Windows Media Player not working
Running Windows10 v2004 Build 19041.508 x64.
Installed ATI2021 yesterday, and went to play a video today using Windows Media Player. The video locked up, and when I closed the window, it gave me a "WMP is not responding. RPC server is not available" error. Checked all my RPC services and dependencies (DCOM, RPC Endpoint Mapper, etc.) and they were all set and functioning as they should.
Knowing that the only change to my system was the ATI2021 installation, I uninstalled it, rebooted, and tried the video again. Worked like a champ!
Before I try installing ATI2021 again, does anyone have a clue as to what is causing this conflict?


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Steve Smith wrote:Tom, I would suspect the new CyberProtection features in ATI 2021 may be involved here and you would need to set a Protection Exclusion for WMP to avoid the issues you saw.
I have the Perpetual version of ATI2021. I was under the assumption that CP was an opt-in item (pay per month) that I did not enable. Am I mistaken about that?
Thanks for the prompt reply.
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Tom, the perpetual version of ATI 2021 does offer a 3-month trial of the new CyberProtect feature but this does still have the AntiRansomware feature as was present in ATI 2020 back to ATI 2018, where you may need to still set exclusions.
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Steve Smith wrote:Tom, the perpetual version of ATI 2021 does offer a 3-month trial of the new CyberProtect feature but this does still have the AntiRansomware feature as was present in ATI 2020 back to ATI 2018, where you may need to still set exclusions.
And that exclusion is done from within ATI's settings? I'll install it a little later today and let you know what happens.
Thanks!
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And that exclusion is done from within ATI's settings? I'll install it a little later today and let you know what happens.
Yes, these are settings from within the ATI GUI for the Protection page.
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Steve Smith wrote:And that exclusion is done from within ATI's settings? I'll install it a little later today and let you know what happens.
Yes, these are settings from within the ATI GUI for the Protection page.
That took care of it. Now I know where to look if I run into a similar problem :-)
Thanks for your help! I marked your suggestion as the answer.
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Active Protection which has been in ATI since ATI 2017 can cause issues with programs that manipulate videos and graphics, and opening and scanning through such a file can trigger the AP, usually just slows things down substantially, rather than blocking it completely.
Ian
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Steve Smith wrote:Tom, I would suspect the new CyberProtection features in ATI 2021 may be involved here and you would need to set a Protection Exclusion for WMP to avoid the issues you saw.
Well, it started doing it again! I opened ATI and it says I have 2 Exclusions (which I should), but when I open the Exclusions window, I get a "Cannot load list items" message. If I try to add Exclusions, either a file or a folder, I get a "Cannot save changes" message.
I have tried running as admin, and still no joy. I tried to "Pause Protection" at the bottom of the page, but it's greyed out.
I turned Protection off (it did let me do that), but I haven't rebooted to see if it stays off or not. Will follow-up shortly.
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SC Tom wrote:Steve Smith wrote:Tom, I would suspect the new CyberProtection features in ATI 2021 may be involved here and you would need to set a Protection Exclusion for WMP to avoid the issues you saw.
Well, it started doing it again! I opened ATI and it says I have 2 Exclusions (which I should), but when I open the Exclusions window, I get a "Cannot load list items" message. If I try to add Exclusions, either a file or a folder, I get a "Cannot save changes" message.
I have tried running as admin, and still no joy. I tried to "Pause Protection" at the bottom of the page, but it's greyed out.
I turned Protection off (it did let me do that), but I haven't rebooted to see if it stays off or not. Will follow-up shortly.
Rebooted, Protection is still off (as I set it before rebooting), but videos still won't run, and I still get the Exclusion error messages.
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Tom, unfortunately Acronis seem to have made a real mess with the protection features in ATI 2021 when bringing in the new CyberProtect option, such that I also have all Protection disabled now in all my PC's running ATI 2021 (subscription and perpetual)!
The ATI 2020 Protection was working fine for me but this all broke with 2021!
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IanL-S wrote:Active Protection which has been in ATI since ATI 2017 can cause issues with programs that manipulate videos and graphics, and opening and scanning through such a file can trigger the AP, usually just slows things down substantially, rather than blocking it completely.
Ian
It slows it down enough for WMP to give a "not responding" error, so that's close enough to "blocking it completely" to say it does ;-)
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Steve Smith wrote:Tom, unfortunately Acronis seem to have made a real mess with the protection features in ATI 2021 when bringing in the new CyberProtect option, such that I also have all Protection disabled now in all my PC's running ATI 2021 (subscription and perpetual)!
The ATI 2020 Protection was working fine for me but this all broke with 2021!
I'll just uninstall until there's a new release. I normally use the boot disk for backups anyhow; it's quicker than doing it from within Windows. I start it up early, go fix breakfast and watch the news (horrible as it may be), and when I've had enough self-flagellation from the news, the back-up is done.
Thanks for your help!
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