Media Player Play To Error "Failed to retrieve media Information from media server"

Anonymous
2011-08-04T04:55:28+00:00

I have a Denon AVR 1912 receiver and a PC running Windows 7 w/WMP12.  When I try to use the "play to" feature I can select the receiver but get an error "Failed to retrieve media Information from media server."

I have tried to re-install WMP 12 and have tried disabling my firewall with no success.  Airplay works fine, but I prefer WMP to I-Tunes.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Music, photos, and video

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Anonymous
2011-09-09T16:43:54+00:00

The content is on the same computer.  Streaming is enabled and the receiver is "allowed." 

I am not sure if this is solved or not...but I found the solution last night after I spent the most frustrating 5 hours of my life! This is surely a windows problem. I recently replaced my HP laptop with a Dell Vostro 3450 and I suddenly found that 'Play To' feature wasn't working with my Samsung LED TV UA55C8000 .To confirm that it wasn't a firewall or format related issue I even used Samsung PC Share software on my PC to act as the DLNA server...With PC share as the server WMP12 didnt find any problems 'Contacting the Media Server' ...but with its own library it just remained stuck there, with an eventual failure message. [Point to be noted was that even when it failed to contact the media server, I could control the TV volume using the same window!]

This is what did the trick for me:

  1. Closed WMP12.
  2. Go to Services [Control Panel->System and Security->Administrative Tools->Services]
  3. Locate the service with name 'Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service'
  4. Stop the Service manually.
  5. Locate the service 'UpnP Device Host'. Stop the service and start it again.
  6. Start 'Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service' now.
  7. Close control panel and all associated windows. Open Windows Media Player...right click on a playlist and see if PlayTo option lists the TV. Try playing now...it started playing for me at this stage!

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-12-30T00:21:53+00:00

    You're welcome David, I'm very glad the file helped you.

    I was using Rajan's procedure for a solid 2 months or so, and thought there must be an easier way. It takes so much time to get the services window open, stop 2 services and start them up again. I figured out a batch file should make it easier!

    Likewise, I didn't have any trouble when I initially started using "Play To", it's only a recent development, and no matter what I tried, it didn't seem to fix itself.

    You're right, I am fairly sure W10 loses support for "Play To", which is one of the many reasons I'm still hanging onto W7 as I can't afford to let go of this crucial functionality.

    I'd be interested too in why this problem came about, I know from reading the dev notes on why "Play To" was created, it was to allow easier file sharing between DLNA compatible devices. Something has broken in Microsoft's code and it would take them to figure out which line(s) of code is the culprit!

    Stephen

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-12-27T09:21:17+00:00
    1. Closed WMP12.
    2. Go to Services [Control Panel->System and Security->Administrative Tools->Services]
    3. Locate the service with name 'Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service'
    4. Stop the Service manually.
    5. Locate the service 'UpnP Device Host'. Stop the service and start it again.
    6. Start 'Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service' now.
    7. Close control panel and all associated windows. Open Windows Media Player...right click on a playlist and see if PlayTo option lists the TV. Try playing now...it started playing for me at this stage!

    Hi everyone,

    In relation to Rajan's post above detailing the solution, I also had the same problem. Luckily I found this post, followed the instructions and voila! It worked!

    To simplify the procedure, I created a batch file which does the exact steps that Rajan has detailed above.

    Please find it at https://www.dropbox.com/s/dctfhgvml5rr4h2/DLNA.bat?dl=0

    You can check the code, which only has 4 lines. Please run it as Administrator so that it can do its job properly.

    I hope this can help anyone else having the same issue.

    Cheers.

    Many thanks Stephen,

    I have been following Rajan's procedure to restart the "Play To" function in WMP for some time. Your .BAT file should make this easier. I've added it to my STARTUP menu.

    I would be interested to learn why this problem started. I was using "Play To" for a long time without problem before this occurred around 4 months ago..

    "Play To" is a feature of WMP I use every day. I have all my music on my laptop which I can stream to my audio system in excellent quality. It's one reason I'm hanging on to Windows 7 as I understand there may be problems on Windows 10. Anybody using W10 to stream music via WMP?

    David

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-12-27T02:49:26+00:00
    1. Closed WMP12.
    2. Go to Services [Control Panel->System and Security->Administrative Tools->Services]
    3. Locate the service with name 'Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service'
    4. Stop the Service manually.
    5. Locate the service 'UpnP Device Host'. Stop the service and start it again.
    6. Start 'Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service' now.
    7. Close control panel and all associated windows. Open Windows Media Player...right click on a playlist and see if PlayTo option lists the TV. Try playing now...it started playing for me at this stage!

    Hi everyone,

    In relation to Rajan's post above detailing the solution, I also had the same problem. Luckily I found this post, followed the instructions and voila! It worked!

    To simplify the procedure, I created a batch file which does the exact steps that Rajan has detailed above.

    Please find it at https://www.dropbox.com/s/dctfhgvml5rr4h2/DLNA.bat?dl=0

    You can check the code, which only has 4 lines. Please run it as Administrator so that it can do its job properly.

    I hope this can help anyone else having the same issue.

    Cheers.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-12-03T03:52:04+00:00

    Thank you bro. This **** has been happening randomly forever! this fix is great.

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