Troubleshooting Windows Media Player

Basic troubleshooting

If you are experiencing difficulties viewing a webcast using Windows Media Player, first try the following:

Test your Windows Media Player

General webcast troubleshooting

Microsoft Windows Media Player support

Microsoft Windows Media Player FAQ

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Installation issues

Ensure that you install Windows Media Player after installing your browser. For additional Windows Media Player installation issues please refer to Microsoft's installation guide:

Microsoft Windows Media Player installation FAQs

Note: If you have recently installed a new version of your web browser and the Windows Media Player does not load or display properly, it may be necessary to reinstall Windows Media Player.

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Player appears disabled (all buttons grayed out)

There is a problem with some Windows machines where the player appears disabled (all the buttons are grayed out). This is because the Windows Media Player defaults to the wrong proxy settings. Follow these instructions to fix this issue:

1. Open your Windows Media Player (Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > Entertainment or Multimedia > Windows Media Player).
2. Go to the View > Options Menu.
3. Select the Advanced Tab.
4. Select Streaming Media (Windows Media).
5. Under Protocols > HTTP select "No Proxy".
6. Select Apply and OK. Close your Windows Media Player.

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Windows Media Player captioning issues

Windows Media Player version 9 and higher uses a captioning method that is not currently support by the IBM webcast site. This issue will be resolved in the future, but in the interim if you require closed captioning service, either do not upgrade your Windows Media Player past version 8.x or alternatively consider using RealPlayer for playback instead. To uninstall version 9 of the Windows Media player please refer to the following Microsoft web page for further information.

Microsoft Readme for Windows Media Player 9 series

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Windows Media Player and Netscape

Old versions (E.G.: 4.x) of Netscape require the Windows Media Player 6.4 Navigator plugin. We advise users of Netscape to upgrade to the latest version as we no longer support versions prior to Netscape 7. However, if upgrading is not possible, you may be able to acquire the necessary Netscape plugin from Microsoft.

Netscape Navigator plugin

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Windows Media Player and Firefox 3

The current Windows Media ActiveX Plugin for Firefox is not supported in Firefox version 3.0 and later. To experience the the full range of webcast features (including automated slide advance) please use the Firefox 2.x browser with the WM ActiveX plugin for Firefox installed (see instructions below) or alternatively select the RealPlayer webcast option.

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Windows Media Player and Firefox 2

Enabling all webcast features (including automatic slide synchronization) for Windows Media in the FireFox 2.0+ browsers requires the client to install a new Microsoft ActiveX plugin for Firefox.

Firefox 2 plugin

Note: if you already have Windows Media Player installed on your computer, you will need to enable the new plugin after it is installed. To enable the plugin, follow the instructions below.

Since you probably had Windows Media Player installed before you installed the new Windows Media Player Firefox Plugin, you may find that the new plugin (np-mswmp.dll) does not get used. That's because Firefox is using the "old" plugins that are part of the Windows Media Player installation (npdsplay.dll, npdrmv2.dll, npwmsdrm.dll). In order to get Firefox to use the new Windows Media Player Firefox plugin follow these steps:

1. Launch your Firefox 2.x browser.
2. In the address bar, type about:config and press enter.
3. On this page find the entry plugin.scan.WindowsMediaPlayer and set its value to 998. This ensure that Firefox will use the new plugin (np-mswmp.dll) and not try to load a version of Windows Media Player with a smaller version number.
4. Close and relaunch the Firefox browser.
5. To verify that the new plugin is registered, type about:plugins in the address bar and press enter. On this page you should see the listing for the Microsoft Windows Media Player Firefox Plugin, located at the location, C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins\np-mswmp.dll.
6. Close and relaunch the Firefox browser and try playing the Windows Media again.

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