Internet Explorer Stops Playing Media

You might notice that after installing some third-party media players, Internet Explorer will no longer play audio or video files or both.  Here’s how to fix it.

The reason for the error is because your defaults have changed to a third party program for playing your audio and video files.  This is done for “convenience”.  When installing a third party player, some of them set them as the default so it will be opened automatically when double clicking a file of a particular type.  For example, when you double click an MP3 file in Windows Explorer, Windows may automatically open WinAmp, Sonique, or whatever else is set as the default player.

Unfortunately, this sometimes breaks the association with Internet Explorer, or the application does not have support for playing media files within Internet Explorer.

Here’s how to reset the default player in IE:

1. Click Start, select Default Programs
2. Click Set program access and computer defaults
3. Click Custom, and select Windows Media Player
4. Click OK.
5. Click Set your default programs
6. Select Windows Media Player from the list
7. Click Set this program as default
8. Click OK.