Zune Error: Can’t Play C00D11D6 (C00D278F)

We finally managed to get a Zune Pass yesterday by signing up for the one month subscription and then switching it over to the full year.

Once that was done it took a few runs at the Zune software on the PC to get the music and videos to show up as available for download.

Finally, we had music coming down!

Today, we plugged the phone into our shop PC that will be used to manage it for now. Our four (4) devices will be:

1. ZuneHD
2. HTC HD7 Windows Phone Mango
3. Shop PC (switched to office depending on work type)
4. Home Office PC

After plugging in the Mango into the shop PC we received the following:

CAN’T PLAY

The media rights system on your computer has encountered an error and needs to be manually reset.

To see if there’s more information about this error, click Web Help.

ERROR CODE: C00D11D6 (C00D278F)

The link did nothing to help.

A search on the error turned up the following Microsoft Answers page:

• Microsoft Answers: Media Rights system on your computer has encounted (sic) error - C00D11D6 (c00D278f)
• Points to: KB 929642: Error message when trying to sign in to or play content from the Zune Marketplace.

We need to click on: Security component upgrade found in the KB above.

But:

The button is indeed greyed out. So, after closing all IE instances we opened an elevated instance and ended up in the same place: No button.

So, off to the manual steps found in the KB:

1. Click Tools, and then click Internet Options.
2. On the General tab under Browsing History, click Delete.
3. Click all checkboxes in the window and click Delete.
4. Click the Security tab, click Trusted Sites, and then click the Sites button.
5. In the Search box, type *.microsoft.com, click Add, and then click Close.
6. Under the Security tab, click Custom Level.
7. Under Reset custom settings, select Low, and then click Reset.
8. Click OK.
9. Click the Privacy tab.
10. Click the Sites button.
11. In the Search box, type *.microsoft.com, and then click Allow.
12. Click OK.
13. Click Apply.
14. Close all browser windows.
15. Try signing in to Marketplace or playing your content again to see if the problem was fixed. If not, go on to Step 2: Reset the DRM.

Okay, so nothing worked as of yet so off to step 2:

1. Close all open programs.
2. Open a web browser, and then click the following link to run the DRM tool:
   http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=203950&clcid=0x409 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=203950&clcid=0x409)
3. In the file download dialog box, click Run.
1. Click Save and and then Run As Admin to get this software to work.
4. Accept the Microsoft Software License Terms.
   1.  
5. Click Yes when you receive the following warning message:

   Reset Windows Media DRM now? WARNING: Licenses for purchased Windows Media content and protected recorded television will be lost.

   1. 

6. After the tool finishes, Notepad will open to display a message indicating completion. Scroll to the bottom of the window, and then verify that the message states: “CleanDRM succeeded.” If the Notepad window states: “CleanDRM failed,” follow these steps:
   1. Restart the computer, and then press F8 to start in safe mode.
   2. In Windows XP, click Start, click Run, type %programfiles%\ResetDRM\CleanDRM.exe –v, and then click OK.
      In Windows 7 or in Windows Vista, click Start , type run in the Start Search box, click Run under Programs , type %programfiles%\ResetDRM\CleanDRM.exe –v , and then click OK .
      Note A Notepad widow that contains the text ”CleanDRM succeeded" should display.
   3. Restart the computer.
7. Open the Zune software, sign in, and then try to play DRM-protected content.

It says it succeeded. So, off to reboot we go. Well, after the reboot we could now download and stream content to the shop PC.

Now to figure out how to get the Zune software on this PC to see the music already downloaded to the phone?!?

IMNSHO, DRM is like .NET for patching, the bane of our existence. :(

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Blu-ray Disk with Digital Copy Not Zune Friendly

Apparently the very public desire to have one's owned videos loaded on a portable media player is starting to pay off ... sorta.

I, personally, am an avid animated movie buff.

There are a number of animated movies that have come out of the leading studios over the last couple of decades that I can watch over and over again with the kids ... and yes, even twice in the same day of we are having a -30 degree Celsius "there is no way I am going outside" kinda day.

For those of us older birds who are/were into Trek, Heinlein, Floyd, Monty Python (Just a teensie wafer), Are You Being Served, Fawlty Towers, Heavy Metal, and others of their ilk, there is an inkling into the somewhat bent nature of our humour and imaginations.

What truly amazes me in a lot of the modern adult/child oriented animated movies are the implicit and explicit references to the various entertainment sources we were really into in our younger years.

A lot of the humour in movies like Wallace and Gromit Curse of the Were-Rabbit, or Robots, or Cars taps into so much history in the way of music, print, television and movies, and so much more. It can be a bit embarrassing to "get" a moment in the movie and laugh out loud while the theatre remains relatively silent around me. Talk about "dating" myself! ;)

We picked up a Blu-ray disk based movie for the kids to watch with the family since it was the first movie I took my 4 year old daughter Anne-Marie to last Fall.

The cover says "Digital Copy Special Edition" on it. The back of the case indicates that there is an actual Digital portable copy contained in the case to.

There is a caveat though: The file is DRM enabled. Whether through iTunes, or Windows DRM, there are restrictions on the file including a serial number that is required to unlock the "download to PC".

Reading through the fine print there is another caveat: The digital copy is not compatible with both Sony PSP and the Microsoft Zune. The file is Windows Media Video, so why it is not compatible must be to do with the DRM.

We certainly hope that the struggle over fair use rights is resolved with a win-win solution for both consumer and producer. It would end the pain points of failed DRM tactics such as rootkit installations, failed DRM on systems designed to play that content, device playback restrictions as is the case here, and so much more.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.