How to Use the Classic Windows Media Player (Legacy) in Windows 11

If you were a fan of the classic legacy Windows Media Player that was used by default in Windows 10 and are not a fan of the new Media Player app that is used in Windows 11, then you can easily switch to the older Windows Media Player even in Windows 11. As long as it's enabled in the Windows features you should be able to run it and then set it as default for whatever file type you like.

Here is a writeup of the process on our website.

Check out our book titled Windows 11 Made Easy and take your Windows skills to the next level!

#windows11tips
#winodws11
#windowsmediaplayer

[KevinP]

THANKS. it's been my favorite player for decades. it's simple and i don't have to worry about an algorithm stealing my old music and removing it.

[Music.Sports.]

Thank you. For me it's the best music player.

[ndrgerg]

Thanks! This worked for me! Now it's time to download old media player skins. :)

[doofy]

For anyone not seeing media player on their list, my problem was that I used a bloat remover as soon as I reinstalled windows and it uninstalled the media player that came with the pc. I just redownloaded media player from the microsoft store and followed this video. Thank you very much.

[bluevanimaging]

Great! just what I needed to know, found media player legacy actually on windows 11 and now using it. Very straight forward when you know how.Thanks!

[mayadoka]

I found after upgrading my Win 11 home edition to version 22H2 that my old legacy Win 12 player disappeared and was replaced with the new Win Media Player. I attempted the method mentioned here but there was nothing under features to continue with. What did work for my particular computer was by going to Drive (C:) to scroll to Windows, then scroll way down to a folder named Windows.old which after clicking on it showed a Programs files folder and within that folder scrolled down to Windows Media Player. Clicked on wmplayer and this launched the old Legacy player with all my playlists, etc. I pinned this player to the Start menu and also to my Task bar. I then selected a tune from my Music folder and right clicked on it to find "open with other program" and selected the Legacy player and clicked on the "Always" button below. I also went to the default settings (for the media player file use) and found a long list of file extensions which had the new player listed as default -- I selected the Legacy player for all of them except the last 2 which only allow the new player to work with. I did a restart of my computer and checked to find all my changes still there and the Legacy Media player working great. Thank you for the tips! :)

[eraserwastaken]

its already on my desktop before i even clicked on this video lol

[Dharzjinion]

Thank you so much, you are a Lifesaver!

[russ]

Very informative and helpful. Thanks!!!

[hotwheelshuntinguk]

I prefer this one. I think it has more features

[gryjffrs]

Thanks! This player was on when Windows upgraded itself and I was using it for certain things, and somehow it got itself turned off. Poof! It was just gone, but the unresponsive icon remained. Not sure how it happened, but it was not coming up in any of my efforts to find it and make it work again. Anyhow, it's back now so thanks again!

[goinbzurk]

I end up with an internet search that doesn't include legacy

[rckNz]

It's really good but mine have been pretty bugged and I can't fix it. I have my playlists playing then sudden it stops and the interface gets distorted (sometimes some parts turn black) and I have to close it and run again. It's getting on my nerves....

[Lynd]

anyone know how to make WMP automatically play the next video? Arrows seemed to have disapeared on Windows 11

[saint_blair]

i have windows 11 i checked windows media player legacy which is already set to enabled.... but when i search for it there is nothing coming up in settings for the actual application (my bad, i didnt realize thats your start menu not the settings window.... god i hate windows 11)

i opened start menu (i just chaged to window 7 start menu and functions properly, unlike windows 11's start bar search, not searching the web everytime i try to search my system, absolute garbage win 11 os features if i wanted to search the internet id open a fkn browser fk sake's) then legacy application came up.

[JesseGillisScratch]

I had it on but it wasent there so im gonna restart media player thing

[SR-lqev]

Can anyone instruct me how to copy or sync a specific Playlist onto a USB Drive? It was easy and straight forward in the old Windows Media Player but seemingly impossible in the new Media Player in Windows 11. Additionally, I can see my Music Folder and albums/songs in File Explorer, but cannot find my subfolders of Playlists in there

[vxhgnnv]

My windows media player isn't working and i tried what you suggested... any thoughts?

[geoffreymurphy]

Hi, I have tried this but it says windows media player cannot be found. Then there is only the new media player there which I don't like. I can't see the big list of songs I could in the original. Also, I added some songs from my phone which it said was on the computer but when I went to play one it said in search that it cannot be found. Thanks.

[jasonjase]

What a waste of time and money to develop other pointless media plays other than the original one.