Install Windows Media Player 11 on Server 2003

I found the directions for doing this on the web, somewhere, but I felt as though the page was poorly written. It failed to note a couple of things which could lead to confusion when doing this install. Anyway, Windows Media Player 11 will work on Server 2003. The steps to make it work, however, are pretty strange. So, here goes

  • First, download Windows Media Player 11 – you can get it from me, here:
    DOWNLOAD MEDIA PLAYER 11

  • Begin the installation but do not proceed beyond the screen which says “validate” – and leave this screen open throughout all of the next steps.
  • At this point temporary files will have been extracted somewhere – although I couldn’t find the damned things using the Windows search function (contrary to the instructions I’d originally found). I finally found them at:
    C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp\IXP000.TMP
    Yours may be somewhere else – but they’re in there somewhere. Once you’ve found these files you need to run them (1) in the following order, and, (2) in XP compatibility mode.
    wmfdist11.exe
    umdf.exe
    wmdbexport.exe

  • Very important: now, restart your computer.

This is one of those spots where the page I found overlooked something. In the same folder from which you’d been working you now need to run wmp11.exe. There’s a bit of a problem to solve, first, however. Once you’ve restarted the temporary files will be gone. You need to begin the installation just as you did at the top, stopping with the validation screen, in order to create this file.
Once you’ve run the above file, restart again.
Now go to Start > Run and type wmplayer. This will bring up the standard option to choose an express installation, etc. – just finish the process and you’re done…it works.

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