"Windows Media Player cannot open <web address>" error message when you click a link to a multimedia file on a Web page

When you click a link to a multimedia file on a Web page you may receive the following error message: If you click Details the following information is displayed:

This behavior can occur with multimedia files other than .asf files if authentication (username and password) is required.

To work around this problem save the file to your hard disk and then open the file. To do so, follow these steps:

1. In your Web browser, right-click the link.
2. Click Save Target As on the shortcut menu, and save the file to your hard disk.
3. Double-click the file on your hard disk.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Windows Media Player. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

To obtain Microsoft Windows Media Player, visit the following Web site: