How to Repair a Corrupt WMP Database: Recovering Music

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Sam Edwards / Getty Images

by Mark Harris
Brings music expertise, including a background as a music producer and composer, to digital music articles.
Updated June 27, 2019

If your Windows Media Player no longer allows you to view, add or delete items in WMP's library, then there’s a good chance that its database has been corrupted. To fix this problem, simply rebuild the WMP database.

Steps for Rebuilding the Database

  1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box.

  2. Type or copy/paste this path into the text box: ​

    %userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player

  3. Then press ​Enter.

  4. Delete all the files in this folder—excluding folders.

  5. To rebuild the database, simply restart Windows Media Player. All the relevant database files will now be created again.