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Windows Media Center in Windows 10

Windows Media Center (WMC) is a discontinued digital video recorder and media player created by Microsoft. Media Center was first introduced to Windows in 2002 on Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE). It was included in Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. It was also available on Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8.1 Pro as a paid add-on.

Windows Media Center can play slideshows, videos and music from local hard drives, optical drives and network locations through an attractive User Interface with either a keyboard, mouse or remote control similar to a TV remote. Content can be played back on a computers monitor or on a television through a connected computer or a device called Windows Media Center Extender. It is also possible to watch, record and pause live TV.

Shortly after Windows 7's 2009 release, Microsoft disbanded the Media Center development team, thus abandoning any further software developments. Consequently, the Media Center interface remained unchanged for Windows 8 and 8.1 users. In May 2015 Microsoft announced that Windows Media Center would be discontinued and would not be in Windows 10. If upgrading to Windows 10 from an operating system with Media Center, it would simply be removed during the upgrade.
Well, as far as Microsoft is concerned, Yes, Windows Media Center is over, and if you want to continue with it you must keep using Windows 7 or 8.1 and that’s becoming more and more difficult over time. Microsoft just isn’t interested in supporting Windows Media Center any more.

Now comes the good news, an online community has managed to make Windows Media Center install and run on Windows 10. It isn’t officially supported by Microsoft, so there maybe issues. However during our limited testing there were no problems found.

If you would like to give WMC a try on your Windows 10 system, we show you how below.
Please Note: By following this giude, you do it at your own risk, we cannot be held responsible for any problems that may occur installing this software.

You will first need to check which architecture your Windows 10 system is running on, either 32 bit or 64 bit. To do that first press and hold the Windows key on the bottom left of the keyboard and hit the x key and release both. A menu will appear picture below.


The Window that opens should be 1 of the 2 pictures below, look where the red ring is on your system and remember whether it's 32-bit or 64-bit.


OK, now you know which system type your computer is, click on the relevant link below to download the Media Center installer:

Note: Please remember where it downloads to, by default it should go to your downloads folder.

Once the file download is complete, open the containing folder to view the file, as shown below.


Now right click the file (either WMC32bit or WMC64bit) and select extract all from the menu.


Next, just leave the default folder as is and hit 'Extract'.


Once the file extraction is complete, Windows will open the folder to show you the files.


Double click on the folder to show the files within.
Now, Part 1) First right click on the '_TestRights' file and choose 'Run as administrator'.

Next, if a UAC windows appears, Click 'Yes' to continue.


If a black command window opens, then closes and re-opens again, Part 1) is complete. (It should look like the picture below if it was successful).
If the first black window never closes, restart the computer and start at Part 1) again.


Now Part 2), right click on the 'Installer' file and choose 'Run as administrator'.


This process will take a short time.


Please be patient as the software installs.


Once the install is complete, press any key to close the window. You can now close any other open windows.


Next in the search bar type in 'Windows Media Center'.


Again right click and choose 'Pin to Start' and/or 'Pin to taskbar'.
The Windows Media Center install is now complete and ready to run.

Click on the link you have created to start the Media Center.

The first time you start Windows Media Center, you go through a quick setup, click 'Continue' to begin.



To get started quickly, click on 'Express' to complete the setup.
That's it Windows Media Center is now up and running.

You should find that any music in Windows Media Player, will show up in the Music folder. Any Photos and Videos in their corresponding folders should also be visible. You can also configure additional folders as you go.
That's it, I hope you enjoy your new Windows Media Center on Windows 10.
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