How To Uninstall / Reinstall Windows Media Player And Windows Media Center In Windows 7

Many times you come across scenario in which Windows Media Player in your Windows 7 PC is not working as intended. There may be problem with playback of video/audio, or it’s file associations. In such cases, it’s a good idea to perform uninstall of Windows Media Player 12 (WMP12) and then reinstall it again.

Unfortunately you can’t uninstall WMP 12 from Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel. Here goes how to do it.

1. Click Start—> Control Panel

2. Set “View by” as “Large Icons” or “Small Icons”, and then click on “Programs and Features”.

3. In the left pane, click  on “Turn Windows features on or off” link.

4. Expand “Media Features” and then uncheck “Windows Media Player” option.

Windows will prompt that Windows Media Center is dependent on Windows Media Player 12 and hence it will also be uninstalled along with Windows Media Player.

5. Click “Yes”.

6. Windows will now begin uninstalling WMP. Wait for the process to finish.

7. Finally a restart of PC will be needed to complete the process.

After reboot of PC, Windows Media Player 12 and Windows Media Center will be removed from your system.

Anytime you need it back, just follow the same steps. In step 4 check the box “Windows Media Player” and “Windows Media Center” and click “OK”.  Both the programs will be installed without the need of setup programs.