Mysterious "Server Execution Failed" Errors When Playing Video Files

[Jason Dunn]

<p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//dht/auto/1266976508.usr1.png" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>Don't you just hate it when you either have a computer problem that's so unique, you can't find any mention of it in Google, or if you do find it, the "solutions" are so generic and vague they're all useless? I've been seeing the above error for months when using Windows Media Player 12 on Windows 7 to open and play video files. I've found other people complaining about the same problem, but <a href="http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7music/thread/ecc08c3b-d445-48c2-b07d-9df48500434f" target="_blank">the solutions presented</a> don't apply to me (I don't run AV software on any of my computers). The basic problem is that: I'll double-click on a video file - and it can be any format, at any resolution - and Windows Media Player 12 will start to play the file. The file will play, and I'll click on the "X" to close the program. I'll double click on another video file, and every now and then, I'll stare at the spinning blue circle for 15 to 30 seconds, then I'll get the above error. It seems to happen on every computer I have, and I'm not sure if it's related to third party software - I don't tend to run stock Windows 7 for very long before I start to load my favourite applications. Any other Windows 7 users seeing this problem and know of a fix?</p>

[Eriq Cook]

Wow...never seen that error before. The first thing I would do is to try downloading a codec pack (I **KNOW** Windows 7 has standard codecs built in but this would be my first guess) and see if that makes a difference. I wonder if any third party software you've installed has replaced some core codec files causing this error to display whenever you view certain video files...

[sbrown23]

I wouldn't touch a codec pack with a 10 foot pole. Jason, have you looked in the event viewer to see if there any log of your error with additional detail?

[Jason Dunn]

Wow...never seen that error before. The first thing I would do is to try downloading a codec pack...

I appreciate the input, but nope, definitely not going to do that. No offense, I think codec packs are the devil. :eek: They're typically a mix of open-source and pirated codecs hacked from who-knows-where, and the only thing a codec pack tends to solve is not being able to open a file. I can open the file 95% of the time...without problems - it's the 5% of the time when Windows Media Player freaks out that puzzles me.

[Jason Dunn]

Looks like it was picked up in the Event viewer:

The server {ED1D0FDF-4414-470A-A56D-CFB68623FC58} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.

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[sbrown23]

Does WMP remain active in task manager after you close it? If so, and you kill wmplayer.exe process do you see the issue on next launch of a media file?

Have you tried playing the files in another media solution, such as Zune software to ensure that the files are not corrupted?

Did Ed's solution of msconfig and booting with minimal services/apps help?

[Jason Dunn]

Some interesting info here:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itpromedia/thread/a962e386-d8e6-496d-9f97-754019d504d3

[Jason Dunn]

Does WMP remain active in task manager after you close it? If so, and you kill wmplayer.exe process do you see the issue on next launch of a media file?

I've just spent several minutes opening video files and exiting WMP, and I can't get it to happen again. AUGH! I hate the intermittent nature of this problem. :mad: Next time it happens though, I'll check to see if WMP is running. I suspect it will be.

Have you tried playing the files in another media solution, such as Zune software to ensure that the files are not corrupted?

The files are definitely not corrupt.

Did Ed's solution of msconfig and booting with minimal services/apps help?

I already run a lean system, having used msconfig to hack out everything that wasn't absolutely necessary. I'll see if there's anything that I've missed, but based on that other thread I've linked to, I'm suspecting it's something specific to WMP 12 and a Windows 7 service.

[Jason Dunn]

Did a bit more testing: wmplayer.exe *32 is NOT running as a process when this error occurs. I've been watching the task manager as I've been opening up video files. What I have noticed, however, is that quite often WMP12 will exit, but the process keeps running for several seconds. It's somehow not "letting go" of everything it should be. I've watched though as I exit WMP12, it vanishes from the Process list, then I double-click a video and get this same problem.

I remain baffled. :confused:

[iyg]

i'm running windows 7 64 bit pretty vanilla install with custom built PC. Its been doing it out the gate as soon as I started playing media/movies. I thought there was an issue with i/o timeout on my seagate raid1 volume, but it does the exact same thing on a different western digital non raid Partition.....very annoying but not a show stopper....hard to determine the issue, i am thinking of using proc monitor to filter the wmplayer.exe to see what gives, but it may not be fully apparent....

any resolution would be very much appreciated.

[Jason Dunn]

any resolution would be very much appreciated.

I wish I had a fix - I still have the same problem. Sadly, I think it's not a very common problem and because of that, it's not getting any attention from Microsoft.

[drD]

I'm afraid I'm not much help but I'm having EXACTLY the same problem. The video in question will always open immediately after the error message. Happens regularly every 3rd or 4th time.

I will try some of the suggestions above.

[Jason Dunn]

I'm afraid I'm not much help but I'm having EXACTLY the same problem. The video in question will always open immediately after the error message. Happens regularly every 3rd or 4th time.

Let me know if you have any luck, it still happens to me all the time...it's driving me nuts since it happens most often on my media editing computer, where I'm always opening up video files. :mad:

[StylusPilot]

Hopefully this may help someone.

I had this issue, the fix for me was to disable

"Launch Folder Windows in A Seperate Process"

in the folder options

[Jason Dunn]

I had this issue, the fix for me was to disable. "Launch Folder Windows in A Seperate Process" in the folder options

Hmm. Interesting - though by default Windows 7 has this disabled, so do you mean "enable" it? I did that and it seems to have improved things...but only long-term use will tell the tale. :o