I Want to Revert Back to WMP 9, But How? (1 Viewer)

[Chuck C]

I downloaded windows media player 10, and it runs very slow plus I do not like the interface. I want to revert back to windows media player 9, but when I try to install 9, it says something like "there is a higher version already installed, now exiting this application"

any help?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Did you try uninstalling WMP version 10 before reinstalling version 9? From the Control Panel, run "Add or Remove Programs", then "Add/Remove Windows Components" from within that application. Uncheck Windows Media Player, and it should uninstall your current version.

 

[Chuck C]

scott,

it does not appear in the list of programs to add/remove

any other suggestions?

 

[ThomasC]

Do you have System Restore enabled? If so, you should be able to roll back to the time before you installed WMP 10. Although, this may not be a good idea if you've installed other programs since that time.

 

[Chris]

As you'll be alerted, without system restore, you cannot, as WMP10 makes major changes in other areas of windows handling. In other words: you can either system restore back a good ways, or format and re-install

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Did you check under "Add/Remove Windows Components" and not "Change or Remove Programs"? Windows Media Player appears there as a removable Windows item on my Windows XP SP2 machine, but I've never tried to uninstall that particular application. FYI, I have WMP version 10 installed.

 

[Chuck C]

scott, yeah I saw that, and I am going to try that option tomorrow, thanks

 

[Chris]

From the MS FAQ:


http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win.../mp10/faq.aspx

From reality:

Because Media Player 8, not 9, shipped with Windows XP, uninstalling MP10 via this method reverts to MP8, not 9. You will then have to obtain 9 by other methods then Windows Update, etc. (it should still be at http://www.microsoft.com/mediaplayer/ )

NOW.. here's the bitch. If you have installed ANY of the system encoding packs (like MediaPlayer 9 Encoder, or external encoders) there is a known problem with the way that windows will handle this; because Mediaplayer 8 doesn't include those extension capabilities and because they are still in the registry, you may result in blue screens and random lockups. So, if you have them installed, uninstall first (this includes sidelight things like any DirectShow overlays ala 3ivx, etc.)

You can always give it a go with doing the remove components/pull MP10, but check around, there are a great number of "didn't work quite as planned" stories So I'd see if you can roll back via System Restore if you don't like it first.. (and if I may ask, I see the interface issue is a negative; MP10 can assume the MP9 interface by selecting the appropriate skin..)

 

[Chuck C]

worked like a charm chris...in fact, it took me back to 9 instead of 8

thanks everyone

 

[Chris]

Wow! Did your PC ship with SP2 or SP1 installed by default (in which case, WMP9 would be installed)

 

[ThomasC]

Chris, I was able to roll back from WMP 10 to WMP 9 with SP2 installed, with no service packs installed initially, at least I think so. I got Windows XP Professional in March 2002, was SP1 released yet?

 

[Chris]

Hmm. I'd have to look. Yeah, the hitch most people run into is that the origianl shipped with MP8, and then tons of people ended up with direct media show updates that linked to MP10.. and pulling out MP10 created some serious headaches. MS has a tool you can run in safe mode that resolves many of them, though.

 

[Chuck C]

Chris, I also installed SP2 when it first came out