Playing Windows Media Files in Mandriva/Mandrake Linux
Could a moderator please make this a sticky? I think it would be very helpful to a lot of Mandrake/Mandriva users. I figured I would put it here since people tend to ask this question here quite a bit, but if it is more appropriate then could you move it to the Mandrake distribution board and make it a sticky there?
One problem that I have seen a "ton" of people have with Linux is getting their Windows media files to play, or getting DVDs to play past the first scene. Most of the time the answers posted involve compiling the source code for mplayer which can be a little confusing for people who are new to Linux. Thanks to the command line implementation of Mandriva Linux's package management system known as "urpmi" you can solve your problems in a few easy steps without having to compile anything. Just follow these steps and you will be playing your DVDs and Windows media movies in no time. Keep in mind that you do not have to use mplayer, all of these codecs also work for Kaffeine if you prefer to use it. For a few special instructions pertaining to Xine player please skip to the bottom of this article. 1) To perform these operations you need to open the command line (don't be scared it doesn't bite) and type "su". You will be prompted for the root password that you set when you installed Linux, assuming you set one. This gives you root permissions needed to perform the steps that follow. 2) Go to this website and select your version of Mandrake/Mandriva Linux and follow the instructions to install every package listed. Here is the website 3) If you want to use mplayer finish this step, if not skip to step 4. Run Code:
urpmi mplayer-gui 4) This plugin works regardless of whether you install the mplayer gui or not. If you want to use Kaffeine or another movie player instead of mplayer then I still recommend you install the Mozilla Firefox plugin for mplayer. It allows you to view/listen to embedded media files. To do this run Code:
urpmi mplayerplugin 5) Run Code:
urpmi win32-codecs 6) Run Code:
urpmi libdvdcss 7) Run Code:
urpmi real-codecs I personally use Xine player, I like its interface better than that of mplayer. If you would like to use Xine then you need to follow these steps. 1) Run Code:
urpmi xine-ui 2) Run Code:
urpmi xine-win32 I hope this helps answer this question. I have seen it arise quite often and decided it was time for an "answer all questions" sticky on the topic. |
we don't makes things like this sticky, as we have both a wiki and our LinuxAnswers subsite for guides like this. if you wish to submit this as an LA please feel free.
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I know this is a rather old post but I wanted to add something. It has come to my attention that sometimes users are met with a "URPMI Database Locked" error, and to remedy this I have written a small script to automate the removal of the folders necessary to unlock your database. This script can be found on the "Programs Download Page" of my website at http://www.marcusadams.4t.com
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great guide, man. you just solved a whole crap-load of problems for me.
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I know it's a long time since it was posted, but I think it needs to be said that the statement
Quote:
You can easily do everything you described, and more, from within a graphical environment. Just click on Menu>System>Configuration>Packaging>Install Software*, then follow the interactive setup. *I think this is the dafault but I'm not sure, since I rearranged the menu on my machine pretty soon after I installed Mandriva. |
I never quite understood why someone told me to go to easyurpmi.zarb.org and then get the lib files for DVD playback.
As for mandriva 2006, all I did was go to that site and then install those two dvd files, reboot, and there's DVD! |
this is a great thread, a problem I have run into to get kaffeine to play wmv files is that when I, as root,
urmpi win32-codecs I get "no package named win32-codecs" I am a newbie,run mandriva 2006 powerpack x86_64 dualcore AMD I can get kaffeine to play dvd's but that is it....any help is greatly appreciated and yes I hit the popular urpmi site, -thanks, Pup |
Quote:
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dudeman,
I did go to that site, since I am in the US I picked a mirror from here to use, than just clicked to the next step and placed those lines in as root on my computer and that was it...I need to reinforce the newbie status I hold here -pup out! |
Ok, here's how I got them in Fedora Core 5. It should work the same way in Mandriva Linux. Now open a command prompt window and run these commands:
Code:
wget http://www4.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/all-20060611.tar.bz2 Code:
su Code:
mkdir /usr/local/lib/codecs/ Code:
mkdir /usr/lib/win32 Code:
tar xvfj all-20060611.tar.bz2 Code:
rm all-20060611.tar.bz2 Code:
cp ./all-20060611/* /usr/local/lib/codecs/ Code:
chmod 755 /usr/local/lib/codecs/* Code:
cp /usr/local/lib/codecs/* /usr/lib/win32/ Code:
rm -rf ./all-20060611 Edit: If any players ask where your win32 codecs are, they are in /usr/lib/win32 |
Mine works. Here's what I did to get my DVD's to play and I guess it sorted the wmvs' too.
1.I uninstalled all the xine files that are installed by default. 2.Go to http://cambuca.ldhs.cetuc.puc-rio.br/xine/ 3.Download: libdvdcss-1.2.8-2.network.i386.rpm libdvdcss-devel-1.2.8-2.network.i386.rpm libxine1-1.1.3-060831.i586.rpm libxine1-devel-1.1.3-060831.i586.rpm w32codec-0.52-1.i386.rpm xine-ui-0.99.4cvs-051003.i586.rpm "w32codec-0.52-1.i386.rpm" is believe to sort your problem, but I recommend installing all of them. |
Mine works.:D Here's what I did to get my DVD's to play and I guess it sorted the wmvs' too.
1.I uninstalled all the xine files that are installed by default. 2.Go to http://cambuca.ldhs.cetuc.puc-rio.br/xine/ 3.Download: libdvdcss-1.2.8-2.network.i386.rpm libdvdcss-devel-1.2.8-2.network.i386.rpm libxine1-1.1.3-060831.i586.rpm libxine1-devel-1.1.3-060831.i586.rpm w32codec-0.52-1.i386.rpm xine-ui-0.99.4cvs-051003.i586.rpm "w32codec-0.52-1.i386.rpm" is believe to sort your problem, but I recommend installing all of them. |
alright,I did what you said dudeman and I can play some of the wmv files...but for some it says I need the flash player or windows media player 9 now, where before nothing came up. I get the mplayer for mozilla plugin showing on some but not others, I was hoping to use kaffeine player for all of this, and on another video it told me my javascript might be turned off(where is that)....
-pup by the way, thanks for spelling it out for the console in your previous post |
A lot of movie websites now hide the actual videos with a flash applet that plays it so you can't just right click it and save it. That could be where the issue is coming from about flash. If Firefox didn't automatically come up with a little "Missing Plugins" warning and install Flash for you, you can get it and instructions for installing it here. If a website tells you that you need Windows Media Player 9, it's because they "assume" that anybody capable of watching windows media files is running Windows Media Player. You can use Kaffeine for this, I'm not sure how to do it after you've installed MPlayer, but try just un-installing MPlayer, and the options should be in Kaffeine to configure the mozilla plugin. You may also want to make sure you have java installed. There are easy to follow instructions on downloading and installing java at www.java.com . Doing that might solve some of your "javascript" errors. I know javascript doesn't require java, but some websites use java applets and I'm thinking that maybe they are talking about the fact that you have to install java to view those applets, and not necessarily javascript the page language.
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went to those sites...downloaded verbatim the java, went to test the java as the site said to, but according to the site, it failed. the flash player was downloaded, unpacked, ran ./flashplayer-installer...and response was
"your architecture, \'86_64"\ is not supported by the macromedia flash player installer" i'm at a loss |
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