Vista Business N and no media player
If you didn’t know already, Microsoft Windows Vista Business N edition (Europe only) does not come loaded with Windows Media Player 11 (thanks to an EU ruling).
If you get stuck in a situation where a client with this version wants Media Player 11, then you have to download the media connector. But there’s a problem; the connector site isn’t working (it’s having some ‘downtime’) and if you go to the Media Player site it says if you already have Vista then you already have Media Player 11 - only Media Player for XP is available DOH!
The EU ruled that WMP should be omitted to avoid anti-competitive actions by Microsoft, but it should be made more readily available (i.e. no ‘downtime’ esp. when Vista is being pushed heavily) so that clients should still have the choice to download it if they want.
Very frustrating and if you Google it (other search engines also available) you’ll see that this has been a sticking point for many others.
I suppose you’ll just have to make sure you don’t sell it to your clients or make them aware of it before you deploy it.
*update*
It seems that one of our Vista machines that we have ‘N’ installed on has downloaded it as an update… 
However, other Vista Business N machines that we are testing haven’t carried out this download and KB925749 which is associated with it doesn’t seem to crop up on Microsoft’s site.
Anyone else experiencing application inconsistency? We’re getting it here with Office 2007… of course we’ve already told Microsoft so hopefully we’ll get a resolution shortly.
*more update! (14.03.07)*
To get the media restore package you have to try and install Media Player 11
Use this link
Notice on that link that Vista N editions are listed as supported operating systems.
Once you have that bit done, the KB patch will be downloaded next time Windows Update checks to see what updates are available.
This is Microsoft’s problem to fix, plain and simple.
Yes of course clients should still have the choice to download and install WMP11 - that’s the whole point. The reason that you can’t right now is because of a Microsoft-created issue with, presumably, their website.
I bet if you found the “offline” installation file for WMP11, it would install on Vista N just fine.
There is another slightly annoying thing about this version of Vista.
There is a WMDC panel in the controlpanel but it’s just the connection settings (USB/bluetooth).
I downloaded and tried to install the WMDC from the official website but it won’t install
saying I’m missing required Windows components.
Some others (and me) have complained that there is no WMP download for us N liccensors, maybe WMDC requires media player?
Thanks very much for a solution! And this is why the EU should not get involved in matters it doesn’t understand… (At least I still get IE so I can download Firefox!)
just download and install the wmp for xp, this will make vista download a 100mb patch.
Thank you very much for this very useful information. A client of mine said that his version of Vista did not come with WMP11 and I was shocked. After learning of the “N” and “KN” version I knew what the problem was, just not how to fix it. Thanks to you I can help him out =)
Glad to help Gihlar - thanks for taking the time to post!
Hi, I have exactly this problem, however, once I download the installer, it runs, I accpet the license agreement, and then the instaler quits. I have the same problem with trying to install it via the CD that came with my MP3 player! Any ideas would be appreciated.
hi, i have the same problem as richard! once i run the installer, accept the license agreement the installer quits. After a couple of wmp-xp installers with other languages (dutch) and the 64-bits versions the installer gives me the following messagebox:
No Windows Media Player updates for your computer are available for download and installation at this time.
but still the wmp isn’t installed!
does anyone got a solution?
so me too. same problem.
Looks like we can’t use media player vista business N. What a shame!
I had the same problem (Business N 64-bit). It turned out I had to download the 64-bit Windows XP version of WMP11, after that it worked like a charm. Please note that I did all this before I installed Service Pack 1.