How to Update Windows Media Player

Question

Norton (new version) messages that Windows Media Player has an update available (Software Updater), but it won't update. Instead it takes me to a webpage that is entitled "Get Windows Media Player". The version of Windows Meda Player on my computer is: 12.0.19041.1 and the version listed is: 12.0.25163.1000.

I have Windows 10. How can I update?

Answer 1

Hi Holly,

Thanks for your post in Microsoft Community.

In your description, you see a prompt in Norton that Windows Media Player needs to be updated, but you can't do it through it.

I noticed that you checked the version of Media Player, and I appreciate some of your attempts to understand the issue, and I understand the confusion of seeing an update applied in Norton but ultimately not being able to download it.

Is the “Get Windows Media Player” page you are seeing the following page?

Get Windows Media Player - Microsoft Support

If so, we can see that in Windows 10, Media Player 12 is uninstalled or available through “Optional Features”.

If you want to get a new version of Media Player, you can refer to this link to uninstall and reinstall it on your computer under Optional Features.

Meanwhile, for some Windows apps that need to be updated or not, we suggest you to refer to the prompts in Microsoft Store instead of the prompts from third-party software (e.g. Norton).

Moreover, Windows Media Player 12 is a more stable version, so if it hasn't affected your usage yet, we recommend you to ignore the update information from Norton for the time being.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Best regards,

Zev - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

Hi Holly,

FileHippo (a software download website) offers WMP v. 12.0.22621.457, but there is no WMP v. 12.0.25163.1000. Any way I doubt there is much difference in these small version updates. I run WMP v. 12.0.19041.5007.

You could try asking in the Norton Support Forum, someone may have a solution for getting the updates Norton announces.

Answer 3

Since Windows Media Player (Legacy) is built into Windows, to only way to get a new version of WMP is to run Windows Update or to upgrade to a newer version of Windows itself (e.g. 10 to 11).

By the way, the long number after the second dot is called the build number, and it corresponds more or less to the build number of the version of Windows that is currently running (to see your version of Windows, open the Start Menu, type winver, and press Enter).

Answer 4

Media player not playing the best need to download driver can you help me running windows 10

Thank you

Answer 5

To get the best answers to your question, I kindly recommend creating a new thread, and not posting new questions as comments on old questions.