DVD Information Is Stored Locally When You Play DVDs (318671)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows Media Player for Windows XP Home Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Media Player for Windows XP Professional
This article was previously published under Q318671

SYMPTOMS

If you insert a DVD into your DVD-ROM drive and your computer is connected to the Internet, Windows Media Player for Windows XP retrieves additional information about the DVD from the WindowsMedia.com Web service, and then stores the information in your media library. The media library is a file on your hard disk.

CAUSE

This behavior is by design and occurs because the player stores this additional information in the media library on your hard disk so that the DVD information is available the next time that you play the DVD, even if your computer is not connected to the Internet.

The additional information, or metadata, includes related details such as the name of the DVD, the director's name, the DVD release date, and the chapter listings. The metadata is used by the player to enhance the DVD playback experience.

If chapter information is available, a list of the chapters is displayed that you can use to directly navigate to a chapter without having to page through multiple DVD menus.

Notes

  • DVD metadata is displayed only when you insert the DVD is into the DVD-ROM drive.
  • The WindowsMedia.com Web site has a cookie that is associated with it. When the player contacts the WindowsMedia.com Web site (for example, to display the Media Guide or to retrieve DVD or CD metadata) the player sends this cookie to WindowsMedia.com (if sending the cookie is permitted by your cookie settings). The DVD metadata that is returned by the WindowsMedia.com Web site is independent of the WindowsMedia.com cookie. The cookie contains no personally identifying information.
  • Personally identifying information is never transferred to Microsoft as a result of DVD playback. Microsoft does not link metadata retrieval with any personally identifiable information (for example, Microsoft does not know what specific user has viewed a particular DVD title).
Microsoft has updated the Windows Media Player for Windows XP privacy statement to include details about the DVD process:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/software/v8/privacy.aspx

RESOLUTION

To prevent DVD metadata from being saved on your computer, click Work Offline on the File menu in Windows Media Player. Note that when you use Windows Media Player offline, you cannot use the Media Guide, the Radio Tuner, or the CD lookup features.

To prevent the cookie that is associated with the WindowsMedia.com Web site from being sent, set the privacy level in Internet Explorer to block all cookies. When you do this, cookies are only stopped from being sent. Metadata will be retrieved and stored unless you select the Work Offline option. To prevent cookies from being sent:
  1. Start Internet Explorer.
  2. Click Options on the Tools menu.
  3. Click the Privacy tab.
  4. Move the slider that is in the Settings box to the Block All Cookies option.
To remove any DVD metadata that is stored in your media library, delete the media library, and then repopulate it.

NOTE: The following procedure permanently deletes any DVD or CD metadata that you have downloaded from the WindowsMedia.com Web site that was stored in the media library, as well as any edits that you made to this metadata. This procedure also deletes any play lists that are stored in the media library. The procedure does not remove any of your audio files, video files, or any of the metadata that is included in these files. To prevent metadata from being saved, you must click Work Offline on the File menu in Windows Media Player.
  1. Quit Windows Media Player.
  2. To remove the metadata, you must be able to view hidden files on your computer:
    1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
    2. Click Folder Options on the Tools menu.
    3. Click the View tab.
    4. Click Show hidden files and folders in the Advanced settings box, and then click OK.
  3. Double-click the local hard disk in which Windows XP is installed.
  4. Locate and double-click the Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Index folder.
  5. Right-click the Wmplibrary_v_0_12.db file, and then click Delete.
  6. Start Windows Media Player. A new "empty" media library is created.
  7. On the Tools menu, click Search for Media Files. When you do this, the new media library is repopulated based on the media content that is stored on your hard disks. Note that the play lists are not re-created.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:8/17/2006
Keywords:kbprb kbProd2Web KB318671
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.