I was having problems with the library of my Windows Media Player 11 BETA. So I searched a way to rebuild/remove the cache of the library data that WMP uses. All of the solutions pointed to non-existing files, which meant Windows Media Player 11 uses a different folder/system than version 10. I kept hunting for it, and then found this.
In the folder “C:\Documents and Settings\**username**\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player\”, several files named after “CurrentDatabase_***.wmdb” & “LocalMLS_*.wmdb” are the cache files for the WMP 11 library.
If you want to fix any library related issues, or just want WMP 11 to reindex your media, simply delete all of these files.
Comments for "Windows Media Player 11 Library cache"
Fengwei An
Thanks for the solution, it really works (naturally!)
Been looking for this for ages, and finally found it. Thanks!
Fengwei
pete
Long Zheng, Thanks very much for the fix. I thought WMP11 was a goner….
Terry
Thanks, extremely handy.
Rob
This seems to be a common problem. Why does it happen so often?
kyleh
Any idea how to do this in Vista? I’m not finding any wmdb files even with advanced search ‘include non-indexed, hidden, etc’ turned on.
jazacoop
Those instructions work on Vista. Try manually navigating to the specified directory rather than searching. I guarentee you it’s there…
Acunga
Well,
the files are NOT there but I can see them they are there with search - advanced - Search W. Media Lybrary Files option.I have set the option to reveal hidden files to me of cource, but it is still unsean..however just to notice.
Anddd..how about telling me how I coul possibly see the cache files form the clips i watch from internet, where do they go?Where is theyr folder?
Kenny
For vista…
1. Start –> Search
2. Go to advanced search and check “Include non-indexed, hidden, and system files (might be slow)”
3. In the “name” blank, type in Appdata
4. Click Appdata –> Local –> Microsoft –> Media Player
5. Delete currentdatabase and localmls files.
Your library should work after this.
Ben
Thank you very much Kenny. This is excactly the hand holding I needed. You ended my hour long search with this last one. I needed excact directions!!! YOU ROCK KENNY!!!!
Mark
I have tried the above and it has not fixed my system. any other ideas? I am unable to view my media library in WMP but it is in music match, real player my philips and netgear media servers(I want to use WMP to replace both of these). So far I have uninstalled every media player and media server I have ever tried so WMP was the only media related software on the PC, the above fix then reinstalled the software I mentioned above so I could actually use my stuff.
I am running XP and do not seem to have a good roll back point.
Brandon
This is pretty simple to do. You’re going to have to rebuild your library though. It’s a corruption of some sort in your media files folder.
Follow this path:
%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player\ ”
Copy and paste into the address bar if you like, you’ll be inside the folder you need to find. ‘Media Player’ Delete it, and replace it with the another folder with the same name.
This should fix the problem.
For those of you out there using media sharing, you may need to follow another step here, as there’s a file you can’t delete while media sharing is running.
Goto Start menu -> Run: Type in “services.msc” without quotes.
Find the service called “Windows Media Player Network Sharing Serivce”, Right-Click on it so it says ‘Stopped’. Now go back to the Media Player folder and delete it.
Now go back to WMP, and you should be able to put your music and video files back in. Unless you’ve got playlist files elsewhere, you’ll probably have to remake them from scratch, but at least WMP will work again.
The Grateful One
Thank you Long Zheng.
You’ve cleared the cache of Microsofts
latest piece of spyware.
WMP 11 Not only collects a record of all your
MP3’s like previous versions, it wants to know whats in your Video Folder,
Your Picture Folder, the ‘My Documents’ Folder (ROOT FOLDER), the ‘All Users’
versions of your video, music, picture ….
AND THATS JUST THE OPENLY DONE RETRIEVAL.
OUTLOOK (When Used by noobs) is what updates Microsoft’s Database in
the background.
For those who don’t know the following - Your Christmas has come early:
http://www.fuckmicrosoft.com/content/ms-hidden-files.shtml
For those who DO KNOW - You didn’t know before being told. (Remember that).
kyleh
None of those folders are actually hidden from explorer. You definitely don’t need DOS knowledge to find them, unless you just like typing \tempor~1 insteady of \termporary internet files or something.
Catreroth
WOW, fuck microsoft indeed.
Thanks for the help Brandon. I did what you suggested and now I am rebuilding my library from scratch. I was very confused as my library was just gone from one day to the next, even though the mp3 files were there and nothing had changed, WMP11 fucked up, first I noticed there was something weird as I couldnt change some track names… but then after a reboot, my library was gone forever and nothing I could do brought it back. But deleting that Media Player folder and creating a blank new one finally helped… I’ll just have to work on some details of my library to get it back in the same shape as before… better than nothing!
chris
go to http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html#medialibrary
for WMP 11 if you get a message that the file is in use. it tells you to end the task for networking(sharing) music on your network. it is wmpnetwk.exe which is “Window Media Player Network Sharing Service”. then you can delete the file if you do it before the system starts that service back up again automatically.
Peter
I’ve having a similar problem but this time I cannot find alum art, do media sharing or even add files to my library. Now I’m getting a problem where after doing what Brandon said I still cannot delete the Media Player folder as a file called CurrentDatabase_360.wmdb is still running by a program… Oh never mind my Sidebar was using it.
Wow that worked! Now just to do a few tests and fix everything up but it does look very promising! Thanks so much I thought I’d never be able to fix it. =D
Peter
Yay it did work! One thing I must know (and forgot to say in my last post) was what exactly causes this problem? What happened to me was I just copied a song off my brother’s computer then played it in WMP11 and my library was gone. What can I do to avoid this happening again?
Thanks for all your help.
Shivers
I’m having the same problem as Peter, I can’t delete the CurrentDatabase_360.wmdb file. I don’t understand what he meant by his Sidebar using it, though, how do I close that so I can delete the file?
Peter Mac
I agree with earlier posters, I lost all my nedia files in WMP 11 for no apparent reason. Finally deleted the folder and that solved it. Thanks a million.
NN
Well, i to have installed WMP11 and cannot find my library. I have run through the solutions on the MS site and have removed the previous folder. All without luck. MS should really do more to resolve this issue. If anyone can give me a clear idiot guide i would appreciate it. cheers
Chris
Shivers: Task manager, under processes, stop wmpnetwork. Something along those lines.
wendy
Deleted the bloody media player file and it worked like a charm thanks guys!
Michael
I have my music stored in a folder C:\TEMP_MUSIC and Window XP Media Player 11 seems unhappy. I was able to delete teh wmdb files and the folder. That did seem to work in that I was prompted to create a library, but when I manually added the folder above and ran the search, it found like 8 songs when I know there are over 1000 there.
Any ideas? Or is this just a microsoft “feature”?
Lee
You may also need to stop related wm* processes and then delete CurrentDatabase_360.wmdb.
I do not yet know if other .wmdb files need to be removed.
I am doing this because I have a WorldBook network drive which I access either by \\name, or by mounted drive: in any case, WMP duplicates the contents, even if I use the drive’s IP address. Very frustrating that this software is both ubiquotious, slow, and “last-generation” in its view of how a media centre PC is used.
Moleymole
Thanks this worked
This morning Windows Media Player froze so I stopped the active process with Task Manager instead of closing the non responsive application, which Windows still hasn’t made any faster so if you do this you have to wait 20 minutes for Windows to close the d**n program. Stopping the process works in just a second. Anyways so I go to open the program again and my whole Libary has gone - no music, pics etc. So I go to add the files again, and select the folders to monitor, then click Ok, but then it doesn’t search for any files. So i did your trick and it works again. Thanks a lot.
Jonathon
After deleting the databases and attempting to fix my library I found a fairly simple fix, I downloaded WINAMP.
Zaggy111
Long Zheng, thank you very much, this solved my library problem, thx.
mrnice
If you still have trouble deleteing CurrentDatabase_360.wmdb file after stoping the the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Serivce then you may need to set the service to diasabled then log back in to windows. This worked for me.
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