Unfortunately, most web commenters seemed unable to distinguish between the two. Many versions of Windows included two separate video utilities: Windows Media Player and Windows Media Centre. It would have been silly to make everyone pay for it when fewer and fewer people needed it.Īlso, Microsoft probably recognised that there was even less point in paying for a DVD player when users either had one already (eg Cyberlink) or could easily download a free one. Microsoft did include a codec (video decoding software) to play DVDs in Vista Home Premium and Windows 7, but dropped it when increasing numbers of Windows laptops (not to mention tablets) shipped without DVD drives. PC manufacturers normally add it to the PCs that ship with a DVD or Blu-ray drive, often including Cyberlink, Roxio or similar third-party software. Microsoft has usually avoided providing software to play DVDs, because it has to pay a licensing fee to include it in the operating system. What do I need to do to watch a DVD in Windows 10? It was disabled when I upgraded from Windows 7.
