How to: Setup Windows Media Center on Windows 10

Who hasn’t heard of Windows Media Center? It is a media player and digital video recorder created by Microsoft back in 2002. It was considered one of the best media center applications at that time. The main purpose of the Media Center was to record TV programs from antennas, cables, or satellite signals. On the other hand, it was also used as a media player to play music and videos stored on hard drives or network locations.

Unfortunately, Microsoft began reducing support for Media Center in 2009. Although it was available on Windows 8, its User Interface remains the same as it was years ago. Within Windows 10, Microsoft has discontinued Windows Media Center and replaced it with a paid app called Windows DVD Player, which has not been well-received by users. People still value Windows Media Center and are demanding its return in Windows 10; however, Microsoft does not appear to be listening to its audience in this regard.

So, some people have made efforts to make Windows Media Center available on Windows 10. In fact, it is much appreciated, as people were losing their minds with Microsoft’s reduced support for Media Center on Windows 10. Follow the instructions below to have Windows Media Center back on Windows 10.

Setting up Windows Media Center on Windows 10.

To set it up on Windows 10, you should follow the instructions in this guide.

Note: This method is not supported by Windows 10, so it is not guaranteed to work perfectly. Although no errors have been reported, it is still unsafe. Make sure to back up your important files or create a restore point.

1. Download the Windows Media Center ZIP package from this link.

2. Extract the contents of the compressed file to an easily accessible location. In my case, I will extract it to the Desktop.

3. Inside the folder where you extracted the files, navigate to the emd and right-click on it to run it as an administrator. A Command Prompt will open and close after a few seconds. If it doesn’t close, you can close it by yourself. Reboot your PC after the process is done.

4. After the PC has been rebooted, navigate to the extracted folder again and right-click on ‘cmd‘ to open it as an administrator. This will run the installer, and once it is completed, press any key on the keyboard to exit the window.

5. Now, you can search for Windows Media Center using Cortana in Windows 10. After you have found it, simply launch it or pin the shortcut to the Start menu for easy accessibility.