Windows Media Player constantly updating media library

I've struggled with same problem for a whole day and found a workaround. There is a special file called "wmpfolders.wmdb" which stored information about all folders looked through by WMP. You can find this file in you local app folder: c:\Users[your name]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player. What you can do with this file is mark a folder so WMP will ignore it and will not update any files stored in this folder. To do so edit this file with any text editor (it just a plain XML) and replace Exclude="0" with Exclude="-1" to mark folder as excluded.

You can exclude specific subfolders or any top level folder.

Hope it helps someone.

Hello All,

Thank you for using Microsoft Answers forums.  You may have corrupted files.  Use the System File Checker tool (SFC.exe).  To do this, follow these steps:

1.       Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, click****Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.

2.       Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

sfc /scannow

The sfc /scannow command scans all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions.

Thanks for using the Answers Forum. Please let us know how this works out.

Joseph

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

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I was having this problem, but for it appears related to the setting "Maintain my star ratings as global ratings in files", found under the Library tab of the preferences. Turning it off seems to have stopped the problem. This is not ideal, but perhaps I'll just turn this back on every few weeks, write my ratings back to the files, and then turn it off again.

I posted a more detailed account here:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itpromedia/thread/4b6db717-1fb1-4225-ab36-9dcc9efc2424

Hello, necromancer66

Thank you for using the Answers Forum and for helping test Windows 7!

Try disabling the “Retrieve additional information from the internet” option. Open Windows Media Player, right click on the navigation arrows at the top, select Tools, Options, go to the Library tab and uncheck the “Retrieve additional information from the internet” option.

David

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

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I solved it this way:

1. Organize -> Manage Libraries -> Music / Videos / Pictures / Recorded TV

Here I removed everything so that Media Player monitores NO folders

EXCEPT my own Music folder where my mp3 collection is located.

2. Organize -> Options -> Library

Here I have everything DISABLED. Only "Maintain my star ratings as global ratings in files"

is ENABLED which is the best choice because if you make backups of your mp3s you

also don't lose your star ratings because they are stored directly in the mp3 files.

**3. Right-Click on the bar where the Prev/Next Arrows are -> Tools -> Advanced -> Restore media library...**Now the library is rebuild and when I close and open Media Player

again my mp3 collection is instantly shown without a full rescan.