How to back up/restore Media Player license files

[Derek L]

If you have music files that you bought and downloaded over the Internet, or that you recorded with XP's Audio CD feature with DRM enabled (which is the default), you're in danger of losing the ability to play those files if you have to do a system restore or remove SP2 from XP. To prevent that, you need to back up the license files. Here's how:

• Open Windows Media Player.
  
• Click the Tools menu.
  
• Click License Management.
  
• Choose a folder to store the backed up license information. (The default location is My Documents, but the safest bet is to put the backup on a different physical drive from the one on which Windows is installed).
  
• Click Backup Now.
  
  

To restore licenses that have been damaged or removed, in Tools | License Management, click Restore Now. You have to be connected to the Internet so your license information can be verified. You can back up the licenses to removable media (such as a USB key) and restore it to a different computer to play the files on that computer, but you can only restore licenses a limited number of times.