Advertisement

KB4046355 Deletes Windows Media Player in Windows 10 Build 16299

As you may already know, Windows 10 Build 16299 is the final version of Fall Creators Update. The OS has received a number of cumulative updates after this build. The latest one as of this writing raises its version to 16299.15. A new update package KB4046355, released for this build, is removing Windows Media Player.

KB4046355 identifies itself as "FeatureOnDemandMediaPlayer" in the update list in Settings. Once the update is installed, it makes the Program Files\Windows Media Player folder empty. The context menus in File Explorer will disappear as well. Only the ActiveX object of the app survives during this operation, which is essentially useless for modern playback standards.

Wmp Is Getting Removed

It is not known if this happens due to a bug or whether Microsoft is removing Windows Media Player by default to promote Store apps like Groove Music. There is no official information about this change nor is the support page for KB4046355 available yet.

If you are affected by this issue and need to restore Windows Media Player, reinstall it using the Settings app.

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Go to Apps > Apps & features.
  3. On the right, click on the link Manage optional features.
  4. Find the optional feature named Windows Media Player and install it.

If this move is intentional, it might not be welcomed by users who use Windows Media Player for local media playback or for streaming content to TVs and other devices using DLNA or MiraCast (WMP's Cast To feature). For them, this change is very unpleasant.

Credits: Born's Tech and Windows World via Desktmodder.de

What about you? If Windows Media Player gets removed, will you miss it? Tell us in the comments.

Support us

Winaero greatly relies on your support. You can help the site keep bringing you interesting and useful content and software by using these options:

If you like this article, please share it using the buttons below. It won't take a lot from you, but it will help us grow. Thanks for your support!

Advertisеment

Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

12 thoughts on “KB4046355 Deletes Windows Media Player in Windows 10 Build 16299”

  1. Can you add search engine to this website or just add google custom search
    Make disgus or something else for commenting section

  2. WMP is totally useless inasmuch as it has never played any media file I’ve thrown at it over the past 20 years. 90% of the development effort seems to have gone into the ‘visualisations’. I won’t miss it.

    1. Then you really haven’t been using it properly and paid any attention to many of its nice features besides visualizations.

  3. Again and again, how many decades of this shit before we renounce Microsoft’s mediocre software quality?

    Oh, it’s just a bug this time! Just another mistake!

  4. Do you need to use the settings app or can you click the “turn windows features on or off” button in the good programs and features dialog? I think Microsoft is just once again trying to make people use uwp.

  5. Really, WMP has always been somewhat a sort of a forced choice in Windows, but Groove is more of a paid promotion than a media player. If there is a choice between them, I definitely prefer WMP . I almost never use it, as like many Windows choices, it is a Microsoft choice and not mine (I mostly use VLC), but if the choice is between WMP and Groove, I will repeat it as many times as it’d take: I prefer WMP !

  6. I for one do like WMP, and was disappointed to see it disappear, ok there are alternatives like winamp out there, but over complicated rubbish, I just want something I can play and rip on easily, with decent quality sound, cant stand the newer groove music either, however, M$ are aware of the problem and it was a mistake, im sure they’ll fix it in the next update.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

css.php
Using Telegram? Subscribe to the blog channel!
Hello. Add your message here.