[RiffRaffCat75]

OK, anytime I plug any mp3 player in my laptop and try to use WMP I get this message on the screen;

"windows media player-your device is using an outdated
driver that is no longer supported by windows media player"

Help! It's driving me crazy!

It's a Toshiba laptop, running Windows 7 with WMP 12.

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[Ztruker]

What is the make and model number of the MP3 player?
Is there a Vista or Windows 7 driver for it? If not then you may be out of luck, though you could try this:
Windows 7 DRIVER compatibility mode?! How to?

[RiffRaffCat75]

It does it with ANY mp3 player. I'm using a Sony and a Sandisk the most often. Also, I didn't know you had to get OS drivers for mp3 players? They are just plug-n-play devices. I've looked for drivers for these devices but haven't found anything for each individual device. WMP was working just fine, and then one day I start getting that message, so that tells me that it has to be something with WMP. I would just uninstall it and then reinstall it, but it's not the easiest thing to do when a piece of software is embedded into the OS. Besides, I'm pretty sure that most likely that wouldn't fix the issue any ways.

[Ztruker]

You're probably right. Can you try it on another Win 7 system? Friend, family?

[RiffRaffCat75]

When I connect the mp3 players to other machines their WMP's work just fine, just not with this one laptop. Also, I installed Media Monkey (which I don't like) and the mp3 players are detected just fine through that software that is on the same machine that has the WMP issue. I just don't know what could have happened to WMP that would have made it stop working with mp3 players.

[Ztruker]

Did the other computer have Windows 7 and WMP 12?

Also, try this:

Create a new System Restore Point:

• Click Start, type system restore then click on Create a Restore Point.
  
• Click Create.

Remove all USB entries:

• Shutdown and unplug all USB devices.
  
• Boot to BIOS Setup and load defaults (F5 or F9 usually).
  
• Boot normally and create a new Environment variable called devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices and set it's value to 1 as follows:
  
  • Right click on Computer and select Properties
    
  • Click on the Advanced tab
    
  • Click on the Environmental Variables button
    
  • Click the New button under the User variables for xxxxx" area.
    
  • Set the Variable name as: devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices
    
  • Set the Variable value to: 1
    
  • Click OK as needed to close all the windows you opened.
  
  
• Open Device Manager (Control Panel, System, Hardware tab, Device Manager)
  
• Click on View then Show hidden devices.
  
• Scroll down to Universal Serial Bus Controllers and expand it.
  
• Uninstall them one at a time. DO NOT uninstall your mouse if you are using a USB mouse.
  
• Shutdown and reboot, let Windows 7 rediscover everything and load necessary drivers. This can take a few minutes, be patient.

Now try the MP3 player, see what happens.

[RiffRaffCat75]

OK, tried all that and no change for WMP. I just don't know about that software.

[Ztruker]

I'll ask for some of the other techs here to take alook, see if they have any ideas.

[RiffRaffCat75]

thanks!

[dsenette]

just as an attempt. go to add/remove programs, and press the link down the left side that says to "show updates"....see if there are any updates specifically for media player, and/or any updates installed in the vicinity of the time you started having this problem (don't necessarily remove them, just list them h ere)

[dsenette]

also, as a stab....open windows media player FIRST, then connect the device.

[happyrock]

How to Uninstall and Re-Install Windows Media Player 12 (WMP12) in Windows 7 here

If for some reason the re-installation of WMP and WMC is not clean, once uninstalled, try go to %ProgramFiles% (and %ProgramFiles(x86)% for 64-bit OS) folder, and delete the Windows Media Player folder...then try going here and downloading it again and try reinstalling