Windows Media Player comes broken on 64-bit Vista
By Jonathan Schlaffer
Well, does that really come as a surprise? There really is no advantage to running a 64-bit (Windows) operating system yet. Driver support is horrible, some programs don’t work and generally it just makes life worse. And that friends, extends to the 64-bit version of Vista.
It seems 64-bit Vista has a bit of trouble with Windows Media Player (WMP). But not just Media player, this problem can extend into other programs as well such as Napster. By default the 32-bit version of WMP 11 is set as default on a 64-bit Vista installation but sometimes the 64-bit version of WMP will try to take over control resulting in an error.
My Digital Life has several solutions for this problem. You can set either the 32-bit or 64-bit versions as default via several methods depending on your needs. And as with all things Microsoft this problem seems to be random so I guess it just depends on what “mood†Vista is in at that particular moment.
When and if the 64-bit version of WMP 11 tries to take control from the 32-bit WMP 11 it will cause the program to stop responding resulting in cryptic error messages (a lot like this). Microsoft seems to like creating cryptic error messages, is it some kind of sick fun for them? Who knows?
Robert McLaws says the solution is to close any open media players and type the following command at the command prompt (launch by typing cmd in the search box of the start menu):
%windir%\system32\unregmp2.exe /SwapTo:32
After running that command, make sure to launch the 32-bit version of WMP 11 only or you will end up having to start over.
The lesson is here that the 32-bit version of Vista has fewer issues, greater compatibility and is just less of a headache to get working than 64-bit Vista. The same applies to XP. 64-bit environments are not yet ready for the home user, it’s going to be one or two more years before it is.
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April 18th, 2007
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August 1st, 2007
For one, vista 64bit is only 64bit canidate for a desktop user OS that has support at all, none the less is works better then any platforms I’ve seen and personally worked with. I’m not trying to judge your option. I’m just sick of people trashing an OS that: One; they haven’t used, Two; Don’t have the proper hardware (which in case they should have stuck with XP anyway), And Three; Dont have the common sense to understand how much Vista is better then XP (Because it’s Fact, Its is the most dominate OS on the market). People are dumb, That is a Fact too. Just cause they still have the beta version of vista all patched up, or some boot leg version that wont work either, and because of that they feel that their political obligation is two ruin microsofts new platform. Please understand that im not targeting this at you, im sure you have (as some people do, Valid reasons not to move to the New OS), But for those who dont and just want to agrue the fact the windows vista is a terrible operating system, due to the fact that they installed it on there 2001 hp A450 desktop, with 512 ram. errrr I digress.
August 30th, 2007
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February 15th, 2008
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April 24th, 2008
[…] vista … as Napster. By default the 32-bit version of WMP 11 is set as default on a 64-bit …http://vista.blorge.com/2007/04/18/windows-media-player-comes-broken-on-64-bit-vista/registered nursing jobs pennsylvaniabrown snake audiogon.com nvidia world of warcraft reverse search […]
June 22nd, 2008
Is it 64bit you don’t like or Vista ? I’ve just installed Vista 64, instead of Vista 32, and so far I’m liking what I’m seeing. I can add another 4GB of RAM, making my system 6GB, which a 32bit OS can’t address correctly. Yes there is less support, but that will change. I hope you do know that Linux has been 64Bit enabled for longer then Windows, and Apple have replaced a lot of their code in OSX, making Leopard a 64Bit OS also. I’ve heard rumors of Windows Seven being 64Bit only, and if this is the OS that Vista was intended to be (current systems wouldn’t handle Vista in it’s original form) then you’ll need 4GB of RAM to run the damn thing!
Anyway, in short, Vista is the best version of Windows to date, and if you have a high-powered system with oodles of RAM, you need 64Bit. End of.
July 9th, 2008
To whom is may concern, this article is now completely outdated. As of July 2008, I can attest to the fact that Vista with SP1 runs smoother than ever before - in fact, I am running the 64 bit version on my PC (Gateway GT5676), and it is running quite nicely.