Media Player is missing from the list in "Turn Windows features on or off"

I decided to reinstall Media Player in Vista [this way], so I figured I should turn it off as a Windows feature. But when I continue with the procedure, I get an incomplete list of features, here's an image:

I looked around a bit, wondering if that is only an option available in 7, and I have seen people saying different things. So, is this only available for 7 or is there something wrong going on here? Can I make Media Player to show up in here?

I am on a Toshiba Satellite A100 with Vista Home Premium OEM. I don't have my recovery disks or any restore point.

Just to mention, I currently do have Media Player and it's working fine.

Sorry if I can't think of any more details to add, please ask me for anything I should have included.

Solution 1:

Turning media features off

That's the expected behavior, because Windows Media Player couldn't be turned off until Windows 7 entered the Release Candidate (RC) phase. Quoting the Engineering Windows 7 blog (emphasis mine):

In Windows 7 we are expanding the number of features you have control over [...], giving customers more control, flexibility and choice in managing the features available in this version of Windows. In addition to the features that were already available to turn on or off in Windows Vista, we've added the following features to the list in Windows 7:

• Windows Media Player
• Windows Media Center
• Windows DVD Maker
• Internet Explorer 8
• Windows Search
• Handwriting Recognition (through the Tablet PC Components option)
• Windows Gadget Platform
• Fax and Scan
• XPS Viewer and Services (including the Virtual Print Driver)

_{Source: Beta to RC Changes – Turning Windows Features On or Off}

Troubleshooting Windows Media Player issues

While reinstalling is not possible, you can still try to fix what's broken. Here are generic articles that might be useful:

• Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files
• Windows Media Player stops responding after you install a third-party product that registers its own version of the Wmp.dll file
• You cannot view, add, or delete items in the library in Windows Media Player 11
• Error message when you try to use Windows Media Player to stream audio or video from Windows Media Services: "The specified protocol is not supported"
• When I try to use Windows Media Player 11, the program does not start, or some UI elements are blank

You can find similar articles by using these keywords in a search engine:

vista media player kbtshoot site:microsoft.com

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