You may receive a "Windows Media Player cannot play the file" error message when you try to restart a video in Windows Media Player in a multiple-monitor configuration (904550)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows Media Player 10
  • Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 Series for Windows Server 2003
  • Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 Series for Windows XP

SYMPTOMS

Consider the following scenario. You play a video in Microsoft Windows Media Player in a multiple-monitor configuration. Then, you switch to a different logged-on user account by using the fast user switching (FUS) feature in Microsoft Windows XP. When you switch back to the original user account and try to restart the video, you experience one of the following problems:
  • You may receive the following error message:
    Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The player might not support the file type or might not support the codec that was used to compress the file. 0xC00D1100
  • Windows Media Player does nothing at all.

CAUSE

When you switch out of the current environment, the display device becomes unavailable to the Video Mixing Renderer (VMR), and the video stops. When you switch back, the VMR queries Microsoft DirectDraw (DDraw) to determine whether a device is available. In a multiple-monitor configuration, DDraw returns an error instead of telling the VMR that a device is available.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, exit and then restart Windows Media Player.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:7/13/2005
Keywords:kbprb KB904550 kbAudDeveloper kbAudEndUser kbAudITPRO
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