downloaded a codec for windows media player; now DVDs wont' play

[Blue_Tires]

any suggestions? It now says a 'compatible DVD decoder is not installed on my computer' any suggestions?

[lapfog_1]

1. Basically, you are screwed

Easiest thing to do is find a different DVD playing software and
download it. Power DVD (not free) is OK.

The other option is to completely deinstall WMP and start over, but
I'm not sure where to start on doing that.

[kcwayne]

2. Remove the codec you downloaded

Look in control panel and select the add/remove software option to remove the codec. If it does not appear there, use the regedit program (go to a command prompt and type regedit) and search for all references to the codec, and delete the registry entries.

If you have not used regedit before and are not comfortable with mucking with the registry, use regedit to create a backup of the registry that you can reload if things start going south.

The most pertinent references to the codec in the registry will be in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Filters and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID

After removing the references to the codec, if you still cannot play dvd, you will need to reinstall a working codec.

[Blue_Tires]

3. thanks