Question

Windows media Player can not play DVD because "a compatible DVD decoder is not installed on your computer".

Asked by: peterkennedy

I have just purchased a secind hand laptop and it has Windows XP Professional with SP3 installed on it.  When I try to play a movie DVD in the DVD player that is installed within the laptop itself using Windows Media Player, I receive a message that states:

"Windows media Player can not play this DVD because a compatible DVD decoder is not installed on your computer."

Do I need to install special software in order to play DVDs on this laptop (eg Nero Showtime, etc), or is there some sort of add-on within Windows Media Player that I need?

Thanks!

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Asked On
2009-08-09 at 15:57:40ID24638637
Topics

Windows XP Operating System

,

Windows Media Player

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
4

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Answers

 

by: noxchoPosted on 2009-08-09 at 16:05:41ID: 25056413

Download and install K-Lite Codec Pack Full. Since then it must work for you.
Happens it couldn't help download and install free video player from here: http://www.videolan.org/
One that works excellent way for me.

 

by: MASQUERAIDPosted on 2009-08-09 at 23:31:42ID: 25057524

Some explanation of noxcho's post.

This is because XP does not natively support DVD playback through Windows Media Player.  You need to install a DVD decoder (or more specifically an MPEG2 decoder) to make this work.
One fix is VLC (see the post above) but VLC won't integrate with Windows Media Player for playback - it uses its own player.

Until a few years ago the only way you could do this was to buy a bit of decoding software (or use the software that came bundled with your DVD drive) but if you don't have any DVD software with this PC you can download and install the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack which now contains the Cyberlink MPEG2 decoder software that you need to let Windows Media Player playback DVDs as intended.

Download the pack free from:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/k_lite_Mega_codec_pack.htm

 

by: peterkennedyPosted on 2009-08-10 at 18:15:31ID: 31613491

Thanks very much to you both. :)

 

by: englanddgPosted on 2009-10-23 at 05:21:09ID: 25643632

Heh, use VLC.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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