What can I do if I upgrade to Windows XP SP2 and Windows Movie Maker 2.1 is not installed successfully?
[EDIT - 06/28/05: Added information of extra folder location in Step 6 below]
Well first of all you should check to see whether Windows Movie Maker 2.1 is properly installed.
To determine this we need to do the following:
· Go to the folder where Windows Movie Maker is normally installed
· Check to see if the Movie Maker program files are there
· Make sure that the program files have the correct version number
To do this, perform the following steps.
1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. In My Computer, navigate to the following folder <SystemDrive >:\Program Files\Movie Maker, where SystemDrive is the drive letter on which the Windows XP operating system is installed.
3. To display the version number of the files in this folder, click the View menu and then select Tiles. You should see the following files and they should all show the version 2.1.4026.0:
· moviemk.exe
· Wmm2ae.dll
· Wmm2eres.dll
· Wmm2ext.dll
· Wmm2filt.dll
· Wmm2fxa.dll
· Wmm2fxb.dll
· Wmm2res2.dll
· Wmm2res.dll
Here’s what it looks likes on my machine.
If any of the files above are missing or do not have the file version number 2.1.4026.0, then Movie Maker is not properly installed on your system.
If everything thing is OK then just double-click moviemk.exe and it should launch.
If you have a problem, what do you do next?
Well the easiest thing to try first is to reinstall Windows XP SP2. You can download Windows XP SP2 and manually install it from the following location.
After reinstalling Windows XP SP2, Windows Movie Maker 2.1 should hopefully be installed correctly. If you still have problems, you can then try to manually install the Windows Movie Maker system files.
To manually install Windows Movie Maker 2.1 system files
1. If you’re like me then you probably haven’t made a backup of your data files in a while, so here’s a friendly reminder to do just that.
2. After doing a backup, use System Restore to create a restore point.
A restore point will let you restore your computer to this point if you encounter problems or if reinstalling Windows Movie Maker 2.1 system files is not successful.
To create a restore point
1. Click Start, and then click Help and Support.
2. One of the options that should appear is “Undo changes to your computer with System Restore”. Click this link.
3. Select Create a restore point, click Next, type a name for the restore point, and then click Create.
4. Restart Microsoft Windows XP.
5. Before the Windows XP startup screen appears, press F8, select Safe Mode, and then press ENTER.
6. Open My Computer, and then go to and open the folder <SystemDrive> :\Windows\System32\dllcache.
Note: Normally you can’t see the dllcache folder as it is hidden but if you type it into the Address bar and click Enter it should appear.
[EDIT: On some systems you may find these files in <SystemDrive:>\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386\]
7. Hold down CTRL, and select the following files:
· moviemk.exe
· Wmm2ae.dll
· Wmm2eres.dll
· Wmm2ext.dll
· Wmm2filt.dll
· Wmm2fxa.dll
· Wmm2fxb.dll
· Wmm2res2.dll
· Wmm2res.dll
8. On the Edit menu, click Copy.
9. Go to the folder <SystemDrive >:\Program Files\Movie Maker.
10. On the Edit menu, click Paste.
11. In the Confirm File Replace dialog box, click Yes to All to paste the current Windows Movie Maker 2.1 system files into this location.
12. Restart Microsoft Windows XP.
To manually register the Windows Movie Maker 2.1 system files
13. Open My Computer, and open the folder <SystemDrive>:\Program Files\Movie Maker.
14. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Shortcut.
15. To create a shortcut to the Registry Server, in the Create Shortcut Wizard, click Browse, click <SystemDrive>:\Windows\System32\Regsvr32.exe, and then click OK.
16. Click Next, type a name for this shortcut, and then click Finish.
17. Hold down the CTRL key, and then click the following files:
· Wmm2ae.dll
· Wmm2ext.dll
· Wmm2filt.dll
· Wmm2fxa.dll
· Wmm2fxb.dll
18. Click and drag the files to the shortcut to the Registry Server.
19. Each time the RegSvr32 dialog box appears, click OK.
To register the Windows Movie Maker executable file
1. Click Start, click Run, and then type cmd to open a Command Prompt Window.
At the command prompt, type cd <SystemDrive>:\Program Files\Movie Maker, and then press ENTER.
For example, if the Windows XP operating system was installed on your C: drive, you would type the following:
cd C:\Program Files\Movie Maker
2. To register the Windows Movie Maker executable file, type moviemk.exe /regserver, and then press ENTER.
If the Windows Movie Maker executable file is registered correctly, you will receive no feedback and the <SystemDrive> :\Program Files\Movie Maker command prompt will still appear.
If the file is not registered correctly, an error message will appear or Windows Movie Maker will start.
3. To close the Command Prompt Window, type exit , and then press ENTER:
After manually copying the Windows Movie Maker 2.1 system files, verify that the correct version of Microsoft DirectX—DirectX 9.0c—is installed on your computer.
To verify that the correct version of Microsoft DirectX is installed on your computer
1. Click Start, click Run, and then type dxdiag to open the Microsoft DirectX Diagnostic Tool.
2. On the System tab, in the System Information area, verify that the DirectX Version is DirectX 9.0c.
3. Click Exit to close the Microsoft DirectX Diagnostic Tool.
If DirectX 9.0c is not installed on your computer, download and then install it on your computer. You can download Microsoft DirectX 9.0c from the Microsoft Download Center.
Phew! That was fun. After all that, try to start Movie Maker and if all things are well it should start. If you have any problems, please feel free to send me a message by posting a comment here, or clicking the Contact option on the left.