31 replies to this topic

[Alex_computer]

Qttask-Quicktime Quick Starter
Reader_sl-Adobe Reader Quick Launch
jusched-Java Quick Start
dumprep-Windows Dumpprep ((Unneeded)
WMPNSCFG-Windows Media Player startup entry

[exile360]

Good luck killing WMPNSCFG, you can disable it but it still starts once you run Media Player again (unfortunately). It's a tough bugger to really kill.

[Alex_computer]

Yea. I know. It is. What I do is just most of the time leave it there because it's not worth it. But other than that, I remove about everything else except my AV.

[Graphic Equaliser]

Alex_computer, on Jun 26 2009, 11:34 PM, said:

Yea. I know. It is. What I do is just most of the time leave it there because it's not worth it. But other than that, I remove about everything else except my AV.

If you use MJ Registry Watcher you can stop certain values being written to the registry run keys by placing the value in the top window and prefixing it with an exclamation mark. I had a startup key being written to the run branch every time I printed something with my Samsung printer driver. I enabled keys list editing, and I put the offending value in the top window (the keys and values list), and now the run key value never gets written whatever I print.

!hkey_lmus\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run\Samsung Panel Manager

hkey_lmus is a special MJRW mnemonic meaning local machine and any user. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE + HKEY_USERS

I should think the same would be true of WM Player. However, I always use Media Player Classic with the K-Lite codec pack as it allows XP Home/Pro systems to play DVDs natively and smoothly!

[Alex_computer]

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I should think the same would be true of WM Player. However, I always use Media Player Classic with the K-Lite codec pack as it allows XP Home/Pro systems to play DVDs natively and smoothly!

I play DVDs in Windows Media Player 11 all of the time and no freeze ups for me

[Jaxryley]

Will disabling UpdateLibrary through task scheduler stop WMPNSCFG from starting?

Win 7 screenie.
 Update.JPG   64.12K   36 downloads

[JWJr]

Rename WMPNSCFG.EXE to something else, and then copy some short, quick, useless program to that same folder and rename it WMPNSCFG.EXE. -JW

[exile360]

That's almost identical to my method. I rename WMPNSCFG.EXE to WMPNSCFG.EXE.OLD and create a blank text file in notepad and save it as WMPNSCFG.EXE and save it to that location .

[Marcus]

exile360, on Oct 26 2009, 04:27 AM, said:

That's almost identical to my method. I rename WMPNSCFG.EXE to WMPNSCFG.EXE.OLD and create a blank text file in notepad and save it as WMPNSCFG.EXE and save it to that location .

exile, what location do you..."save it to?"

What should the correct location be for Vista?

Does your wmp or Windows itself give you any trouble with your fix?

I'd like to try that on my system; I'm not even sure what that WMPNSCFG.EXE entry even does in the registry.

[exile360]

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exile, what location do you..."save it to?"

You save it in C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player (if in Vista you'll want to save it to your desktop first otherwise you'll get "Access Denied", move it to that folder from your desktop and UAC will prompt you for approval, click Continue and it'll work .

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Does your wmp or Windows itself give you any trouble with your fix?

Not at all, that process is for streaming media files through Windows Media Player through a network and sharing your media library with other computers on your network through Windows Media Player, none of which I do so it's irrelevant but the darn thing starts no matter how you disable it (unless you replace the file as detailed above). I've been doing this for years on every XP system I've had as well as Vista and it's never caused any malfunctions or issues.

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I'd like to try that on my system; I'm not even sure what that WMPNSCFG.EXE entry even does in the registry.

You don't need to worry about the registry entry if you replace the file as I noted because you're replacing it with a fake executable that doesn't actually run .

[Marcus]

exile that's nicely explained. Thanks for that. Can't do it now as I'm at work but will follow your instructions when I get home. Going to print them out now.

[exile360]

You're welcome . Let me know how it goes.

[Marcus]

exile360, on Oct 27 2009, 01:26 AM, said:

You're welcome . Let me know how it goes.

exile, hi, only just got to a computer now!! At work at the moment.

Denied permission to rename WMPNSCFG.EXE. Denied permission to move it anywhere. (Can you tell me why the registry entry of that file name is in all-capital letters? Seems slightly strange as most registry entries are in lowercase )

Checked services via gpedit.msc and the relevant service was in manual mode and turned off. Set it to disabled (it allowed me to do that without any error dependency messages being thrown up).
Back to the registry - deleted the WMPNSCFG.EXE entry without problem. Checked Task Manager and noticed that no of processes had decreased by one (!!) on checking the performance tab.

Following a couple of reboots just to check that I hadn't cocked things up there were no complaints from Vista (32-bit). Bootup was normal and fast (by sub-experts standard!)

WMP works as it should both before and after that. Rechecked registry - process has not returned. Not had any error messages so far on screen.

FOR INFO: computer is a standalone laptop - not networked to anything wired or wireless except the internet!

Can I ask - when I tied to take ownership of that file and checked who owned it it seems as if there is a group (or entity) called the "Trusted Providers" which takes precedence over not only the Administrator account but also the SYSTEM itself! Is that right? Can you recommend good reading / informative links about that?

Anyway at the moment that file doesn't appear to be functional. Can this be verified?

I'm a bit wary of such easy apparent success; knowing my luck the computer wil protest the moment I switch it on when I get home!

[exile360]

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Denied permission to rename WMPNSCFFG.EXE. Denied permission to move it anywhere. (Can you tell me why the registry entry of that file name is in capital letters? Seems slightly strange as most registry entries are in lowercase )

Yes, the procedur is a bit different on Vista, you have to take ownership of the file first or use one of my other favorite tools Replacer . As for why the entry was in all caps, I'm not sure, but it has no effect on an entry if it's in caps or lower case, at least not that I've ever observed.

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Can I ask - when I tied to take ownership of that file and checked who owned it it seems as if there is a group (or entity) called the "Trusted Providers" which takes precedence over not only the Administrator account but also the SYSTEM itself! Is that right? Can you recommend good reading / informative links about that?

Take a look here for some basic info (you'll find a reference under General Configuration Rules).

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WMP works as it should both before and after that. Rechecked registry - process has not returned. Not had any error messages so far on screen.

Anyway at the moment that file doesn't appear to be functional. Can this be verified?

If you ran WMP while connected to the net and it didn't start that process then deleting the reg key must have done it, because normally WMP will invoke it automatically. You might try accessing your Library in WMP just to make sure it doesn't start it. I've disabled the service in the past and it still came back, which is why I came up with my alternate method.

This reg file also kills it successfully, in fact, after my last format, this is the method I used to do so:  Kill_wmpnscfg.zip   325bytes   63 downloads

[Marcus]

I'll give the Microsoft link a good careful read tomorrow evening (GMT) when I'm off. I'm working tonight (3rd night in a row; "now" is meant to be my sleeping time!)

Funny thing about that registry entry, thinking about it now, was that there was no full pathway to that file; it was just that entry by itself in all-caps. (My brain is working overtime now, exile, and is a little feverish from a touch too much activity!).

I've disabled the UPnP service in services as well as the WMP Network Sharing Service (not really necessary as it needs the UPnP service - you get a 1068 dependeny error code if the WMP Sharing service tries to start without UPnP service being enabled. This should be more than enough to stop that wretched ...CFG.EXE process from starting.

Just thinking about it if any of you guys are networked it might be worthwhile trying the above and then see what happens a.when the system is rebooted and b.when you attempt to enable network-sharing of your wmp media.

At the moment, being at home, there's been no protests, error messages, wmp malfunctions or anything else about this. Computer's working perfectly normally...sort of eerie really. I'm half-waiting for something to go wrong - it normally does when I've had a fiddle in the Group Policy Editor, the Registry and other places where experts fear to tread. (Just ask AdvancedSetup-he knows about my fiddle tendencies!).

I've downloaded your reg fix for this and I'll look at it later when the brain has recovered from work.

Thanks for taking the time to provide some detail on this piece of Microfudginess, and especially the links which I shall take care to read and digest!

Nothing more satisfying than stopping an annoyingly inessential service from starting!

Always a pleasure to communicate with you, exile.

[exile360]

You're welcome . Just for info, I ALWAYS disable the UPnP service .

[Marcus]

Just to check with you, exile, you did mean disable the UPnP service and not just leave it off in manual mode?

(I've disabled mine and also disabled its solitary dependent- SSDP Discovery, and so far WIndows is not attempting to start either service when wmp's playing; but then this is a standalone (ie non-networked) sysem. Just to add to the fund of knowledge here).

Not needed to make use of your registry fix so far, exile. You never know, though, when Sod's Law (or whichever Law you use) will rear its ugly head!

[exile360]

Yes, I always disable it, I do so with SSSDP as well. They can both pose risks to security, but are also useful in certain networked scenarios, but on a standalone computer where no file or device sharing is done, they are completely unneeded .

It's likely that what you did in the registry accomplished the same purpose .

[Marcus]

@ exile360 - hello, just want to ask something that i've had trouble with following this thread's information which I think may be related so i'm asking here. Nothing serious or malware-related; just a touch irritating!

In wmp clicking on Tools/Options/ and then the "Privacy" tab there is a section at the bottom called "History". When you click on either or both "Clear Caches" & "Clear History" i used to get a nice Windows.Ding.wav sound. It didn't matter whether the "save file and history option..." tickbox in that section was checked or not I wuld still get that sound. Now it's gone and I can't get it back.

Things i've tried:
1. disabled and re-enabled windows' default sounds (under Sounds/Sound Scheme) rebooting in-between every time with no effect,
2. played numerous files, both music and video clips with the "save file and history option..." checked and unchecked with reboots in-between wth no effect,
3. upgraded, and then removed the upgrade of my soundcard driver. I have since re-installed the driver from my manufacturers' drivers disc. Re-booted in-betwen times with absolutely no effect.

WMP itself is working without a problem in terms of playing music and video; I have no audio or video problem in that regard. No error messages or dialog box info screens have appeared at any time while I've been gently fiddling. I do notice though when I right-click on the Realtek HD Audio Manager icon in the system tray and click on Volume Control it opens the Volume Mixer and testing the WMP sound volume set at any value (even 100%) gives nothing - no sound at all while testing "Speakers" and "Windows Sounds" both give the correct "Ding" sound at the relevant volume. And I made sure that the volume wasn't muted when testing.

At the end of the day I just want the default sound back in wmp which should (or at least used to) play when the caches and history are cleared.

I wondered, exile, whether you had or noticed this after disabling that WMPNSCFG.EXE file. It's not problematic; it's just beginning to wind me up very slowly
I've not yet had a search in the Group Policy Editor; that'll be my next port of call later tonight when I've a bit more patience.

[exile360]

Sure, what's the question? I'm leaving to meet a friend now, but I'll be back later and will try to answer your question then .