Install Windows Media Player 11 on Windows Server 2003

Install Windows Media Player 11 on Windows Server 2003

by Zack Whittaker

1) Download the Windows Media Player 11 setup file from here and save to disk.
2) Run the setup file - the first thing you should see if a validation checker. Just leave this up, don’t go any further.
3) Search the hard drive for “wmp11.exe” - it should be in a temporary directory somewhere. Right click the file in the search then click “Open containing folder” (and not open).
4) Open and run the wmfdist11.exe file, then umdf.exe and wmdbexport.exe. Be warned, you may need to run these files in Compatibilty Mode. Simply right click each file, click Properties. Go to the Compatibility tab, then ensure that Windows XP is selected.
5) After all these are installed, you must restart (very important.)
6) Once you’ve restarted, run the wmp11.exe file in the same directory - this also may require compatibility settings being applied to it. Restart once more.
7) Back into Windows again, go to Start, Run then type in wmplayer then OK. Configure as you like, and viola it’s done

This method has been tested on my Windows 2003 R2 server. and it works. The reason I needed media player 11 on Windows 2003 is that so I can use MediaPortal 1.0 RC3.