Fix NS_E_FILE_NOT_FOUND (0xC00D001A) in Windows Media Player

The 30-Second Fix: Check the File Path

Most of the time, this error means the file you double-clicked doesn't live where Windows Media Player thinks it does. Maybe you moved a music folder to an external drive. Maybe you renamed a video file. Or maybe it got deleted and WMP still has a stale reference in its library.

Right-click the file in Windows Media Player and select Open file location. If that option is grayed out or the folder opens empty, the file is gone. Check your Recycle Bin. If it's there, restore it. If not, you'll need to find a backup or re-download.

Still getting the error? Move on to the next step.

Moderate Fix (5 Minutes): Rebuild the Media Library

If the file exists but WMP still throws the error, the culprit is almost always a corrupted library database. WMP caches metadata and file locations in a hidden database file. When that database gets out of sync, you see 0xC00D001A.

1. Close Windows Media Player completely.
2. Press Win + R, type %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Media Player, and hit Enter.
3. Delete everything inside that folder. Don't worry — WMP will recreate these files when you restart it.
4. Open Windows Media Player again. It'll prompt you to set up the library. Say yes, and let it scan your default music and video folders.

This wipes out the stale references and forces WMP to rebuild from scratch. I've seen this fix the error on Windows 7, 8, 10, and yes, even Windows 11. Nine times out of ten, this is all you need.

If the error still shows up, there's one more thing to check.

Advanced Fix (15+ Minutes): Check File Permissions and Ownership

Less common, but I've run into this on shared drives or after migrating user profiles. WMP sometimes can't access a file because the user account doesn't have explicit read permissions. This happens most often with files on network shares or external drives formatted with NTFS permissions from a different computer.

1. Find the actual file on disk (don't rely on WMP's library).
2. Right-click it, select Properties, then the Security tab.
3. Click Advanced, then look at the Owner field at the top. If it shows a SID (long string starting with S-1-5-...) or a user account that doesn't exist anymore, click Change and set the owner to your current user.
4. Check that your user has Read & execute permissions. If not, click Add and grant them.

For a folder with many files, you can fix permissions recursively with PowerShell:

Takeown /f "Full\Path\To\Folder" /r
Icacls "Full\Path\To\Folder" /grant "%USERNAME%:(OI)(CI)F" /t

Run that as Administrator. The first command takes ownership of every file in the folder. The second grants your user full control. Then try opening the file in WMP again.

When Nothing Works: Switch to VLC

Look, Windows Media Player is old. It hasn't been updated meaningfully since Windows 7. If you're dealing with 4K video, MKV files, or obscure codecs, WMP will keep finding new ways to fail. The real long-term fix is to install VLC Media Player (free, open-source, plays everything). But if you're stuck on using WMP for work or legacy reasons, the steps above have you covered.

Pro tip: If this error appears after a Windows Update, check %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Media Player again. Updates sometimes reset the database and break permissions. Just delete that folder and rebuild. It's saved me hours.