How to uninstall a Visualization from Windows Media Player

Summary

This article explains how to uninstall a Windows Media Player Visualization manually, in case the standard removal procedures do not work.

Uninstalling a Visualization

Open a Command Prompt window by typing CMD.EXE in Start, Run dialog.

Note for Windows Vista: If you're using Windows Vista, you'll need to open an elevated Command Prompt. To do so, click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

Switch to the Visualizations folder by typing the following command:

CD /d "%Programfiles%\Windows Media Player\Visualizations"

Press {ENTER}

Type DIR to get the directory listing, and spot the DLL file name for the Visualization that you want to remove. (For example, blaze.dll is for BlazingColors, ColorCub.dll is for ColorCubes, and so forth. You may also use Windows Explorer and right-click on each DLL in the Visualizations folder in order to find the Visualization name and description if you need.)

After finding the DLL file name, unregister the module using the regsvr32.exe command:

regsvr32.exe -u

You should see the following message after running the above command:

DllUnregisterServer in succeeded.

After unregistering the DLL, simply delete the file. The Visualization should no longer be listed when you open Windows Media Player the next time.