) and even in the case of troubleshooting (if the DRM environment is broken) does the indvpage any real helpful service. The point is, the outcome of the indvpage may look positive (see contents of DRM-folder!) but the (commercial) DRM-environment may still be broken. This could be easily verified in the BBC iPlayer DRM protected Windows Media-thread. That thread comes to the conclusion that:
   
2. It makes a decisive difference whether you're on truely fresh installation of WinXP-sp3 (=ships with WMP9) versus you're were on such a system, then did a standard upgrade to WMP11 (or WMP10) and finally did a rollback to the "original" state: a "fresh" installation of WinXP-sp3 (=with its shipped WMP9). I found out that Upgrading from the shipped WMP9 to WMP10 (or directly to WMP11) and rolling back to WMP9 is not a 100% reversible process, and it compares well to any RL act where you go from one stateA over to stateB and then back to stateA, e.g. the removing of dog poop from the bottom of your shoes:
   clean shoes (= shipped WMP9) -> you step on dog poop (= upgrade installation procedure to WMP11) -> dirty shoes, i.e. clean shoes plus dog poop (= WMP11 installed) -> you clean the dog poop off your shoes (= uninstall/rollback process back to WMP9) -> clean shoes (= shipped WMP9).
   No matter how hard you try to apply indvpage(s) or various ResetDRM.exe's or DRM_reset.exe's, the working of the
   DRM ActiveX Network Object .... can get (slightly) broken such that a "Sorry, an error has occurred." error message is returned. In this case, if you cant repair the working of the DRM ActiveX Network Object by the help (=overwriting of the corrupt registry entry!) of any other commercial license server, you must reinstall a fresh Windows from scratch (and please not again with WMP11 on top!, or do you have a registry backup? ). The (broken) set of registry entries responsible for the malheur appears to be:
   

   HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1234567890-1234567890-123456789-1003\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{***}\iexplore\***

   After a fresh Windows installation, keep a copy of the full Stats branch; it may be helpful at repairing broken DRM ActiveX Network Object components in future upgrade scenarios.

The above 2 observations should be true and valid in general, i.e. when your DRM-environment appears to be a working DRM-environment, i.e. ...
+ you have a clean installation of a WMP version (say WMP10 with its shipped WMFR10) and the versions of thefive and the drm-dll's look all fine (e.g. uniform)
+ you have fired off all kinds of exisiting 'Reset DRM'-tools
+ you have deleted the (remaining) contents of the DRM-folder
+ you have positive outcomes with the 2 indvpage(s)
+ you have even tried to restore an old WMP9 license backup
... and the online license acquisition from a real commercial DRM license server still fails with an "unknown error" message. As just mentioned, the reason for the failure is not the wrong or missing files on your system ("you have the full shoes back!") but the gone corrupt registry entry on your system ("the shoes still smell, yuck!!").

Note, "Unknown error"-messages can also result from wrong date/time of your PC clock. Therefore make sure that the clock (see system tray!) is keeping good time/the right time.

hope this helpz

[nightdune]

Hi, in your post, you state that "WMP9 (+WMFR9) => indvpage => IBX version 10.0.0.3646" . As of now, i have a frest win xp pro with sp3 runnig wmp 9 but whenever i try to individualize using IE 6 i keep getting this msg "the security upgrade cannot be performed because the server is not available" . you have any workaround for this?