I use to enable this setting in Vista Ultimate to stop WMP11 messing up my album covers, does anyone know how to enable the same setting in the registry on a Vista Home Premium machine???

Thanks,

"Also this is a good tip for Vista Ultimate users, to prevent WMP11 from retrieving media information for music files from the Internet for all user accounts on your system.

Go to run and enter MMC then on the file menu of the console add a snapin select Group Policy Object Editor, ensure Local Computer is selected, click Finish and OK.

Browse to User Configuration - Administrative Templates - Windows Components - Windows Media Player

Select "Prevent Music File Media Information Retreival" Enable this policy.

Now in WMP11 the option is unselected and greyed out"

Stuart,

I don't know the answer, but I know how you can find out. On an Ultimate machine run Process Monitor and watch what registry key(s) it changes when you change the setting through Group Policy editor.

Then you should be able to modify those registry keys on the HP machine.

Process Monitor comes from Microsoft, see: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

 

Thanks for the reply, I was just thinking along the same lines myself will post back if I work it out.

Just had a quick look it appears to be:

HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences\MetadataRetrieval

If I turn on / off "Update Music Files by retrieving media information from the Internet" on the Privacy tab in the WMP11 options the MetadataRetrieval key is the one I can see in the Process Monitor.

I need to test this out some more I think to be sure.

It is grayed out because it is set via the policy - is it not honoring the setting?

mmatheny:

It is grayed out because it is set via the policy - is it not honoring the setting?

That's an old screen shot taken from another thread, it was taken from a Vista Ultimate build using group policy to disable that setting, which is why it's greyed out.

I'm wanting to do the same thing but on Vista Home Premium. Why they took out group policy I don't know!

cw-kid:

I'm wanting to do the same thing but on Vista Home Premium. Why they took out group policy I don't know!

You don't need group policy on HP. Group policy is designed for corporate domain installations and HP can't join a domain.

I think they got this one right. I certainly don't miss group policy on my HP machine at home.

 

Yeah your right! I know what GP is for, I use to run Windows sever networks for a living.
But I still think you should be able to configure the local security policy using the MMC group policy snap-in in HP it would make life easier, than having to figure out the corresponding registry entries.

It seems someone else had worked out the answer to this question here

I've still not tested this out for myself, as I am waiting for some new extenders to arrive.

However I have noted the following behaviour regarding this MetadataRetrieval key in the registry that relates back to the following two options in WMP on the Privacy tab.

Display Media Information From The Internet
Update Music Files By Retrieving Media Information From The Internet



Option Selected:- Display Media Information From The Internet
Option Selected:- Update Music Files By Retrieving Media Information From The Internet

MetadataRetrieval = 3

Option Selected:- Display Media Information From The Internet
Option Not Selected:- Update Music Files By Retrieving Media Information From The Internet

MetadataRetrieval = 1

Option Not Selected:- Display Media Information From The Internet
Option Selected:- Update Music Files By Retrieving Media Information From The Internet

MetadataRetrieval = 2

Option Not Selected:- Display Media Information From The Internet
Option Not Selected:- Update Music Files By Retrieving Media Information From The Internet

MetadataRetrieval = 0

The guy who wrote the other thread I just linked to, also mentions two other keys, ForceOnline and AutoMetadataUpdate

"The "ForceOnline" key maps back to the "Connect to the Internet (overrides all other settings)" field in WMP"

Connect to the Internet (overrides all other settings) is on the Player tab in the WMP options and is an option I have never used before the default is not selected I believe.

The AutoMetadataUpdate key maps back to the Automatic Media Information Updates For Files option on the Library tab.

What I want to achieve is to have the following options turned off in WMP for all users:

WMP Options - Library Tab:

Automatic Media Infomation Updates For Files = OFF

WMP Options - Privacy Tab:

Display Media Information From The Internet = OFF
Update Music Files By Retrieving Media Information From The Internet = OFF

Setting MetadataRetrieval = 0 should achieve this I just need to test out the bit where you have to load the hive and add the registry key(s) for the MCX users as described here.

Has anyone else set this up with Vista Home Premium ?

Cheers