How to Install or Uninstall Windows Media Player in Windows 10 (2024)

FAQs

How to Install or Uninstall Windows Media Player in Windows 10? ›

Click on Start > Settings Apps. Click on Optional features. Uninstall: Click on Windows Media Player and click on Uninstall. Install: Click on Add a feature.

In some editions of Windows 10, it's included as an optional feature that you can enable. To do that, select the Start button, then select Settings > Apps > Apps & features > Manage optional features > Add a feature > Windows Media Player, and select Install.

To install the Leagacy Windows Media Player, go to Settings > System > Optional Features > Add a feature > Search for Windows Media Player Legacy > Select it > Install.

In the Search bar on your taskbar type in turn on or off windows features click it when it shows up. Find and expand the media features section and uncheck windows media player. Then click OK. Media Player will then be removed from your system.

To do this, Select Start > Settings > Apps > Installed Apps. Scroll down and click the three horizontal dots next to Windows Media Player and choose Advanced options, and click the Repair or Reset button.

Select the Media Player folder, and then click Delete on the File menu. Restart Windows Media Player. Note Windows Media Player automatically rebuilds the database.

Windows Media Player (2022)

A different app called Media Player is the successor to Groove Music (previously Xbox Music) and Windows Media Player.

Windows Media Player is included with Windows 10 desktop. Note that the app no longer plays DVDs.

Press Win+R to open Run. Type wmplayer.exe into the Run dialog. Press Enter and this will open Windows Media Player.

Click on Start > Settings Apps. Click on Optional features. Uninstall: Click on Windows Media Player and click on Uninstall. Install: Click on Add a feature.

What has happened to Windows Media Player? ›

What happened to Windows Media Player? Windows Media Player was eventually replaced in Windows 8 with Groove Music. Groove Music persisted in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, before being replaced in turn with the Media Player in Windows 11.

VLC Media Player

The player is compatible with working on cross-platform including Windows, Mac, Unix, Android, and Linux. This versatile player supports playing most of the codecs like MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MKV, WebM, MP3, , WMV, and others.

Microsoft is replacing Windows Media Player with Media Player for Windows 11.

During the ripping process, the Player compresses each song and stores it on your drive as a Windows Media Audio (WMA), WAV, or MP3 file. Ripped files are automatically saved to the Music folder, but you can change the location using the options on the Rip settings tab.

Create the installation media

Download the Windows 10 installation media to a separate external storage device that has at least 8GB of available space. Everything on this drive will be deleted to complete the download, so make sure it's empty before you proceed.

You can disable or uninstall Windows Media Player in Windows 10 if you are using some other app to play your audio and video files. Many users have already switched to advanced open source apps like VLC and SMPlayer, so they have no use for the good old WMP.

Removing recent entries in Windows Media Player 9 and 10 series. Tools menu. Click the Privacy tab. Click the Clear History button to clear Windows Media Player's recently played files list.