Here’s a very important fix. If you want to upgrade the windows media player security component it might happen that the “upgrade” button is inactive. You will need this update to play protected songs, films or other digitally protected software. Responsible for that is the so called “Digital rights management” of Windows, DRM. The DRM has a cache. In order to install the security component update you will have to delete/clear the DRM cache.
Do a quick check here if you can upgrade the security component without flaws:
http://drmlicense.one.microsoft.com/Indivsite/
http://drmlicense.one.microsoft.com/crlupdate/
Everything worked? Great! No? Let’s roll ..
First of all, I would check if ActiveX is properly running because sometimes it’s not fully working. You can do that here:
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/diag/
The solution to upgrade the component is pretty simple, but can be tricky, especially if you run a x64 system.
Problem: I simply can’t upgrade the component. The button remains grey whatever I do.
Solution: Rename your DRM folder to “DRMbackup”. This will clear the cache and allow the IE to upgrade the Windows Media Player Security Component.
Make sure to access the site through your Internet Explorer instead of Firefox, because it simply won’t work.
Problem: Where is that DRM folder?
Solution: By default you can find the folder at: C:/Program Data/Microsoft/Windows/DRM
Problem: The folder is not there.
Solution: Unhide hidden system folders. Still not there? It can be somewhere else:
- x32: Open “regedit” (type regedit into search field) and go to the following location: “local_machine/software/microsoft/drm”. Right-click the entry “DataPath” and select “Modify Binary Data”. The popup will tell you where the folder is. It’s a bit cryptic (!) so read it carefully and you will see the path on the right side.
- x64: Follow the steps above, but uncollapse the folders: “local_machine/software/wow6432node/microsoft/DRM”
This should help you out. It now works like a charm on my x64 system.