FIX: Custom File Extensions Are Categorized as Other Media

When you add multimedia files that have custom file extensions to the Media Library, Windows Media Player 9 Series categorizes these media files as Other Media, instead of as All Music or as All Video.

By default, Windows Media Player 9 Series only categorizes known extensions as All Music or as All Video.

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

Windows Millennium Edition

Download the WindowsMedia9-KB823275-x86-ENU.exe package now.

All Other Operating Systems

Download the WindowsMedia9-KB823275-x86-ENU.exe package now. For additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help to prevent any unauthorized changes to the file. The English version of this fix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Note There is no package that is designed to be installed on Windows 98 Second Edition. Windows Media Player 9 Series is no longer supported on Windows 98 Second Edition. For more information, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifesupsps

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a bug in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
To enable the fix for additional extensions, you can add a registry value that specifies whether your files are categorized as All Music or as All Video. To do so, create a new value under the following registry key:The registry value is of type REG_SZ whose name is the new extension and whose value can be one of the following values:

• audio Custom file types appear in the All Music node in the Media Library.
• video Custom file types appear in the All Video node in the Media Library.

For example, if you create a REG_SZ value that is named "xyz" and has a value of "audio," files that have .xyz as the extension now appear in the All Music node of the Media Library.

Note To change values in this key, the current user must be an administrator for the computer.