Music players aren't working on new W10 laptop

teckneeculler · 01 Dec 2016

I'm trying to tune a new laptop. (No pun intended)
Problem: I moved a bunch of .wma music files from the old W7 machine onto a new W10 Home laptop.
But the files won't play on the new pc.
I've tried Groove, Windows Media Player, VLC and Pot Player.
Nothing happens when I try to play the tracks.
Each player comes up with its own version of 'why there's a problem'.
For example, WMP says, 'Windows Media Player encountered an error'.
Groove says, 'Can't play, please try again. 0xc00d7187.
The file associations and default player settings are OK.
I've properly uninstalled each player then corrected the associations and re-associated for the new one.
And rebooted.
I'm a tech so I'm aware of the usual methods.
But I'm floundering here.
Help, please :-(

Acer Aspire F5-572G
i7 6500U
8GB

Winuser · 01 Dec 2016

Do they need a digital license that is on your old computer?

spunk · 01 Dec 2016

If these files are DRM protected, they can only be played in the Microsoft Users login that created these files:
The primary cause for this problem can be attributed to Microsoft Account and the settings on your Windows 10 PC that don’t match. These settings should be the same. For instance, If you have American Microsoft Account the settings should set to America. So, the readily available solution at your disposal is to set the Microsoft Account and the settings on your PC to same.
Go to the Account migration page.
When prompted, sign in using the account that you want to migrate to another region.
Next, scroll down at the bottom of the page to locate the ‘Next’ option. Click the option. Thereafter, on the “Moving your Xbox Live account” page, select the region that you’re moving your account to, then click I Accept.

teckneeculler · 01 Dec 2016

Thanks, guys. Turned out, the problem had a very simple answer - all of the .wma files were faulty. Like, not one of them would play in any other machine. In fact, they wouldn't even play in the host machine.

When I tried a couple of Window 10's sample audio files in both Groove and WMP, those files played without a problem.

When I (belatedly) mentioned it to the owner of the old machine, he said, 'Oh no, I could never get 'em to work either'. Apparently he'd had a problem copying from CDs.

Just goes to show the danger of jumping to conclusions.