You cannot play licensed media content in Windows Media Player after you remove Windows XP Service Pack 2 (843020)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (SP2)
  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (SP2)

SYMPTOMS

When you try to play some licensed media content that you previously played in Windows Media Player, the licensed media content may no longer play and you may have to reacquire some licenses to play the content.

CAUSE

This issue occurs because Windows Media Player 9 Series handles digital content licenses differently than earlier versions of Windows Media Player when all the following conditions are true:
  • You upgrade your Microsoft Windows 2000-based computer to Microsoft Windows XP.
  • You install Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2).
  • You remove Microsoft Windows XP SP2.

RESOLUTION

To make sure that your existing licensed content remains available to Windows Media Player after you remove Windows XP SP2, use one of the following methods:
  • Before you upgrade your computer to Windows XP SP2, back up the licenses for your digital media files. To do this, click License Management on the Tools menu in Windows Media Player. Then, before removing the service pack, back up any additional licenses that you have acquired. After you remove the service pack, restore all the licenses. For additional information about how to back-up your digital media licenses, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    265473 How to back up and restore Media Player license files

  • After you remove Windows XP SP2, you can install Windows Media Player 9 Series. To download Windows Media Player 9 Series, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

    http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/9series/default.aspx

REFERENCES

For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

810422 "Licenses for your media files are corrupted" or "License is either corrupted or not valid" error message when you try to play licensed media files

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:9/8/2005
Keywords:kbnetwork kbConsumer kbSecurity kbVideo kbmusic kbPerformance kbBackup kbmm kbConfig kbBug kbtshoot kbprb KB843020 kbAudEndUser
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