7 Workable Methods to Fix Windows Media Player Not Playing DVD

“Why does my DVD not playing on Windows Media Player?” is a frequently asked question. You can also see many similar questions in Microsoft forum, dummies and elsewhere. Windows Media Player is the default media player for all Windows users. You can play video and audio files with Windows Media Player for free. Then what’s wrong with DVD discs? Why Windows Media Player not recognizing DVD? Is there any solution to troubleshoot DVD not playing in Windows Media Player? Just continue reading to get more details.

Part 1: 6 Common Solutions to Fix Windows Media Player Not Playing DVD

Windows Media Player 12 was released on October 22, 2019. It is the latest version of Windows Media Player. The problem is Windows Media Player 12 no longer support DVD playback in its free version. You can downgrade to Windows Media Player 11 and earlier versions. Or you can take measures below to get Windows Media Player to play DVD.

Solution 1: Check the Optical Drive

Make sure the optical drive on your computer can work normally. Once the inserted DVD disc is detected, you can see the drive under “My Computer” listed as DVD-ROM, DVD R/RW and more.

Solution 2: Uninstall Suspicious Conflicted Programs

If you can play DVD with Windows Media Player before, you need to pay attention to the recently-installed tools.

Step 1: Sign into your administrator account.

Step 2: Choose Control Panel from the Start menu. As for Windows 10 users, you can open Settings by clicking the gear icon.

Step 3: Click Uninstall a program under Programs. In the Settings app, you can switch to Apps to uninstall programs directly.

Step 4: Check the program that may be related to video, audio or DVD content. Click Uninstall to uninstall on PC to fix Windows Media Player won’t play DVD.

Solution 3: Repair with Windows Media Encoder

If you are using Windows 7 or older versions, you can solve Windows Media Player not playing DVD on Windows 7 via Windows Media Encoder too.

Step 1: Log into the administrator account.

Step 2: Unfold the Start menu. Choose Control Panel. You will be in the Category view by default.

Step 3: Find Programs and click Uninstall a Program below.

Step 4: Click Windows Media Encoder from the list.

Step 5: Click Repair and confirm it. Your computer will restart after repairing. Later, you can see if Windows Media Player can play DVD on Windows 7 or not.

Solution 4: Update Driver

You can update the sound and video drivers when Windows Media Player not playing DVD sound or movies.

Step 1: Press Windows and R keys simultaneously.

Step 2: Type devmgmt.msc in the box. Then press the Enter key.

Step 3: Expand the sound or video category.

Step 4: Choose Update Driver from its right-click menu.

To fix Windows Media Player not playing DVD on Windows 10, you can click Settings, Update & Security, Windows Update and Check for Updates options.

Solution 5: Reinstall Windows Media Player

It is also a good way to uninstall and reinstall Windows Media Player to fix DVD not playing issues. But you need to do as the following steps to make DVD detecting by Windows Media Player.

Step 1: Run Command Prompt. Choose Run as administrator from the right-click menu.

Step 2: Type net localgroup “Administrators” “NT AuthorityLocal Service” /add and press Enter.

Step 3: Run Control Panel. In the Category view, click Uninstall a program under Programs.

Step 4: Click Turn Windows features on or off. Head to the Media Features section.

Step 5: Uncheck Windows Media Player. Then click OK to save changes.

Step 6: Now you can restart PC and navigate to Program Files/ Programs Files (x86) to delete Windows Media Player.

Solution 6: Install MPEG-2 Decoder

If you are notified with compatible DVD encoder not installed, you need to install MPEG-2 decoder to play DVD in Windows Media Player. However, many users complain that Windows Media Player still not working recently.

Part 2: Ultimate Way to Play DVD with Windows Media Player and Any Other Players

There are many other reasons accounting for DVD not playing in Windows Media Player. Some users report that Windows Media Player cannot play new DVDs. To permanently play protected and homemade DVDs on PC, you can run Vidmore DVD Monster to convert DVD to digital video and audio formats first. In other words, you can convert DVD to MP4, MKV, WMV and any format for offline playback. Well, you can watch DVD movies on your phone with the high audiovisual quality too.

1. Rip old and new DVDs with copy projections.
2. Rip DVD to Windows Media Player compatible formats.
3. 6x faster DVD ripping speed.
4. Rip DVD to MPG, ISO and folder in 1:1 quality.
5. Quickly edit and touch up DVD movies.
6. Work with Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP.

Step 1: Launch Vidmore DVD Monster. Insert your DVD disc. Click Load DVD on the top toolbar.

Step 2: Choose DVD Disc to load DVD content. You can click View/Select Title to select which DVD video you want to digitalize.

Step 3: Set the output format or device from the Rip All to list on the top right corner.

Step 4: Unfold the Save to list to change the destination folder. At last, click Rip All to rip DVD without quality loss.

You may need: What to do if VLC not playing DVD

By ripping DVD with Vidmore DVD Monster, there is no need to worry about Windows Media Player not playing DVD on Windows 10 and other OS errors. You can play DVD movies with Windows Media Player 12 and any other media player. It is also a good way to make a backup copy. Want to get rid of Windows Media Player not playing/detecting/showing/reading/finding DVD and similar problems? Vidmore DVD Monster is your first choice.