Windows Media Player Does Not Buffer 100-KB Streams When Internet Connection Sharing Is Enabled

Windows Media Player may not properly play streams with a high bit rate (typically streams at or faster than 100 KB). When this occurs, Windows Media Player does not receive a large number of packets and may not render any audio or video at all. If you can connect to the stream at a lower bit rate, you can play the media.

This issue can occur if you have enabled the Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) feature in Windows 98 Second Edition.

To resolve this issue, upgrade to Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me). This issue has been corrected with the new TCP/IP stack in Windows Me.

To work around this issue, disable User Datagram Protocol (UDP) streaming in both versions of Windows Media Player to allow larger files to be played properly. To disable UDP streaming, use the appropriate method for each version of the player. Please note that both versions exist when Windows Media Player 7.x is installed; you will have to make changes to both versions to clear up this issue.

Windows Media Player 7 and 7.1

1. In Windows Media Player, click Options on the Tools menu.
2. On the Network tab, click to clear the UDP check box.
3. Click OK.

Windows Media Player 6.4

1. In Windows Media Player, click Options on the View menu.
2. On the Advanced tab, click Streaming Media (Windows Media), and then click Change.
3. Click to clear the UPD check box.
4. Click OK.

This problem was corrected in Windows Me.