Resolved Turn of Windows Media Player file associations

I never use WMP.

I have tried many times to go to folder options and change the .avi file association to VLC.

Today I tried to deselect _every_ WMP icon on the list and still I get the icon for WMP after the brute force method. What can get rid of WMP associations once and for all? I am the only user/administrator on this home system.

 

Control Panel > Programs and Features > left side Menu > Turn Windows Features on or off. Cheers Neil.

 

Greetings Neil.

How about a routine for XP? I have had this problem for a long, long time
before Win7. Windowsbbs has not failed me yet.

 

Start\Control Panel\Add and Remove Programs. In the left panel click on Add and Remove Windows Components. Scroll down to Windows Media Player and uncheck the box. Click Next wait until it finishes initializing then click the finish button to finalize the action.

 

That sounds like it should do it. will let you know.

 

Please do.

 

One slight addition I would make here is to go to Turn Windows Features on/off and go to deselect Media Features under which Windows Media Player now stealthily resides on Win 7.

It's simpler to do on XP-- See below.

These steps have been going well. I have a few more disks to try it out on yet.

 

That works to. Thanks for posting back. Glad you got it resolved.

 

I am back because not altogether done with this yet.

One rig with XP allowed me to turn off the WMP as described.
My other box which has the same install asks for the install disk. A routine runs and completes. But the WMP icons remain. Why the difference? I even reset the problem box with system restore then unchecked the WMP box again but the problem remains.

I will try it again just to confirm.

 

Arie,

I cannot mark resolved yet. I still have those pesky WMP logos on everything.
I may have seen some adjustments on a file type or two. These show up as a "page" with various logos on the white 'page with bent ear' image. Just another example of inscrutable windows things.

One problem I see is the inability to add a file type called Video Clip. The error given is the file type cannot have a space. These are XP problems.

Perhaps other windows versions are not as obstinate but I have no media content in my Win7 sample install yet.

 

Hi Ioninappleton,

I have just gone to Control Panel > Add or Remove programs > Add/Remove Windows Components > Unchecked WMP > Next > Finish > Closed Control Panel > Restarted comp and there are NO signs of WMP showing in Programs.
This is on my XP SP3 comp and I have not seen any "pesky" WMP logos anywhere.

Is "Video Clip" new software?
Once you have uninstalled WMP, you will need to install another Media Software ie. VLC as you will not be able to play CD/DVD's.

Also, please don't compare your XP with W7 as there is quite a difference in the MS layout which seems to be confusing you. We can walk you through these differences but let's fix your OS one at a time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions Have a look in this link and if you scroll down you will see what each W7 version contains. Cheers Neil.

 

Neil,

Can we do this and mark it closed: is it possible to have a file type with a space in it? Win XP says no. Therefore I cannot associate VLC with it and regular WMP appellation is attached. If it's not doable that's the answer. Certain media types are tagged Video Clip even when played back in VLC etc as .AVI. I don't know why this is-- it may be a question for the gang at videohelp.com which I use frequently. Previously I have added .MKV (I think, maybe M4V) to good effect because it did not contradict the no space rule.

If your experience is that a file type (as seen in Windows XP Properties) called Video Clip cannot be associated then we will close this because it is not solvable.

In summary we are talking about XP only and can Video Clip ever be associated with VLC rather than WMP. I have also had no success in trying to effectively rename the file to .avi which is it's file extension everywhere else.

 

If you would go into Folder Options, under the View tab, uncheck Hide Extensions for Known File Types, then Apply, then Ok. You should then be able to change the file extension.

 

I will double check though that's normally the first thing I do on a setup.

 

I put on my thinking cap and here is the solution (a non Windows one) of getting rid of the ever-present WMP icons.

I recalled that VLC-- if left to it's install devices-- puts it's icons on everything. I made a new install but did not make my usual exceptions for m3u (audio for Winamp) rm (Democracy Now) and a variety of others.

Sure enough, VLC wiped the Windows Media Player icons along with everything else.

In reverse order then, you can manually select the exceptions you want.

I will mark it resolved now.