Windows media player issue?

[lectrocrew]

 This is on my HP 6715b laptop running windows Vista Business 32 bit. Optical drive is DVD-RW / CD-RW
I have the latest WMP v11.0 but when I try to play most DVD's via my optical drive WMP gives me an error dialog box - image attached.
 This particular screen shot is with using an original store bought movie DVD.
I have the latest drivers installed for my ATI video card with resolution set @ 1024x768 .
 VLC media player will open/play the video with no problem.
 I've tried to install the latest WMP from Microsoft and it tells me that I already have the latest version on my machine. That Windows website also shows a list of codec packages I can download but they all cost $ which I don't have. I'd rather use VLC anyway...
 And I tried to uninstall WMP via 'control panel' but I don't see a way to do that.
What do I try now?
 As always, thanks for any help.
Mike

 

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]

[lectrocrew]

error screen attached

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]

[Calum]

Unfortunately WMP can't be totally removed in Vista and earlier versions of Windows, only from Windows 7 onwards.
I've seen this problem a few times and it can be caused by a few things.
Have a look here and see if this helps.  You could also give this a go.  The issue is most likely not with WMP per se, but with the way WMP accesses the drive, the Fixit tool in my second link as far as I'm aware just automates things like removing upper and lower filters and the mount point key - which is much simpler than wading through the registry doing those yourself as I've had to do before!

[lectrocrew]

The microsoft FixIt link says 'D' drive is fine (image attached), so I'll need to try the first link you gave but give me but give me some time - I'm pretty slow on registry stuff and I've got doctors appointments for all day today so I won't post back until late tonight or tomorrow, but I'll let you know what I find ASAP.
 Thanks once again for your help Calum!!!
Mike

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]

[Calum]

Alright, at least that rules out a couple of potential causes for the issue anyway.
Hopefully the first link gives better results.

[blackrainbow]

if you want a simple fix you can downlaod VLC media (video lan payer) that plays all movie file types, with out worrying about codex

[Calum]

if you want a simple fix you can downlaod VLC media (video lan payer) that plays all movie file types, with out worrying about codex

VLC media player will open/play the video with no problem.