Today, i turned on my computer when i got home. Everything is normal; i had made no changes to my computer.

I open Windows Media Player; it opens fine, as usual.

However, whenever i try to play a track in my library, OR from a CD, i get a message saying

'Windows Media Player cannot access the file.' it may be in use, on a network server, etc.

I found this strange, because my music is on my hard drive.
I restarted the computer with my wifi off; same error occurred.

I re-added all of my music from a different directory. That didn't work.

I got frustrated, and installed WinAmp. Nothing played on there, either.

So i uninstalled that, and went back to try to fix WMP. Now, a message appears saying that sharing is disabled. I click OK to go to the options; it took about five minutes for the next screen to appear. The same occurred after that, when it tried to open Network and Sharing Center.

Network Sharing center is also unresponsive. Vista doesn't tell me that it is 'not responding', but the window appears to be frozen.

I enabled, then disabled my firewall; nothing.

I quit out of all programs and un-needed tasks.

I checked my sound driver, which still works.

I scanned my computer, and there are no viruses.

I find this strange; i made no changes to my network settings, or sharing settings in WMP-- or even computer changes in general. The last change I made on my computer was the image for my user account.

I tried searching for a solution on Google, but nothing helped. :C

When i went to Microsoft to look at the error code, the explanation of it didn't make sense to why my music files might not be playing. Most of this error seemed to be directed towards movie files or streaming media, which i have none of.

Any help would be appreciated-- I need my music! my stereo is broken, and I don't have any blank CD's.

Hi Jambii - Welcome to PCHF!!

The following fix that has worked for a lot people with the same problem:

Windows Media Player Cannot Access the File

Post back if this doesn't work.

I did get the pop-up, and i pressed OK; but i am still getting the media sharing error.

After I click OK to that pop-up, it freezes.
Or sometimes, i can't even press OK. The whole window appears to be 'busy'.

Vista isn't recognizing that it isn't responding, though.
I'm confused D: i don't see what the problem is.

Thanks for the reply though I'm going to try it in safe mode now, if that makes a difference.

Have you tried a system restore back to before you experienced the problem. If not try that - if it fixes it when you download new updates or drivers make a note of which ones they in case the problem reoccurs then you can pinpoint which is causing the error.

It's best not to let Microsoft Update install any new drivers just let it do updates. It's much better to go the hardware providers website and downloading it from there.

Also do you have a software firewall. If so check to see if Media Player is allowed access. If its in the denied list - delete it - restart Media Player and when you get the popup from the firewall - click Allow. Hopefully this will fix it.

Comments on this post

jambii agrees: it worked, thanks!

I don't use System Restore to save space, but i suppose it wouldn't hurt to turn it back on... i'm just used to my old computer, it only had 40gb...

Oh, and thanks for the firewall tip, i checked my settings and it's working now!

<3

NP - glad we could help.

GJ DIIRE

Marked as [Fixed]

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