Windows Media Player not working on Windows XP using visual studio application

Question

I have embedded the WMP control in my Visual Studio 2010 app which works on windows 7 (Framework 4.0), but installing the app on winXP, I get the following error:

System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'Interop.WMPLib, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
File name: 'Interop.WMPLib, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'
   at Aquila_Media_Manager.modMediaPlayer.Play_File()
   at Aquila_Media_Manager.MainForm.tsbPlay_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) in C:\Users\Micba\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\Aquila MedMan\MainForm.vb:line 2718
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.RaiseEvent(Object key, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripButton.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleMouseUp(MouseEventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEventInteractive(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEvent(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

WRN: Assembly binding logging is turned OFF.
To enable assembly bind failure logging, set the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog] (DWORD) to 1.
Note: There is some performance penalty associated with assembly bind failure logging.
To turn this feature off, remove the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog].

I guess this is a reference issue, but I have added references to WMP libraries (axinterop.wmplib.dll and interop.wmplib.dll). The WMP works on the XP machine, but not when called from my application.

I have searched the web now for 5 days and changed references, and reinstalled the media player on the XP machine, but nothing works.

Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

Change your build configuration to x86 instead of AnyCPU. This will build it as a 32-bit application and the Interop.WMPLib will work fine. The issue is that there is not a version of the Interop WMPLib for 64-bit, at least as far as I can find.