Fix: Windows Media Player has stopped working on Windows 10

Some Windows 10 users have had Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center crashing every time it’s opened. 3rd party apps such as Plex, HDHomeRun, Subtitle Edit and VisualSubSync have also been affected. Some users who also tried opening folder containing media files had Windows Explorer crashing or Windows restarting. Obviously, CompPkgSup.DLL is faulting module.

This error is caused by a bug in Windows Update KB4013429 which caused Windows DVD Player and a lot of other media applications that use Microsoft MPEG-2 handling libraries to crash. This means that update caused a malfunction on any application that used Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder (msmpeg2vdec.dll) that used the inbuilt DVD/MPEG2 decoder.

This issue can be solved by uninstalling Update KB4013429, applying update fix KB4015438, disabling Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder or running the CompPkgSup fixer. This article will provide the various methods to get this fixed.

Method 1: Uninstalling Windows Update KB4013429

This update caused the whole issue. Removing it will fix the issue temporarily. Make sure you disable automatic updates for the mean time to prevent Windows from downloading it again.

1. Press WIN + I to open Windows settings.
2. Select Update & Security and navigate to Update history > Uninstall update
   
3. A Control Panel window will open showing all installed updates. Click on the “Search Installed Updates” search bar at the upper-right and type KB4013429.
4. Double-click on KB4013429 in the search result and click OK to confirm the update removal.
   
5. Reboot your PC and try running your media applications again.

Method 2: Applying Windows Update

Microsoft responded promptly to fix this bug with the update KB4015438. You don’t need to uninstall the faulty update in method 1 to fix this.

1. Press CTRL + I to open Windows settings.
2. Select Update & Security and select Check for Updates. Windows will check for updates and begin downloading pending updates. If automatic updates are disabled, make open the list of pending updates and install update KB4015438.
3. Reboot your PC and try running your media applications again.

Alternatively, you can download the standalone cumulative update and install it manually from here

Method 3: Using the Codec Tweak Tool

Using the Codec Tweak Cool from codecguide.com, you can disable Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder and stop it from crushing your applications. Note that doing this may break video playback in certain apps.

1. Download the Codec Tweak Tool from here.
2. Run the application with admin privileges or grant the UAC prompt when it appears.
3. Select MS Codec Tweaks under Win7DFilterTweaker.
   
4. Check the first 4 boxes as shown in the image below to disable.
   
5. Click Apply & Close.
6. Try to run your media applications again to confirm if the error has been resolved.

Method 4: Replacing CompPkgSup

You can CompPkgSup.dll with a previous working version of the DLL so it doesn’t cause crashes.

1. Download CompPkgSup.dll from here.
2. Copy CompPkgSup.dll to C:\Temp. If the Temp folder doesn’t exist on your system, you should create it. You may be asked to grant Admin privileges, which you should grant.
3. Press the Start button and type “cmd”. Right-click on “Command Prompt” and click “Run as Administrator”. Accept the UAC prompt when the prompt comes up.
   
4. Enter the following commands in the elevated command prompt:takeown /f %windir%\System32\CompPkgSup.dllicacls %windir%\System32\CompPkgSup.dll /grant administrators:F
   copy C:\temp\CompPkgSup.dll %windir%\system32\CompPkgSup.dll
5. After this operation, CompPkgSup.dll will be copied to the system32 folder. Try launching the media applications which were producing the errors and check if they’ve stopped.

Method 5: Using Windows Troubleshooter

1. Open the Start Menu and type troubleshooting
   
   
2. Scroll down the list of troubleshooting options, select Video Playback and Run the troubleshooter.
   
3. If the Troubleshooter identifies any issues, Apply the fix and then check if you can open any multimedia applications.