How To Get Movie To Play on Microsoft Windows

Introduction

Modern PCs that use Microsoft Windows are capable of playing movies of all kinds. Many people order movies from online rental services, such as Netflix or Blockbuster. Local people visit rental stores and kiosks, such as Redbox, to have immediate access to DVD movies.

The more common option for watching movies on a PC is to stream or download the file from the Internet. Amazon.com and Hulu.com are two sources for streaming movies, in addition to Netflix's online streaming service. Many people also download entire movie files to the hard drive on a PC.

Whether you are using a DVD or the Internet, playing a movie on Microsoft Windows is fairly straightforward.

Step 1

Figure out the source of the movie that will play on Microsoft Windows. For example, if you rented or purchased the movie on a DVD, the disc is the source of the movie. If you are streaming movies from a website such as Hulu.com, then that is the source. If you download the movie file to your hard drive, then that video file is the source, not the website.

Step 2

Examine the list of applications that play movies on your Microsoft Windows PC. Click on the "Start" button in the bottom left corner of your desktop, to reveal the Start Menu. Click "All Programs." Browse through the complete list of programs that are capable of playing movies.

The Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center applications are capable of streaming and downloading movies from the Internet, as well as playing DVD movies.

You may also have a third-party program installed on your PC that can play most types in movies in most formats, such as Apple iTunes or The Real Player application.

If you choose to watch movies via your Web browser, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox or Chrome, note that you may still be using another movie playback software program on your PC. For example, Microsoft develops Silverlight plug-in and Adobe develops the Flash plug-in. These are just two of the applications that help you watch movies directly from the browser. You can download these plug-ins from the parent company's website.

Step 3

Open the movie playback program in Microsoft Windows. Open the movie file from its source. You may have to browse for the optical DVD drive, which might have the drive letter D or E or F in the operating system.

Step 4

Start playing the movie using the playback program in Microsoft Windows. Click on the "Play" button. Sometimes the button is labeled with the right-pointing triangle.

Step 5

Follow the instructions for "Help" and "Troubleshooting" that might appear on the screen, if the program has difficulty playing the movie in Microsoft Windows.

Tips

Edit and change the format of a movie video file that is stored on your hard drive. For example, you can use the Windows Movie Maker or Microsoft Expressions applications to edit WMV or Windows Media Video files.

Comments