Uninstalling Windows Media Player 9.0 Completely under Win98, 2000, ME & XP pre-SP2:
Updated: Friday October 9, 2009

WARNING: Do NOT attempt to uninstall Windows Media Player 9 if you have Service Pack 2 or
Service Pack 3 installed under Windows XP.  This tip will only work for users who are using pre-SP2
editions of WinXP.   If you want to remove WMP9 under WinXP SP2 or SP3, just uninstall SP2/SP3
(unless you have installed an integrated or slipstreamed version of WinXP already including either
 Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3 which you won't have the ability to remove Media Player 9 at all).
Note that the tips mentioned here can cause loss of personal settings & playlist files for WMP9, so
backup your WMP license files, personal user settings & playlist files before performing the WMP9
removal process if you want to save them.  AND these tips are not for the 64-bit editions of Windows XP
and all editions of Windows Server 2003.  Follow the directions very carefully.  Also, do NOT follow
these tips if you have Windows Media Player 10 or 11 installed! The tips are for WMP9 ONLY!
 

For those using Win98 or WinME run the following command in Run dialog box:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection C:\Windows\INF\wmp.inf,Uninstall
Then click Yes to continue & restart the computer.

For those using Win2000 or WinXP orig. or SP1 run the following command in Run dialog box:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection C:\Windows\INF\wmp.inf,Uninstall.NT
Then click Yes to continue & restart the computer.  Win2000 users should note that the default Windows
folder is the WinNT folder instead of Windows; look for the wmp.inf file in the 'C:\WinNT\INF' folder.

Note that running the command to 'uninstall' WMP9 does NOT remove all the files that came with the
WMP9 setup package.  The uninstaller only removes the essential files required to run WMP9 and it does
not remove some of its registry entries.
After rebooting delete the following files from the following folders---

from the 'c:\windows\system\catroot\{--GUID--}' folder if using Win98/WinME
from the 'c:\winnt\system32\catroot\{--GUID--}' folder if using Win2000
from the 'c:\windows\system32\catroot\{--GUID--}' folder if using WinXP
where {--GUID--} is the random GUID number of your machine; delete the following:
------------
drm.cat  setup_wm.cat  WMFSDK.cat  wmdm.cat  wmp.cat
------------
(on certain versions of Windows some of the above files may already be deleted
 so just delete the remaining files)

from the 'C:\Windows\Inf' or 'C:\WinNT\Inf' folder delete the following:
------------
drm.inf  skins.inf  unregmp2.exe  wmdm.inf  WMFSDK.inf  wmp.inf
------------
(in WinXP, you may be prompted to insert your XP CD so that it can restore
 its version of the unregmp2.exe file; in Win98se, 2000 & ME some of the
 above files may already be deleted so remove the remaining files)

from the 'c:\program files\windows media player' folder delete the following:
------------
npdrmv2.dll  npdrmv2.zip  npwmsdrm.dll  pidgen.dll  setup_wm.exe  wmpband.dll  wmplayer.exe
------------
(in WinXP, you may be prompted to insert your XP CD so that it can restore the npdrmv2.dll, npwmsdrm.dll,
 setup_wm.exe & wmplayer.exe files; if you have Mozilla, Netscape, Opera or Firefox web browser
 installed delete the npdrmv2.dll, npdrmv2.zip, npdsplay.dll & npwmsdrm.dll files from the browser's
 Plugins folder)

and finally delete the following files from your Windows System folder:
c:\windows\system\ if using Win98/WinME
c:\winnt\system32\ if using Win2000
c:\windows\system32\ if using WinXP
------------
asferror.dll  blackbox.dll  cewmdm.dll  drmclien.dll  drmstor.dll  drmv2clt.dll  laprxy.dll
logagent.exe  mp43dmod.dll  mpg4dmod.dll  mp4sdmod.dll  msnetobj.dll  mspmsnsv.dll  mspmsp.dll
msscp.dll  mswmdm.dll  qasf.dll  wmadmod.dll  wmadmoe.dll  wmasf.dll  wmdmlog.dll  wmdmps.dll
wmerror.dll  wmidx.dll  wmnetmgr.dll  wmp.ocx  wmpasf.dll  wmpcd.dll  wmpcore.dll  wmploc.dll
wmpshell.dll  wmpui.dll  wmsdmod.dll  wmsdmoe2.dll  wmspdmod.dll  wmspdmoe.dll  wmvcore.dll
wmvdmod.dll  wmvdmoe2.dll
------------
(if using WinXP, insert your XP CD to restore many of the WMP files that were stored
 in the system folder)

Now open registry editor (regedit.exe) and delete the following registry keys:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Media
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer

Open Windows Explorer and delete the following folders if using Win98se or WinME and you don't want
to keep the user settings stored in the following folders:
'C:\WINDOWS\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Index'
'C:\WINDOWS\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player'
'C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player'
If using Win2000, look in the WINNT folder instead of the WINDOWS folder and follow the above directions.
If using WinXP, look in the 'Documents and Settings' folder instead of the Windows folder
(ex. 'C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player').  Now delete
the Media Index & Media Player folders.
If user profiles are installed, delete the following folder (where 'username' is the name of the currently
logged on user:
'C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player' (for Win98se/WinME)
'C:\WINNT\Profiles\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player' (for Win2000)
'C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player' (for WinXP)

Also delete the wmsetup.log, WMSysPr9.prx & WMSysPrx.prx files from the Windows or WinNT folder.
Then delete the DRM folder from the Windows or WinNT folder.  Then reboot and you're all done.

Now you can install an older version of WMP like WMP 7.1 under Win98, 2000 or ME.  Just simply
download & run the WMP 7.1 installer with the /Q switch to quietly install all the Media Player components.
You may need to install or re-install WMP 7.1 twice [once with the /Q switch and then run it normally but
choose the option to Reinstall All Components; this will re-install all WMP files and reset registry settings].
You may also want to download & install ALL of the Windows Media Codecs packages so that you can
open new Windows Media Audio & Video files in WMP 7.1 or WMP 6.4.  Get the WM codecs packages
listed at my IE/WMP Updates page.  To fully restore WMP 8 for WinXP run the System File Checker tool
with the /scannow switch from the Command Prompt or Run dialog box [ex. sfc /scannow], insert your
WinXP CD and when the SFC tool is done restoring all the WMP8 files from the XP cd, restart the computer.
Then extract the wmp.inf file from the wmp.in_ file from your XP cd-rom and place the wmp.inf file into the
'c:\windows\inf' folder (overwrite if necessary).  Extract the wmplayer.chm file from the wmplayer.ch_ file
from the XP CD and place the wmplayer.chm file into the 'c:\windows\help' folder (overwrite if necessary).

Then run the following commands in the Run dialog box:
rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection InstallWMP64 132 c:\windows\inf\mplayer2.inf
(direct the installer to the I386 folder of your XP cd-rom)

rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection InstallWMP7 132 c:\windows\inf\wmp.inf
(direct the installer to the I386 folder of your XP cd-rom)

Now restart the computer and test out Windows Media Player 8.  If WMP8 loads, great.  If not and you get
an error message trying to run WMP8, check to see if all the Media Player 8 files have been restored by
WinXP [some files may still be missing].  Look in the following folders for the essential files:

'c:\program files\windows media player'
------------
npdrmv2.dll  npwmsdrm.dll  setup_wm.exe  wmplayer.exe  wmpvis.dll
------------

'c:\windows\system32'
------------
asferror.dll  asfsipc.dll  blackbox.dll  cewmdm.dll  drmclien.dll  drmstor.dll  drmv2clt.dll  laprxy.dll
logagent.exe  mpg4dmod.dll  msnetobj.dll  mspmsp.dll  mspmspsv.dll  msscp.dll  mswmdm.dll
qasf.dll  wmadmod.dll  wmadmoe.dll  wmasf.dll  wmdmlog.dll  wmdmps.dll  wmerror.dll  wmidx.ocx
wmnetmgr.dll  wmp.ocx  wmpcd.dll  wmpcore.dll  wmploc.dll  wmpshell.dll  wmpstub.exe  wmpui.dll
wmsdmod.dll  wmsdmoe.dll  wmstream.dll  wmvcore.dll  wmv8dmod.dll  wmvdmod.dll  wmvdmoe.dll
------------

If some of the files mentioned above are missing or in the wrong version, gather them from your Windows XP
cd-rom, overwrite the files if necessary, run the mplayer2.inf & wmp.inf Install commands again from the
Run dialog box and restart the computer & run WMP8 again.  It should work for sure.  Then you can install
updated WM Codecs packs so you can play Media Player files in newer formats in WMP8.

Note: You can also use the tips above to remove WMP9 build 3250 after installing updated WMP9
files from XP SP2 over the original WMP9 package; to install the WMP9 files from XP SP2 onto
Win98se/WinME, download and install the unofficial WMP9 Update Rollup pack which includes not
only the WMP9 files from XP SP2 but also the latest WMP9 security fixes.  The version of WMP9
included in XP SP3 is WMP9 build 4503.
 

[Click here to go back to my Computer Tips for Windows page - part 2]