I recently installed iTunes on my MacBook Pro (Yep, that’s right. I finally got the 13” MacBook Pro Retina. lol) and had to convert all my existing wma music files to mp3 so that I could access them via iTunes. Unfortunately when the conversion process was done and working just fine on iTunes, Windows Media Player 12 (WMP 12) on the other hand started giving me duplicate songs issues since the iTunes folder is located within the Music folder
Unlike previous versions, WMP 12 doesn’t allow you the luxury of excluding folders from its index easily but it’s quite possible.
Here’s how I managed to remove the songs in my iTunes folder from my Windows Media Player 12 library.
Step 1
Shut down WMP 12 and then move out all the songs (content) from the folder you wish to exclude from WMP 12 to a secure location. Do NOT delete the folder.
Step 2
Go to C:\Users\*******\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player and delete the library files there. These are the files with WMDB extension like wmpfolders.wmdb. Leave the folders there intact.
Step 3
Launch WMP 12 again. Sit back, relax and wait for it to reindex your music library completely. When it’s done, shut it down again.
Step 4
Go back to C:\Users\*******\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player and open wmpfolders.wmdb in NotePad. Search for the folder you wish to exclude from the WMP 12 library and change the line Exclude=”0” to Exclude=”-1” as shown in the image below
Save the changes made and then move your files back into the folder you just excluded in Windows Media Player database file.
Launch WMP 12 and wait for it to run its start-up indexing.
All songs located in the excluded folder will no longer show up in your library now.
It’s been an hour since I did this and it seems to be a permanent solution so far. Do try it out at your end and let me know in the comment section if it works for you or not.
Don’t forget to share :)
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Email with copy of file just sent you.
Thanks. Got the Email and I will reply with the information later. I will copy the full wmpfolders.wmdb into a text file and send it as it is very long which I think is my problem as I am probably selecting the wrong entry.
Thanks for your patience.
@Alan: I don’t think you need to copy and paste it sir. Just attach it to the email or you could zip it first then attach it ;)
When I Use ITunes I want to see and play only music in Michael’s Music folder. When I use WMP I want to see and play all the music in My Musis and Micheal’s folder. At the moment there is one track per album from music in My Music folder but two tracks per album from music in Michael’s folder. So what do I exclude and how?
@Alan: what I think you ought to do is exalt what’s in this article but I’m kinda lost as to why is not working for you.
You need to exclude the entire iTunes folder just as shown in the screen shot in step 4.
When you try to exclude the folder iTunes dis it look exactly like in my Screenshot or does have sub folders listed too?
@Alan: if you’ve got the time, do please repeat the process again up to step 4 then send me a Screenshot of what the section you wish to exclude looks like
@Alan: I sent you an email
No success. I am obviously excluding the wrong DIR entry. I have tried several at different levels in wmpfolders.wmdb > I have two Music folders, My Music which is not included in an Itunes Library. The other folder is Micheal’s Music which is the only Library in Itunes. All the tracks in My Music folder appear once in each album. All the tracks in Michael’s Music appear twice. The path to one is the location on my hard disc of Michael’s Music. The path to the other is to the Itunes Media sub-folder Music which is where I delete and reinsert the files from as per your instructions. Under Managing my Music Library in WMP I have My Music and Michael’s Music as my WMP Library Locations.
I’m obviously missing something!
Leaving it again now as I’m going out to dinner – and a stiff drink!
@Alan: Lol. Let’s see. Which folder do you want to exclude from WMP 12? Is it the iTunes folder that you wish to exclude?
I spoke too soon! After exluding the entire Itunes Media Library as per the instructions initially when I reloaded WMP only one copy of the tracks in the separate Library devoted entirely to albums in Itunes showed but very soon afterwards the duplicates from the Itunes Media Libray were added. Back to Square 1!!! :-(
@Alan Ooops! Sorry to hear that man. Nike is still working just fine. You could try the whole process again from the beginning to see if you probably missed a step.
Shutting down WMP when asked to its very important. I think I even had to make sure it wasn’t running in the backend by launching Task Manager
Hi
Thanks for speedy reply. I will try it again as you suggest and ensure the process is completely stopped. Probably reboot and start with no other processes running. One doubt I had was when I did Step 4 and opened the wmpfolders file in Notepad I changed the highest level <DIR Folder to Exclude = -1) assuming that would Exclude all the following <DIR entries i.e. the entire contents. Was my assumption correct? I just then clicked on File, Save before then adding the contents back from an external HDD where I had put them. I've just gone back to the wmpfolders file and opened with Notepad and Exclude is back at "0" which probably accounts for all the files being added into WMP again. What have I done wrong?
Alan
@Alan: As shown in the tutorial I excluded the iTunes folder and this also affected every single file and folder within the iTunes folder so I feel in your case what you did should have successfully excluded all folders within the highest level. Exclude probably went back to 0 cause WMP was still open or running in the background.
Thanks. I’ll try again tomorrow. My head is swimming after trying to fix this all day. I’ll post back when both I and WMP have had a good night’s sleep! :-)
@Alan: Lol. I understand the feeling sir. Just rest and repeat the steps one by one tomorrow while making sure that WMP isn’t running in the background when it’s required to be switched off. Good night sir. :D
Brilliant! Why couldn’t I have found this fix weeks ago when I first found duplicate files in WMP12 on my new PC after adding Itunes!!! I am so grateful.