How-To Geek
Uninstall, Disable, or Remove Windows 7 Media Center
Although Windows 7 Media Center has improved a lot over previous versions of Windows, but you might want to disable it for different reasons. Here we take a look at a couple of methods to get rid of it.
There are a variety of reasons you might want to disable Windows 7 Media Center. Maybe you own a business and don’t want it to run on the machines. Or perhaps you don’t use it at all and just don’t want it around.
Turn Off WMC Using Programs and Features
Probably the easiest way to get rid of it on all versions of Windows 7 is to open Control Panel and select Programs and Features. This method is similar to disabling Internet Explorer 8 in Windows 7.
On the left hand panel click on Turn Windows Features on or off.
Scroll down to Media Features and expand the folder. Then Uncheck Windows Media Center…
You’ll get a verification message making sure you want to disable it, click Yes.
Then the box next to Windows Media Center will be empty…click OK.
Wait while WMC is disabled…
To complete the process a reboot is required.
After getting back from the restart, the WMC icon will be gone and there won’t be any way to launch it.
Re-enable WMC
If you want to re-enable it, just go back in and recheck it.
Again you’ll need to wait while it’s configured, but when it’s done, a restart is not required.
Disable Media Center Using Group Policy
Note: This process uses Group Policy Editor which is not available in Home versions of Windows 7.
Click on the Start menu and type gpedit.msc into the Search box and hit Enter.
Now navigate to User Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Windows Components \ Windows Media Center.
Double-click on Do not allow Windows Media Center to run. Then select the radio button next to Enabled, click OK and close out of Group Policy Editor.
Now if a user tries to launch WMC they will get the following message.
Conclusion
If you’re not a fan of Windows Media Center or want to disable it for whatever reason, the process is simple and there are a couple of ways you can do it. WMC is not included in Starter or Home Basic versions of Windows 7. If you’re new to Windows 7 Media Center, you might want to check out our guide on getting started and setting up live TV.
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Comments (22)
Programmer by day, geek by night, The Geek, also known as Lowell Heddings, spends all his free time bringing you fresh geekery on a daily basis. You can follow him on Google+ if you'd like.
- Published 04/23/10
I find it useless on my laptop to have this installed, so I disabled it. If the laptop had a tuner, then I’d say otherwise most likely. I really love the interface of this, but I really don’t have a use for it. Maybe someone could fill me in on a nice use for WMC on a laptop with no tv tuner? WMP plays all the videos I have (which are in mkv), and it’s much faster to load that up than WMC.
Now why didn’t they include an option to uninstall/disable extra features like this in Vista?
I could think of 20 built in items/apps that I could remove.
i find complete disebled windows media center in widows 7
tous les logiviel sont relier a lui, quand je lance un logiciel si comme si je lance WMC. comment remedier??. Merci
FAKE… just HOW can you write in your header that this article will learn you to uninstall – when all you silly guys can manage to do is to disable it???
Come on – you can do better!!
Hi
Please help me. When I hv disabled the WMC from Control penal, even after that, all my desktop icon are still with WMC icon. When ever I want to run any application, same error message comes as above. Even I am not able to run MS Excel.When i click it, WMC runs . Please help how to get rid of it..
Thanks
Hi
Please help me. When I hv disabled the WMC from Control penal, even after that, all my desktop icon are still with WMC icon. When ever I want to run any application, same error message comes as above. Even I am not able to run MS Excel.When i click it, WMC runs . Please help how to get rid of it..
ThankS
In fact, I have the same problem as to uable to remove the WMC program. When I click the “Turn Windows features on or off”, instead of seeing the next screen as shown above where you can tick off the WMC, the WMC screen immediately appears, thus making it impossiblefor me tp proceed to the next step (as the next step won’t take place at all. It appears more like a Spyware to me as it controls almost all my desktop icons, including my Internet Explorer and Firefox icons, not to mention also MS Excel, MS Words etc…. It’s a pain in the neck. I do hope someone could help. I’m using a Window 7 Home Premium Version. Many thanks.
Hi all,
i have same problem as lee exactly and cant get rid of WMC on mt laptop could you help please
thanks
Sid
i hv same problem in my laptop plz help ur or advise,,,
waduh WMC sapalah yg ciptain ancur laptop ane,,,tlong ane dong….!!!!!
i have same prob with Lee
:( :(
help me plz…..
thz
Please help- I can’t remove WMC from my laptop? Its driving me crazy!!!!!!!!
bagaimana cara meng uninstal windows media center karena semua program tidak dapat di buka,semua icon berubah menjadi windows media center dan apabila di klik yang jalan windows media center! atas saran dan penjelasannya saya ucapkan terima kasih!
bonjour a vous tous
alors voila, j’ai un souci avec window media center, suite a une manipulation hasardeuse, mon ordinateur a adopte WMC (la plus part de mes icones sont sous reference WMC, fenetre de WMC toujours ouverte, impossible d’ouvrir msn ni de surfer sur le net avec mozilla, tout est gerer par WMC).
j’ai opte pour votre solution le hic c’est que quand j’arrive a l’etape Activer Windows caractéristiques sous ou hors tension, la fenetre WMC apparait et je ne peux strictement rien faire.
j’ai essaye egalement en rentrant dans les parametres de WMC, général et demarrage et comportement fenetre, de decocher comme j’ai pu lire dans certains forums, mais la case demarrer WMC en meme temps que window etait deja decochee… donc a ce stade je n’ai plus acces a mon ordi car WMC me squeeze toute tentative quand je souhaite soit ouvrir internet soit ecouter de la musique (ce qui la est tres fort quand meme pour un lecteur media) me connecter a msn, etc…
pouvez m’aider s’il vous plait, j’ai vu que d’autres personnes avaient le meme probleme que moi mais aucune solution n’a ete porte dans tout les forums que j’ai lu avec attention.
merci a vous pour les solutions que vous voudrez bien m’apporter
darwinn
I wanted to remove this feature, because i use aimp2 players, and because of WMC i cant change the .mp3 icons..
Hi
Please help me. When I hv disabled the WMC from Control penal, even after that, all my desktop icon are still with WMC icon. When ever I want to run any application, same error message comes as above. Even I am not able to run MS Excel.When i click it, WMC runs . Please help how to get rid of it..
Thanks
Ok this is really starting to P*SS me off!! Every forum I go on that says remove/disable windows features only gives instructions to disable… I don’t want to DISABLE. I want to get it them the f*ck off my drive! I’m running a 120GB SSD so space is PRECIOUS! Windows won’t even let you delete the directories manually! LAME.
why can’t we just delete the ehome folder where media center is stored?
i have the same problem,,any one knows can tell how to disable the WMC??help me!!!
@Darwinn: Un ami avait le problème. Résolu en démarrant en “safe mode with command prompt” et en entrant la commande dism /online /disable-feature /featurename:MediaCenter
(In English: A friend had the same problem. Solved by booting into “safe mode with command prompt” and running “dism /online /disable-feature /FeatureName:MediaCenter”.
well seeing how it says “unistall, disable OR remove” i would guess it will show you at least one of these based on the title so maybe you should read it better first there silly. thank you for outting yourself on the world wide web.