Windows 2000 Explorer Web View and Media Files

Warning: I’ve recently received a couple of emails stating that this technique totally breaks Web View in Windows Explorer. Use it at your own risk. Back up any files you change.

When using the Windows Explorer in Web View, Windows 2000 (and presumably ME, but I’ve not checked), adds a preview window for media files to the left hand pane.

This causes problems when the files in question are on the other end of a Samba connection. In particular, you can’t rename the files without getting a sharing violation. In short, the Media Player preview window has the file locked open, and Samba doesn’t like it.

The fix? Just open the file C:\WINNT\Web\folder.htt, and remove the following snippet (don’t forget to back the file up, just in case):

<span id=MediaPlayerSpan>
</span>

Note: You might experience general wierdness with your editor, because the file is marked hidden.

Media Player also leaches onto the Search Results view. To fix it, open the file C:\WINNT\Web\fsresult.htt, and find the line:

var gWantMedia = true;

Change true to false. Again, back up the file.

I’ve also had problems with the image preview in the search results. To fix this, find the line:

if (item.Size)

Change it to:

if (false && item.Size)