You cannot share media between Windows Media Player 11 and DMR devices such as Xbox 360

When you install Windows Media Player 11, you discover that media is no longer shared between the computer and digital media receiver (DMR) devices.

Notes

• Microsoft Xbox 360 is an example of a DMR device.
• This problem occurs in Windows Vista and in Windows XP.

This article discusses the following two scenarios:

• You are installing or upgrading Windows Media Player 11.
• You have already installed or upgraded Windows Media Player 11.

This article is intended for a beginning to intermediate computer user.

You may find it easier to follow the steps if you print this article first.

Step 1: Use Windows Media Player to share media with a DMR device

If you need help setting up sharing in Windows Media Player 11, see the "Share your media in Windows Media Player with other people or devices" Windows Help article at the following Microsoft Web site:

If you are installing or upgrading Windows Media Player

1. In the Windows Media Connect Upgrade dialog box, click Yes. The Media Sharing dialog box appears.
2. In the Media Sharing dialog box, click to select the Share my media check box, and then click OK.
3. In Sharing Settings, click the device with which you want to share media, click Allow, and then click OK.

If you have already installed or upgraded Windows Media Player

1. Click Start, click Run, type wmplayer, and then click OK
2. Click the arrow under the Library tab, and then click Media Sharing.
3. In the Media Sharing dialog box, click to select the Share my media check box, and then click OK.
4. In Sharing Settings, click the device with which you want to share media, click Allow, and then click OK.
   
   Note All the devices that were previously available to Windows Media Connect appear in this list. It may take a moment for your digital media device to appear in the list of devices.

Step 2: Reconfigure the DMR device to play the shared media

1. Use the DMR device to select the Windows Media Player library that has the shared media.
   
   On the DMR device, the name of the Windows Media Player library uses the following naming convention:
   ComputerName: LibraryName
   Note ComputerName is the name of the computer where the Windows Media Player library resides. LibraryName is the same as your Windows user account name.
2. Use the DMR device to browse for media that you want to play.
   
   Note Some DMR devices, such as Microsoft Xbox 360, require that you perform extra steps to disconnect from one computer before you connect to another computer. For help in using a DMR device to select a computer that is sharing media content, see the documentation that was included with the DMR device.

This problem occurs because Microsoft incorporated Windows Media Connect functionality into Windows Media Player 11. When you install Windows Media Player 11, the following versions of Windows Media Connect are automatically upgraded:

• Windows Media Connect 1
• Windows Media Connect 2

However, some Windows Media Connect settings are not migrated to Windows Media Player.

For more information about how to use Windows Media Player 11, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about Windows digital media, visit the following Microsoft Web site: