NetFlix Watch Instantly

Here I was, all excited when Netflix announced that Watch Instantly was now unlimited, but of course there was a problem. The same problem I had before. When I tried to use Watch Instantly, I was greeted with a message that I needed to install an update to Windows Media Player 11. Okay, no problem!

PROBLEM!
Windows Media Player 11 gives me a little message during installation that says I cannot proceed because my OS is not supported. I have Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004. Edition 2002 is of course not supported either. My computer is 4 years old. A dinosaur? Not in my mind, but I guess in the minds of Microsoft? So off to Google I go looking for a solution. I found an HP Support thread (I have a Dell) where some people were discussing this issue. I threw in my two cents and checked the little box to be notified of replies. Its my lucky day because someone replied with this solution (which works!!!):

1) download Media Player 11 exe (installwmp11.exe) to a folder
2) Install 7-Zip from http://www.7-zip.org/
3) Run 7-Zip and have it extract the files from installwmp11.exe into another folder (eg: c:\download\installwmp11)
4) Run C:\download\installwmp11\wmfdist11.exe
5) Run C:\download\installwmp11.exe\wmp11.exe

PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME PEOPLE MAY HAVE ISSUES WITH MEDIA CENTER WORKING PROPERLY AFTER INSTALLING THIS. I myself did not have any problems. I am unable to test the TV section of MC at the moment (my new graphics card has no tv tuner), but the dvd, music, and all other sections worked like normal. Apparently some people have had to uninstall the new WMP if they want to use MC.

So there you have it. I decided to post this in case anyone else was searching for help.

(Update March 14, 2008: For those who have old Media Center PC’s and Watch Instantly is crashing, Hacking Netflix just posted something that might help you.)

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