If you cannot play WMV (windows media video) files on your Linux desktop, download the “binary codecs” from this site. Unpack the tar and copy the contents to /usr/lib/win32/ (you will probably have to create the folder.) Restart mplayer, and you’re set.
UPDATE – the latest version of ffmpeg has improved WMV support. You might want to check it out. I haven’t verified as yet.
UPDATE – to get WMVs playing in Firefox, (under Ubuntu) enable the universe/multiverse repositories and install mozilla-mplayer (in other distros it may be named mozilla-plugin.)
Comments (34)
united
arggghhh I swear as much as I like ubuntu/linux, I am sick of dealing with all the issues. No one has anything for a beginner. I dont’ even know how to create a new folder above my home directory, and I’m already on my 50th google just to watch one stupid wmv video.
Also is the Mplayer kaffiene? or do I download Mplayer from somewhere else? I’m trying to watch a video for my homework here.
If linux wants to make it mainstream, the support has got to get better people. Put in all the steps. Sorry for venting, but it’s tough being a “newbie.”
Arline, I understand your frustration. to make a directory in anything above your home directory you must be root. If you are loged into your normal user, open the command prompt, type “su” and hit enter, it will ask for you password, enter that. From there type “cd /usr/lib”. Next you will enter “mkdir win32″ which will make a folder named win32, you can then make sure it exists by typing “dir”. Go to where you unziped this (probably your home directory) and unless you want to type in every single file name in that folder (all the .dll etc) than simply type “cp ./* /usr/lib/win32″ Now downloading this didn’t fix my problem completely, but I did have less errors in the details of why it wasn’t working (but I was trying to use Kaffiene, I am not familiar with Mplayer) Hope that helps Arline
Since he mentioned being an ubuntu user, you should note that there is not such theing as a ‘root’ user, so su will fail. He needs to ’sudo’ every command he needs special access to. My workaround is ’sudo bash’.
Anyway, one thing that he should note: if windows did not keep the wmv codec proprietary, then all this wouldn’t be needed.
Thanks for your notes, they are helpful.
“sudo su” works just fine…
punkster rules, made this easy for this Noob.
kudos
You can activate su in ubuntu. They don’t recommend it, but it’s tiring to keep retyping sudo if you have a series of commands to use. Here’s how…
First set a root password..
>sudo passwd root
enter your user password to activate sudo, then pick a root password and enter it twice as prompted.
You can now use su with the new root password.
This often breaks things, sometimes very badly.
If at all possible, stick with sudo bash.
I don’t know why this is so with Ubuntu. I’ve used it some and prefer other distros. It is the only one I’ve ever seen that needs a locked root.
Er, the link at the top of this page is broken. If someone could help me find them somewhere else, that would be nice.
well i dont excatly know what you mean… i am such a newbie at this i know how to make the folders and such but i am using slax on a pent drive and just puting the unzipped files into /usr/lib/win32 doesnt do it so i am not shure where to edit the path so that that is where kmplayer reads codects
Thanks, I updated the link
I did sudo passwd under ubuntu, and it has never caused any problems…
El sem hiszem, hogy ennyit kell szenvedni ahhoz, hogy egy nyomorult wmv-t le tudjak játszani. Basszák meg! Akik linuxot használnak azok idióták. fuck
I am also using Ubuntu (because I was told it was good for us Noobs!). I have downloaded the codecs, copied them to /usr/lib/win32, but mplayer still doesn’t play WMVs. Do I need to tell mplayer that where they are? I tried using totem (comes with Ubuntu) but that won’t even play MPGs!
What a gay!! A little bit of reading goes a long way. Maybe you should go back to windows and give bill gates a good old lick on his little balls. gay!!!!
why dont u guy tell the noobies to use automatix? or ur all as noobie as them ? HHAAH
united
I’m the same… copied the files there, but still can’t play a WMV
Do “ls -l /usr/lib/win32″. Do you see something like this:
reuben@mediabox:~$ ls -l /usr/lib/win32
total 23308
-rw-r–r– 1 user user 61952 2001-04-10 12:39 acelpdec.ax
-rw-r–r– 1 user user 38912 2002-01-06 15:00 alf2cd.acm
-rw-r–r– 1 user user 118784 2004-03-23 22:21 aslcodec_dshow.dll
-rw-r–r– 1 user user 95292 2001-02-14 15:00 atrac3.acm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 user user 64912 2002-05-22 10:05 atrc.so.6.0
…
Automatix is fine if you don’t want to understand how your system works.
Most users dont give a damn about their system. They want stuff to work without visiting 10 sites on google..
How do I make firefox play wmv files? Using kubuntu and need step-by-step
Well, it took awhile, but it was DEF. worth it!! Thanks so much!! I am glad to finally have my movies playing in Linux now!!
Just do sudo apt-get install mozilla-mplayer from the terminal. It will install the mplayer codec for Firefox.
Just make sure you do the steps listed above to get wmv files playable in MPlayer first!!
worked like a charm… thank you very much for sharing this!
Why don’t you do it? As much as you know-it-alls and elitists and fanboys like saying “we don’t need you lazy noobs, you belong with Windows”, you are exactly the kind of people that Linux doesn’t need, and IMHO, you’re the kind of people who are even worse than Bill Gates. At least he welcomes “noobs” to his OS. So I say again, we don’t need Linux-users like you.
In Fedora (Using FC6) the correct plugin is called mplayerplug-in. It should be available through yum or the gui package manager.
cheers!
who the hell you are think you are ?
im one of the first linux users ever
and to make linux to a secret closed communaty is not in the sence of it self
linux is for everyone and not to create a arogant elite of computer freaks
linux is just a interesting alternative concept based on exchange of informations “how to do ”
thats why it is free of charge . people like you should try to relax a bit and remember how they
get started with linux or informatics in general .
linux dont need mean or closefisted users who never share knowlegde
go out to the street and be sozial …
What a bunch of phrekin whiners!! It’s this stupid mentality of having everything done for you that led to DumbusBama having govmt do everything for you. Go whine to him and give up without learning anything. The linux community does not need you loosers.
…and the true losers are people who can’t spell, IMHO.
hola i’m a nooby,i’ve been another one zombified slave of windows,so i don’t know anything of linux at all,so, could somebody post some links to download some tutorials
(sorry for my poor english)
gracias amigos
Just do sudo su -
Then you do all of your root stuff
exit
IMHO, if you really want to learn Linux, learn Redhat. Redhat Enterprise is used all over the industry and the Fedora version is very close to that.
sudo mkdir /usr/lib/win32
sudo cp -R /codecfoldername/* /usr/lib/win32/
sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/win32 /usr/lib/codecs
If you want to put a copy of each into the /usr/local/lib directory, just repeat the sudo ln -sf for each additional location. This will create a symbolic link to the original directory (shortcut in Windows) and allow you to keep only one centralized version of the codecs.
The trick is that if you see a command, type sudo before it so it is performed as root. The neat thing is that your terminal will remember your userID after the first sudo so for security’s sake, close your terminal when complete.
I feel your pain brother. My first setup couldn’t even connect to the internet so I had to keep rebooting into windows for support like this forum. 12 years later I still feel like a noob when I can’t get mythtv to play a wmv but I make stupid money at an all Linux shop. The irony is that we specialize in video conversion and streaming.
So here’s the thing. Why play wmv files when you can convert them using vlc? I can play them with mplayer but myth now has its own internal player so it’s proving difficult.
Sign up for linuxquestions.org and any site that has a noob section. Remember this pain and be compassionate with any newbies you might need to help.