How to roll back or uninstall Windows Media Player 11 (Windows Vista)

Windows Media Player (WMP) designed for Windows XP cannot be installed on Windows Vista. Moreover WMP is part of the basic installation of Windows Vista so there is no option to remove it from Control Panel -> Programs or to run a stand alone re-installation of the Windows Media Player for Vista.

IMHO the easiest way to solve problem with the Windows Media Player 11 for Vista is by using System Restore to restore your system to a date where Windows Media Player was still working without problems. To do so:

1. Go to Start-menu -> Search-bar -> type in RESTORE and press Enter on your keyboard. This will open the System Restore program.
2. Select a restore point after clicking on Next.

Select a date before the 24th February to get the system repaired. If you have installed additional applications after the 24th February it will be necessary to reinstall the software of course.

If the above mentioned method doesn't help, you can run an in-place installation of Windows Vista on your computer.

To do so:

1. Start Windows Vista from your hard drive and insert the Windows Vista DVD after booting.
2. Run the Windows Vista setup again from within Windows Vista.

This will repair all applications including Windows Media Player and Media Center by replacing the damaged files.

It might be possible that you need to install a device driver again if you have installed the drivers for your hardware manually but normally all installed application will not be harmed by this additional installation.

When installing media player with the .exe and it says it expected an older version and you follow the instructions above and it still will not install I found you can go to the part of installation of the Media Player where it has a button marked "Cookies" and lower the security setting to the least restrictive and then it will install. Just an FYI. Thanks for the instructions and the program.