Hola Amigos:

Today I am having trouble with my computer, especially Windows Media Player.

I clicked to update from version 10 to version 11 but it would not run properly because my Windows on my computer is not an original version.
This message I have received many times and I think it is because when we bought the computer in Spain the shop used a motherboard to build it so I guess that it means that it is not a genuine Windows installation.
Certainly I cannot find any registry key anywhere on the computer the box or in my system.

OK at this stage I cannot use the Windows 11, I have tried system restore to go back to Windows 10 and no good and I have tried uninstalling the new Windows 11 but it will not role back to 10 because something is wrong it tells me.

I just want to play the music on Windows that I have or I should say that I had.

What would you advise me to do?

Shall I just buy an original Windows?

Thanks you for any advice you can give.

Saludos cordiales,

Tomás

Hola Tomas

I suspect your windows is an OEM version and thus you have no CDs. I believe it must have a key or it wouldn't run at all.

The problem with buying a new windows is that you may find an upgrade will not work as Microsoft deem for one reason or another that your Windows is Ineligible and a new 'start from scratch' version is expensive. A brief look shows upgrades at £70 and new vista at £300. You might get it cheaper but it illustrates the ratio.

I know it may not be an expense you want at the moment but if you can't upgrade you might consider a new m/c. You would get a guarantee, windows loaded, a lot more disk and memory. PC world are even offering refurbished desktops with Vista for less than £170 incl VAT. And of course you could use your old screen and possibly keyboard and mouse and speakers.

Sadly when Microsoft took over the world we lost all choice. Although Linux is getting more user friendly you need a certain IT knowledge to get the best out of it - but of course it is free

Buen suerte amigo. Necesitas un ordenador o no podre oir tu musica muy flamenco

TomasJimenez wrote:I just want to play the music on Windows that I have or I should say that I had.

What would you advise me to do?

Shall I just buy an original Windows?

It seems likely that you have a bootleg copy of Windows installed. The orginal installation probably included Windows Media Player, but Microsoft does not allow software upgrades to be installed on computers that have illegal copies of Windows installed. Furthermore, if someone tries to upgrade a Microsoft program running on an illegal copy of Windows, Microsoft disables the program being upgraded, which could explain why you are no longer able to play Windows Media Player files.

The best solution would be to install a legal copy of Windows. However:

• It is not possible to upgrade an illegal copy of Windows to a legal copy. It will be necessary to reformat the hard disk and then reinstall Windows which will make it necessary to reinstall all the application programs that are not included with Windows and to restore all data files that want to keep from backup copies.
  
  
• If you purchase and install a legal copy of Windows you should reinstall the same version to avoid a wide variety of potential problems. Most computers that have Windows XP installed will not run Windows Vista without out the installation of additional memory. Furthermore, Vista software drivers may not be available for a variety of hardware devices in a Windows XP computer.

Another solution if you don't want to reinstall Windows is to install a different media player that is able to play Windows Media files. The VLC media player is an example that is available free of charge. It is able to play an unusually large variety of audio and video file types, including wma and wmv. The default user interface is rather ugly, but a wide variety of skins are available to 'dress it up.'

This is the VLC home page http://www.videolan.org/.

VLC media player for Windows can be downloaded here http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html.

VLC skins can be downloaded from http://www.videolan.org/vlc/skins.php.

In case anyone else is interested, VLC also can be installed on Mac OS X, BeOS, Syllable, NetBSD, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Solaris, QNX, and Linux computers. Versions compatible with those operating systems are available here http://www.videolan.org/vlc/.

-Bob

I should have mentioned above that the VLC media player will not embed directly in web pages the way Windows Media Player does. It is necessary to first download Windows Media Player files to local computer storage (hard disk, RAM disk, CD, etc.) and then play them. That limitation results from the fact that web pages that embedded Windows Media Players do so by addressing a GUID (Globally Unique Identification number) that uniquely addresses a Windows Media Player software module known as an ActiveX Control. Because the addressing is "hard coded" in web pages and is "globally unique" it cannot address any other media player.

-Bob

I think Winamp (free download) or Realplayer (also free ) will play your files

Muchas gracias amigos,

In the end I contracted a computer person who rebuilt the whole thing for me and now it is perfect.

Saludos

Tomas