WMP 11 is available as a component in Update Rollup 1.0 for Windows XP Embedded, which was designed to bring some Windows Vista components to the XP Embedded platform. The DRM problem only rears its head when WMP 11 is installed on an XP Embedded image after setup (First Boot Agent) was previously performed, as described by one of the XP Embedded Team members in an earlier blog posting.


Windows Media Player 11 features Digital Rights Management (DRM)
(Click to enlarge)
In the latter case, writes Allen, DRM winds up being disabled because of the following registry key:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\MinimizeFootprint

As its name implies, this key's purpose is to reduce the footprint of Windows XP Embedded images, enabling a "minimal mode" in the Setupapi subsystem. A byproduct of that is disabling some of the cryptographic infrastructure present in Windows XP Professional.

The way to re-enable DRM is to rename the registry key and reinstall WMP 11. For a step-by-step guide, read Allen's blog post, here.

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