UCyborg Posted July 13, 2017 Posted July 13, 2017 There is an odd issue when it comes to Explorer extension QTTabBar's preview feature, specific to Windows 8.1 (maybe 8 as well). If you try to preview a media file, eg. FLAC or OGG, for which you need to install extra codecs/DirectShow filters, it spits out said error code instead of playing the file. Windows Media Player plays the file just fine. If the codecs aren't installed, you get generic "Failed to load media file.", as expected. On both Windows 7 and 10, installing K-Lite Codec Pack enables playback of such files both in WMP and Explorer itself with the help of QtTabBar. There's something weird about Explorer on Windows 8.1 where the files don't play, expect those that don't require additional codecs. Haven't found anything useful regarding the error code, it's mostly encountered in WMP itself. It seems as if something was missing when it comes to ability to utilize codecs from Explorer's side since formats with native support do play without a hitch. Any idea what the issue is and how to solve it?
alacran Posted July 13, 2017 Posted July 13, 2017 (edited) Google for VLC Media Player (it is FREE software), and install it, you do not need extra codecs from K-Lite Codec Pack or any other source, all codecs are embeded in VLC. Edited July 13, 2017 by alacran
UCyborg Posted July 13, 2017 Author Posted July 13, 2017 (edited) I do use PotPlayer for videos and AIMP for audio, just have those codecs installed for Windows' own media framework to be able to support as much formats as possible, in case they're needed by something else, in this case QTTabBar. Its preview feature allows hovering over the file and it will play without having to open it in external player. I assume it relies on whatever .NET Framework provides for media playback, so extra codecs are needed for otherwise unsupported formats. Just in case, I also tried with minimum amount of codecs on fresh Windows 8.1 install in a virtual machine, just took the ones from https://www.xiph.org/downloads/ to add support for OGG and FLAC among others, but QTTabBar outputs the same error code. Repeat the same procedure on Windows 7 or 10 and it works. Edited July 13, 2017 by UCyborg
UCyborg Posted July 31, 2017 Author Posted July 31, 2017 (edited) Haven't found a solution, the same problem was mentioned on some random Korean site and on extension's forums (the latter was dealing with MKV files, also Windows 8.1). There were also some hits about MediaElement from .NET Framework not working under certain circumstances, but compiling quick app with Visual Studio to test it haven't revealed any faults on my end, it worked. Nothing has been heard from extension's author for a while. This bug makes no sense. Edited July 31, 2017 by UCyborg
UCyborg Posted January 4, 2018 Author Posted January 4, 2018 (edited) I fired up the debugger and traced the problem to the failed call to LoadLibraryExW from combase.dll attempting to load quartz.dll (DirectShow Runtime) as a result of a call to CoCreateInstance issued from wmp.dll. DllMain in quartz.dll fails for some reason, so I replaced both 64-bit and 32-bit version of the DLL and its associated MUI file with the one from Windows 10 and now everything appears to be working properly. Can be done on both Windows 8 and 8.1. Edited January 5, 2018 by UCyborg
rewerQz Posted January 14, 2018 Posted January 14, 2018 On 13.07.2017 at 5:21 PM, UCyborg said: There is an odd issue when it comes to Explorer extension QTTabBar's preview feature, specific to Windows 8.1 (maybe 8 as well). If you try to preview a media file, eg. FLAC or OGG, for which you need to install extra codecs/DirectShow filters, it spits out said error code instead of playing the file. Windows Media Player plays the file just fine. If the codecs aren't installed, you get generic "Failed to load media file.", as expected. On both Windows 7 and 10, installing K-Lite Codec Pack enables playback of such files both in WMP and Explorer itself with the help of QtTabBar. There's something weird about Explorer on Windows 8.1 where the files don't play, expect those that don't require additional codecs. Haven't found anything useful regarding the error code, it's mostly encountered in WMP itself. It seems as if something was missing when it comes to ability to utilize codecs from Explorer's side since formats with native support do play without a hitch. Any idea what the issue is and how to solve it? On 05.01.2018 at 1:03 AM, UCyborg said: I fired up the debugger and traced the problem to the failed call to LoadLibraryExW from combase.dll attempting to load quartz.dll (DirectShow Runtime) as a result of a call to CoCreateInstance issued from wmp.dll. DllMain in quartz.dll fails for some reason, so I replaced both 64-bit and 32-bit version of the DLL and its associated MUI file with the one from Windows 10 and now everything appears to be working properly. Can be done on both Windows 8 and 8.1. Hello UCyborg. Same problem.Please, can you tell me what files exactly i should replace.
UCyborg Posted January 14, 2018 Author Posted January 14, 2018 3 hours ago, rewerQz said: Hello UCyborg. Same problem.Please, can you tell me what files exactly i should replace. C:\Windows\System32\quartz.dll C:\Windows\System32\en-US\quartz.dll.mui C:\Windows\SysWOW64\quartz.dll C:\Windows\SysWOW64\en-US\quartz.dll.mui Remember to also take care of the .mui files for any other languages other than en-US, in case you have them installed. I keep the original files around, just in case, so I renamed them by appending .bak to their name. And you have to take ownership of the originals beforehand (security tab in the file properties) and give Administrators group Full control permissions over the file. Windows 7 version of quartz.dll also works. but only MS knows the actual differences. Either way, all things I'm aware of that need DirectShow seem to work fine with Windows 10 version of the DLL, including MadVR and cinematic playback in certain old games.
rewerQz Posted January 15, 2018 Posted January 15, 2018 18 hours ago, UCyborg said: seem to work fine Thanks. Definitely i'll try it. Thanks again.
anon9597 Posted July 30, 2020 Posted July 30, 2020 The following helped me: Hit the Windows Start button In the search box, type "cmd" but DO NOT PRESS "ENTER". Press and hold "CTRL-Shift" on your keyboard while pressing "ENTER". You'll be prompted with a permission dialog box. In the box, click "YES". You should have a black screen with a blinking cursor. In that black screen, type "sfc /scannow" and hit "ENTER". SFC will begin scanning for quartz.dll.mui issues and any other system file problems. Follow any on-screen commands to complete the process.
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