A Sonic DVD Codec Won't Work With Windows Media 11

Like most other free media player software, Windows Media Player 11 does not come with the necessary codec to play DVDs. In order for Windows Media Player to read and play a DVD from the computer's DVD drive, you must install a DVD decoder plugin. A few different DVD Decoder plugins for Windows Media Player are available for download from the Microsoft website, including the Roxio CinePlayer DVD Decoder, a Sonic product. If the Sonic DVD codec won't work with Windows Media 11, this could be due to a number of issues.

• 1

  Make sure your computer is running Windows XP or a newer version of Windows. To determine which version of Windows your computer has installed, right-click "My Computer" or "Computer" from the desktop or the "Start" menu and choose "Properties." The operating system is listed in the "System" pane. No Sonic CinePlayer codec works on versions of Windows earlier than Windows XP.

• 2

  Download the proper Sonic Roxio CinePlayer DVD Decoder for your Windows operating system. Separate CinePlayer codecs are available for Windows XP and Windows Vista systems (see Resources). The two Roxio CinePlayer DVD Decoder codecs cannot be interchanged, so if you download the wrong version of the Sonic codec, it won't work on your system.

• 3

  Get any updates available for your computer by going to the "Start" menu, clicking on "All Programs" and clicking the "Windows Update" entry. When the window comes up, click "Install Updates" and Windows will automatically find any updates for your operating system on the Internet and install them. This eliminates the possibility that the operating system is the issue and not the actual Windows Media codec.

• 4

  Get the GDIPlus patch for CinePlayer from the Roxio software update page (see Resources). The Roxio GDIPlus patch fixes a known issue that occurs with Windows systems if the Windows computer was used to view an infected JPEG file on a website. Once you download the GDIPlus file, locate the file by going to "Start," "My Computer" or "Computer," the "Local Disk (C:)" drive, the "Users" folder, clicking the username of the person who downloaded the codec and then clicking the "Downloads" folder.

• 5

  Leave the "Downloads" folder open and go to the "Start" menu again, click "Computer or "My Computer," the "Local Disk (C:)" drive, go to the "Windows" folder and click the "System32" folder to open it. Drag the GDIPlus file from the "Downloads" folder into the "System32" folder. Then, right-click the GDIPlus file, choose "Copy," click the back arrow to go back to the "Local Disk (C:)" folder, click the "WINDOWS" folder, the "ehome" folder, the "CreateDisc" folder, and right-click in any empty space in the "CreateDisc" folder and choose "Paste" to add the file to that folder as well.

• 6

  Download another Windows Media Player codec to your system if nothing else works. The CyberLink PowerDVD plugin provided on the Microsoft website expressly states that it works with Windows Media Player 11, so it is a good option if you need to try another codec.

• 7

  Return to the "Downloads" folder if you closed it. Double-click the icon for the new codec that you downloaded and follow the instructions in the installation wizard that opens to install the DVD player codec to your system.