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Blog: Software Microsoft Releases Obvious Workaround for WMP11 Issue
Wolfgang Hansson (Blog) - January 16, 2008 10:42 AM

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35 comment(s) - last by DragonMaster0.. on Jan 19 at 11:48 AM

Microsoft gives Windows the three finger salute, says hit CTRL+ALT+DEL

Users of the Microsoft Windows operating systems know that Windows has more than its share of issues. If you are a user of Windows Media Player 11 and have noticed that your tunes don’t stop playing when you close Media Player 11, Microsoft has released a work around that is quite entertaining.

Long time users of Windows know that many errors that occur with Windows typically require you to hit CTRL+ALT+DEL at some point, typically after cursing and seriously considering a change to OS X or Linux.

The irony of a Microsoft workaround that begins with press CTRL+ALT+DEL is too funny to pass up. The complete work around is as follows:

Press CTRL+ALT+DEL
Click Start Task Manager
Click the Processes tab
Click the wmplayer.exe process
Click End Processes and then click End process

The first step is sure to confuse many Windows noobs as they look all around the keyboard for the CTRL+ALT+DEL buttons. Too bad Microsoft didn’t just man up and put out a workaround that said -- 1. Reboot.

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Wow.

By gradoman on 1/16/2008 10:50:00 AM , Rating: 2

This is a "work-around"? I think I'll get back to work now *chuckles*.

RE: Wow.

By Master Kenobi

(blog) on 1/16/2008 10:55:49 AM , Rating: 4

I figured this work-around out myself over a year ago when I installed Vista. I found the damn player kept going in the background. After killing it a few times, it seems to have learned to stop on its own proeperly now.

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RE: Wow.

By JasonMick

(blog) on 1/16/2008 11:37:25 AM , Rating: 4

Way to beat that Microsoft player into submission Obiwan! =P

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RE: Wow.

By Cullinaire on 1/16/2008 1:51:38 PM , Rating: 5

He hasn't gone by that name for a long, long time now.

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RE: Wow.

By Master Kenobi

(blog) on 1/16/2008 2:30:46 PM , Rating: 2

Indeed.

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RE: Wow.

By ImSpartacus on 1/16/2008 9:02:36 PM , Rating: 2

Yeah, where I come from, we call that troubleshooting, and you don't need a five step process to explain it.

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hands off

By Labs23 on 1/16/2008 11:48:52 AM , Rating: 1

This is why i never set WMP as my default media player(since WMP10)... I found it lacking functionality..

RE: hands off

By Spivonious on 1/16/2008 1:24:26 PM , Rating: 1

Your loss.

WMP11's library is the best I've used.

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RE: hands off

By AnnihilatorX on 1/16/2008 2:01:22 PM , Rating: 2

It's a great library system

However I've gave WMP11 up because of other problems, such as lack of format support. E.g. tagging of flac and ape files.
The 3rd party tag support plugins available just don't work anymore in Vista. and even in XP they aren't without problems.

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RE: hands off

By TomCorelis

(blog) on 1/16/2008 2:11:39 PM , Rating: 3

Better than Winamp's?

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RE: hands off

By gumbi18 on 1/16/2008 5:54:45 PM , Rating: 2

Don't forget Amarok. Version 2 soon to be released on Windows as well. Yay :)

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RE: hands off

By daBKLYNdoorman on 1/18/2008 8:43:37 PM , Rating: 1

Winamp is the best thing out there. I've been using it since Windows ME (yes, I was a angry kid back then) and haven't had any problems. Winamp uses so little resources and "just works".

I <333 Winamp (my gf made me say that).

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RE: hands off

By DragonMaster0 on 1/19/2008 11:48:47 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
E.g. tagging of flac and ape files.

Almost nothing can work with these files properly, hence why I use foobar2k. Yay! FLAC with embedded cuesheets actually work! (Unlike with Winamp and Amarok AFAIK)
Also, foobar can look and behave like anything with the proper extensions. The only problem is that you need to use a little workaround on DRMed files, it doesn't support them (directly). ;D

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RE: hands off

By Captain Orgazmo on 1/16/2008 8:32:57 PM , Rating: 2

I like the WMP11 library, but when I access it over the network using Vista's media sharing server, I find that I can't seek in many videos and some sound files... anyone encountered this?

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RE: hands off

By Christopher1 on 1/19/08, Rating: 0

RE: hands off

By ImSpartacus on 1/16/2008 9:03:57 PM , Rating: 2

I like WMP11, I had a little trouble learning how to use it from WMP10, but after that day or two, it was smooth sailing.

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Just to clarify

By masher2

(blog) on 1/16/2008 12:52:50 PM , Rating: 2

You're *not* being forced to reboot in this case. Ctrl-Alt-Del is simply bringing up the task manager. The workaround could have easily said, "click run, then type "taskmgr") instead.

RE: Just to clarify

By Christopher1 on 1/16/2008 4:16:03 PM , Rating: 1

True. Really, not many people have had this problem that I have seen, and most who do are running some strange programs on their machines that interfere with WMP11 somehow.

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RE: Just to clarify

By Etsp on 1/16/2008 5:42:22 PM , Rating: 2

the run button is hidden by default, as a replacement the search bar at the bottom of the start menu can work in a similar fashion.

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RE: Just to clarify

By ImSpartacus on 1/16/2008 9:09:35 PM , Rating: 2

It becomes depressing when you need a work-around to get to the work-around. The task manager should be a required standard icon on the desktop.

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RE: Just to clarify

By Sulphademus on 1/17/2008 4:28:23 PM , Rating: 4

Ya know, right clicking a blank space on the Taskbar works too. Just above "Lock the Taskbar."

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RE: Just to clarify

By UltimateDeath on 1/18/2008 3:37:39 AM , Rating: 2

You can just press CTRL + SHIFT + ESC to bring up the task manager straight away, that always seems the easiest to me.

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Why not just... fix it?

By Flunk on 1/16/2008 11:03:34 AM , Rating: 3

I have noticed this issue on my Vista x64 workstation and although it is annoying it really seems like something they should be able to fix fairly simply. Microsoft is the world's largest software company, why can't they write software that closes itself properly?

RE: Why not just... fix it?

By cochy on 1/16/2008 11:43:04 AM , Rating: 2

Ya Media Player seems funky on my Vista 64bit as well. Some times it will make my system completely unresponsive. Task Manager won't even come up at that point.

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RE: Why not just... fix it?

By Christopher1 on 1/19/08, Rating: 0

RE: Why not just... fix it?

By MAIA on 1/17/2008 12:13:54 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
why can't they write software that closes itself properly?

That would become a suicide ... or a "closicide" ...

But really, why keyboard manufacturers won't make a damn single key called ... you guess it "CTRL+ALT+DEL" ? Then sell it as keyboards for noobs.

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alternatives

By Visual on 1/16/2008 12:18:49 PM , Rating: 5

well, pressing ctrl+alt+del could easily be avoided.

that instruction could've asked the users to rightclick the taskbar and select task manager... but how many users know what a taskbar is?

a much quicker way is to press crtl-shift-escape, but i guess that would confuse even more people than ctrl-alt-del...

and the most cryptic solution is perhaps the fastest one: start, run, "taskkill /f /im wmplayer.exe"
you won't need to retype that thing every time, the run dialog remembers it.
or you can even make a batch file for it.

or, you know... you can probably press stop before closing the player?

RE: alternatives

By Masterrer on 1/18/2008 8:28:53 AM , Rating: 2

Deserves a 6 period

And here I was thinking that I'm a hardcore Windows user... :D

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ROFL

By Bioniccrackmonk on 1/16/2008 11:33:52 AM , Rating: 3

That picture is priceless, rings with Ctrl, Alt and Del in them. Very fitting for this article.

RE: ROFL

By ImSpartacus on 1/16/2008 9:05:54 PM , Rating: 2

I so want those rings. That would kick ass.

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This is a problem?

By therealnickdanger on 1/16/2008 11:34:59 AM , Rating: 2

I've never experienced this. My media always stops playing when I close WMP...?

RE: This is a problem?

By theapparition on 1/16/2008 11:40:08 PM , Rating: 2

I've found that my WMP 11 works fine most times, but when I have my PDA docked, media files still play when it gets closed. If I remove my PDA, the issue goes away.

Never really cared about something so minor.

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