How to fix glitched windows media player legacy entry

心 刘 25 Reputation points
2026-07-25T18:37:00.1766667+00:00

I moved a group of mp3 files to a different location that windows media player could still scan but one specific file had glitched out of all of them. it seemed normal in the regular music tab but adding it to playlists would show the file name and no metadata. when i tried deleting the entry from the music tab the deletion window wouldn't show up and you could not give it a rating, the windows media player troubleshooter said it did not find any errors in windows media player, but even after deleting the file, the entry stays there glitched and unable to fix or remove. I want to try fixing this without having to reset the database and rescan the whole of the files, removing my play history, ratings etc. but it seems like it is the only solution which is why I am asking here to ask for assistance in fixing it without having to delete my cache/database and resetting all the play data i have.

Windows for home | Other | Music, photos, and video
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心 刘 25 Reputation points
2026-07-25T22:13:14.8566667+00:00

I somehow fixed this myself before i got an answer, so here is a guide for someone who has also found a corrupted wmp entry。
「Please keep your windows media player closed before starting」

  1. copy all .wmdb form the path "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Media Player" to an external folder
  2. rename CurrentDatabase_400.wmdb to CurrentDatabase_400.wmdb.bak and open wmp to regenerate the database fully
  3. close wmp and delete all the .wmdb files in "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Media Player" including the new CurrentDatabase_400.wmdb and the CurrentDatabase_400.wmdb.bak file
  4. replace the deleted wmdb files with the copies from 1. and re-open wmp

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  1. Thomas4-N 21,315 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-07-26T10:13:37.1633333+00:00

    Hello 心 刘,

    I’m glad you found a way to remove the single corrupted entry without sacrificing your existing play history and ratings.

    By backing up the original .wmdb files, letting Windows Media Player generate a fresh database, and then restoring the backup, you appear to have cleared the corrupted database state while preserving the original library information. This is a clever workaround, although it is not an officially documented Microsoft procedure.

    Thank you for documenting the exact steps. This should be useful to others who encounter a corrupted Windows Media Player Legacy entry but want to avoid permanently rebuilding their entire library.

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