MKV files are suddenly bugging up in WMP?

[CrystalClear47]

This has probably been asked and solved before, but I've researched and haven't come across this exact problem, so I'll ask it here.

I have these MKV files that I can't open with Windows Media Player, or rather I can't open them anymore. Usually, these files play fine in WMP with their subtitles and I have the correct codec packs and everything for them so they run smoothly. But now, every time I go to play one with WMP, I get the error in Windows Explorer "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have appropriate permissions to access the file." The files are not protected, they're on my computer's hard drive, and I'm on an administrator account, so it doesn't make sense. And what's more the MKV files show up in WE as AVI files. FLV files also show up as AVI. The files played fine about a week ago, and then the problem started. I've installed a lot since then, so if there's a conflict, there's too many programs to figure out what the problem is.

I am assuming that it's a codec issue, but I am very versatile with my video work and I have too many installed to know which one is causing the problem if it's that. Or which two codecs are conflicting with each other, if that's the problem. I have only ffdshow and K-Lite Codec Pack installed on my laptop, and the files are able to play, but they won't work on this PC, which is where I need the CPU power for my video work. And I can play the MKV files in Media Player Classic, but I need the files and codecs working in WMP to make sure they can be converted properly in MeGUI.

I really don't want to do yet another System Recovery on my computer to wipe everything and start over. I just did that less than a month ago. Anyone have any suggestions as to what it possibly could be?

[davexnet]

Here are a few possibilities:
http://helpdeskgeek.com/help-desk/windows-cannot-access-the-specified-device-path-or-file/

[CrystalClear47]

It didn't seem to fix the problem. I booted in Safe Mode and I still can't access the files with WMP, but the problem is not administrator-related. I'm beginning to wonder if it's a registry issue. The MKV files only won't play with WMP, but they play fine in Media Player Classic. And I still don't know why they register as AVI files in Windows Explorer when WMP is set as the default player.

[paulw]

How about this codec. I have no problems playing MKV with this one

http://www.cccp-project.net/

[jman98]

Long time member jagabo has posted that WMP is capable of playing almost anything, but there's a huge catch. To do so you have to do a lot of work getting splitters set up properly like the haali media splitter. I don't particularly like WMP (I actually think it sucks, but that's my opinion) so I'm too lazy to care enough to do the work. If you want to research the subject hopefully I've pointed you in the right direction, but if it was me, I'd just use something else. I have even seen WMV files created with Microsoft tools that WMP couldn't play but VLC could, so that's one of the reasons that I think WMP is just a gigantic POS.

[Hoser Rob]

Long time member jagabo has posted that WMP is capable of playing almost anything, but there's a huge catch. To do so you have to do a lot of work getting splitters set up properly like the haali media splitter....

I'd say the same thing about mpc-hc too, which is a little funny for something that claims not to need them.

As to the cccp codec pack, I'd strongly disagree. I yanked all those codec packs when I used windows 7, and from what I've read on this forum the cccp one seems to cause more problems than any of the others I know of.

You really should avoid 3rd party codecs in windows 7 (it says exactly that in the ms tech support site), and I wouldn't like the idea of them in earlier versions either. When I was running windows the video players I would allow on my drive were smplayer, vlc, and potplayer. Very much in that order. None of them need any of those crap codec packs.

If you really want to run a codec pack, and it's possible to do it without catastrophic results, just use one. Using multiple ones just multiplies the chances of system conflicts. Unfortunately when people do have a problem their first response often seems to be to install another crap codec. I'd pick ffdshow. K-lite is known to cause instability and I wouldn't touch cccp with a 10 foot pole.

Yes, wmp is rubbish. I really don't understand why Microsoft media software is so bad but it is. I'm not one of those doctrinaire anti microsoft linux users but it's just pitiful.

[CrystalClear47]

I apologize for disappearing from my own thread. I have had what feels like every problem imaginable with all of my computers and devices in the last two months, including no internet for the better part of a month; nonstop, recurring playback problems with practically every format of video I have in all different players; an external hard drive that got fried with very important information on it that was not backed up; and my laptop seemingly beginning an internal hard drive crash, and having to get and set up a new one from scratch. With non-stop work every single day, these problems have been rectified for the most part, and everything is working decently again.

I am still unsure as to the cause of the problem I had with my MKV files, which was why I began this thread, but I suspect that it was an administrative permissions problem caused by a registry error, which was caused by a conflict between some programs or a corrupt command. (Not the first time this computer has had a registry issue that broke something, and is probably ultimately a Vista operating system bug.)

I have completed another (and hopefully the last for a while) System Recovery today, which I was trying really hard to avoid, but the problem is resolved now, and I have one working codec pack installed, K-Lite, which is the most reliable for me and has always worked. MKV files play flawlessly with WMP again. (And the main reason that I need the MKV files to work in WMP is because the same settings that allow them to work in WMP allow them to flawlessly encode in MeGUI as well, which plays a big part in my personal video work.)

I give a big 'thank you' to everyone who replied to this thread and gave their opinions and insight.

Problem resolved.