I found a hidden "DVD player" in Windows XP!

[Badcatalex]

I was snooping around in System32, when I found a file called "dvdplay.exe" with a description of "dvdplay placeholder Application". When I opened it, it brought me to Windows Media Player. So, to see if it has anything, I opened the file in Resource Hacker to see a couple of interesting things. I also wonder if anyone could get this application running at all, even if it doesn't play DVDs.
Download Link: https://mega.nz/#!ypZQ3IYT!p3UGy8fymYBb ... vbjYsmN2T4

[haroldas.velioniskis]

Read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_Player_(Windows)

[Bob Pony]

I was snooping around in System32, when I found a file called "dvdplay.exe" with a description of "dvdplay placeholder Application". When I opened it, it brought me to Windows Media Player. So, to see if it has anything, I opened the file in Resource Hacker to see a couple of interesting things. I also wonder if anyone could get this application running at all, even if it doesn't play DVDs.
Download Link: https://mega.nz/#!ypZQ3IYT!p3UGy8fymYBb ... vbjYsmN2T4

It's just a little simple file that just redirects to Windows Media Player, nothing special.

[MSUser2013]

Read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_Player_(Windows)

I believe the "dvdplay.exe" application is supposed to be an actual DVD player program in Windows 98/2000/Me, It expects drivers for a hardware MPEG2 decoder to be installed in order to work so it wasn't very popular nor useful depending on your hardware, The XP version is just a stub because Windows Media Player 8 has a built-in DVD player with support for both software and hardware decoders.

[haroldas.velioniskis]

XP version is just a stub that launches media player uppon started dvdplayer.exe but before sp1 it actually worked just like program manager

Išsiųsta naudojantis SM-G935F Tapatalk 4 Lt

[Windows OS]

Read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_Player_(Windows)

I believe the "dvdplay.exe" application is supposed to be an actual DVD player program in Windows 98/2000/Me, It expects drivers for a hardware MPEG2 decoder to be installed in order to work so it wasn't very popular nor useful depending on your hardware.

Actually, the ME version does support software DVD decoders (basically MPEG2 codecs that support DVD playback), while all other versions need hardware decoders. I say lock this topic as the question has already been answered multiple times.

Offtopic Comment

I actually once was able to get the hardware decoder on my ATI Rage 128 working in 98/2000 a couple of years ago. Took me a hell of a long time to find the software, but I eventually did get it working.

[cantasan99]

This could also be just a compatibility stub.

[haroldas.velioniskis]

I have the following AGP cards:
Nvidia GeForce 2MX 400 64mb
Nvidia GeForce 4MX 440 64mb
Nvidia GeForce 4MX 440 AGP 8 64mb
Nvidia GeForce FX5500 256mb

Does anyone know if any of these cards has a hardware decoder?

[merlix]

According to http://www.nvidia.com/object/LO_20021117_4942.html (GeForce FX Info PDF) all the FX cards support mpeg2 hardware decoding. I had a FX card myself and played dvd's using windvd.

4MX looks like it will also do hardware mpeg2 decoding http://www.nvidia.com/object/LO_20020204_8254.html
2MX also looks like it will do hardware mpeg2 decoding http://www.nvidia.com/object/LO_20010612_4442.html

I didnt have the last two, so cant vouch for them personally, but according to nvidia, they should work

[Nashville]

Is it possible to port CD/DVD Player to Windows XP? Which files are needed to copy from Windows 98/2000 to XP except *.exe file?

[haroldas.velioniskis]

Is it possible to port CD/DVD Player to Windows XP? Which files are needed to copy from Windows 98/2000 to XP except *.exe file?

Have you ever tried copying cd player executable from windows 2000 to xp? since winxp executable is just a stub that launches wmp

[alecu]

The hidden "DVD player" in Windows XP was actually a stub that redirects to Windows Media Player, but if you open the executable in a resource editor you will see the actual dialog boxes, one contains a 2001 copyright, menus, string tables and bitmaps. Even it has an accelerator. It originated in Windows NT 5.0 betas up to build 1946 of Windows 2000 Beta 3 (possibly in other builds after 1946, but i'm not sure because I installed Build 1946 in a virtual machine and I saw the DVD Player in non-stub form). I have the executable and I can give you it to download.