Microsoft KB Archive/883519

= Movies do not play in your slide presentation if you insert a movie from a UNC location that contains a long path and file name in PowerPoint =

Article ID: 883519

Article Last Modified on 11/21/2006

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APPLIES TO

 Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 Standard Edition Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 Standard Edition, when used with:  Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)

 Microsoft Windows XP Embedded

 Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4</li></ul> </li></ul>

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<div class="symptoms_section">

SYMPTOMS
If you insert a movie from a UNC location such as \\servername\share that contains a long path and file name in one of the programs that are listed in the &quot;Applies to&quot; section, the movie will insert but will not play in your Microsoft PowerPoint slide presentation.

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CAUSE
This issue may occur if all the following conditions are true:
 * The UNC path and the file name of the movie that you inserted contains more than 127 characters.
 * You insert the movie in a Microsoft PowerPoint slide presentation.
 * You run PowerPoint on one of the following Microsoft Windows operating systems:
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003
 * Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1)
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4)

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WORKAROUND
To work around this issue, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Shorten the UNC path and the file name
Shorten the UNC path and the file name of the movie that you inserted to less than 127 characters. To do this, move the movie to a higher folder level before you insert the movie in your PowerPoint slide presentation.

Method 2: Use Microsoft Windows Media Player
For more information about how to insert movies for Windows Media Player into your presentation, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

299284 Add-in to insert movies using Windows Media Player is available for PowerPoint

Additional query words: PPT2007 PPT2003 powerpoint movie insert files playing plays fails nothing blank sound universal naming convention unc ppt2002 ppt2000 powerpoint2002 powerpoint2000

Keywords: kbmm kbslideshow kbtshoot kbprb KB883519

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