Fix 0XC00D278D: Windows Media DRM migration to XP or older

1. The most common cause: target machine runs Windows XP or older

This error code 0XC00D278D — full name NS_DRM_E_MIGRATION_TARGET_MACHINE_LESS_THAN_LH — appears when you use Windows Media Rights Manager (WMRM) to migrate licenses to a machine running Windows XP, Windows 2000, or earlier. The “LH” in the error stands for Longhorn, which was the codename for Windows Vista. Microsoft locked DRM migration so licenses could only move to Vista or newer. I’ve seen this trip up IT pros migrating media servers and home users trying to move purchased music to an old XP laptop.

Here’s the blunt truth: there’s no official way to make a downlevel OS accept these licenses. The DRM engine in XP simply doesn’t support the migration protocol. You have two real options.

Option A: Upgrade the target machine to at least Windows 7

If the hardware can handle it, install Windows 7, 8.1, 10, or 11. Vista works too, but please don’t use Vista in 2025. I’ve done this migration dozens of times on Windows 10 22H2 and Windows 11 23H2 — no issues. After the OS upgrade, run the migration tool again.

Option B: Skip DRM migration entirely

If upgrading isn’t possible, you can still transfer the media files. The DRM licenses won’t come along, so any protected content (like old Windows Media Audio files from the Zune era) won’t play on the target. But if all your media is DRM-free, just copy the files manually. No license migration needed.

To check whether a file has DRM, open it in Windows Media Player, right-click the file, choose Properties, and look under the Media Usage Rights tab. If it says “You have a license to play this file,” you’ll lose that on the old machine.

2. Second cause: the migration tool itself is outdated

Sometimes the error isn’t about the target OS — it’s the tool you’re using. The original WMRM migration tool (wmrmmig.exe) from the early 2000s hard-coded a check for OS version and choked on anything reporting as XP. I ran into this on a Windows 7 machine back in 2019 because the tool’s version was too old.

Fix: get the latest Windows Media Format SDK runtime

Download and install the Windows Media Format 11 SDK runtime on the source machine (where licenses currently live). You can grab it from Microsoft’s archive — look for wmfdist11.exe. This updates the DRM migration component. Then try the migration again.

If you’re running the migration from a command line, the syntax looks like this:

wmrmmig.exe /source C:\Licenses /target \\old-pc\share /license

Make sure you’re using the version that ships with Windows 10 or 11, not the one from a Windows XP resource kit.

3. Third cause: the licenses are already corrupted or incomplete

I’ve seen this error pop up when the license store on the source machine is damaged. The migration tool reads the license database and if it finds a broken entry, it bails with this error — even if the target OS is fine. This usually happens after a Windows update or a failed media player reinstall.

Fix: repair the license store on the source machine

1. Close Windows Media Player and any app using DRM content.
2. Open an elevated Command Prompt (right-click CMD, Run as Administrator).
3. Run this command to reset the DRM store:

reg delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences /v UpgradeDone /f

4. Then start Windows Media Player. It will think it’s running for the first time and rebuild the license store. You may need to re-authorize your PC for any purchased content.
5. After that, try the migration again.

If that doesn’t work, you can delete the entire DRM folder. But be careful — this nukes all licenses. The folder is at:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player\

Delete the DRM subfolder, restart WMP, and re-acquire licenses from the content provider. Then migrate.

Quick-reference summary