Fix NS_E_WMPCORE_PLAYLIST_REPEAT_EMPTY (0xC00D10AC)

30-Second Fix: Clear and Restart the Playlist

I know this error is infuriating—you're just trying to listen to music and Windows Media Player throws a fit about an empty playlist. The good news is this is almost always a UI glitch, not a broken installation. Here's what's happening: WMP is stuck in repeat mode with a playlist that has zero items in it. It's like a CD player trying to repeat a disc that isn't there.

1. Stop playback — hit the Stop button or press Ctrl+Shift+S.
2. Clear the playlist — right-click any empty space in the playlist pane and select “Clear list.” Or press Ctrl+Shift+N to create a new blank playlist.
3. Drag a single music file into the playlist area. Any MP3, WMA, or WAV file works.
4. Turn off repeat — look for the repeat icon (two arrows forming a circle with a “1” inside) in the playback controls at the bottom. Click it once so it's not highlighted. This disables repeat mode.
5. Play the single file — double-click it. Once it starts, add more songs.

That's it for most people. The error goes away because WMP now has content to play and repeat mode is off. If it didn't work, try step 2 again but make sure you actually see the playlist pane go blank.

5-Minute Fix: Reset Library and Playlist Settings

Sometimes the playlist pane isn't visually empty—there's a ghost entry WMP can't read. This happens when you delete music files from your hard drive while WMP still references them in a saved playlist. I've seen this on Windows 10 versions 1809 through 22H2, and on Windows 11.

1. Open WMP Library — press Ctrl+7 to switch to Library view.
2. Right-click “Playlists” in the left pane and choose “Delete.” Confirm you want to remove all saved playlists. Don't worry—this only removes the .wpl files inside your Music folder under Playlists, not your actual music files.
3. Clear the “Now Playing” list — switch to “Now Playing” mode (Ctrl+3), then right-click the list and pick “Clear list.”
4. Turn off repeat and shuffle — click the repeat button until it's dimmed, click the shuffle button (two crossed arrows) until it's dimmed.
5. Restart WMP — close the window and reopen it. Add a few songs manually to test.

If the error still shows, move to the advanced fix. But I'd bet 9 out of 10 people are fixed by now.

15-Minute Advanced Fix: Registry Tweak and Library Rebuild

This error can also be caused by corrupted library cache files stored in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Media Player. When those cache files get stuck, WMP holds onto phantom playlists that trigger the NS_E_WMPCORE_PLAYLIST_REPEAT_EMPTY error even when everything looks clean.

Step 1: Close WMP and Kill Background Processes

Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager. Look for wmplayer.exe under Processes. If it's running, right-click and End Task. Also kill any mpserver.exe process—that's the library service.

Step 2: Delete the Library Cache

Open File Explorer and type this into the address bar:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Media Player

Delete everything inside this folder. You might get an error that some files are in use—skip those. For a thorough clean, reboot into Safe Mode with Networking, then delete the whole Media Player folder. But the normal delete works 95% of the time.

Step 3: Clear the Registry Key for Repeat State

Open Regedit (win+R, type regedit, press Enter). Navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Player\RecentFileList

Delete the RecentFileList key entirely. This resets the playlist history and forces WMP to treat all playlists as new.

Next, go to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences

Find the DWORD value named ReplayMode. If it exists, double-click and set its value to 0. If it doesn't exist, right-click in the right pane, choose New > DWORD (32-bit), name it ReplayMode, and set it to 0.

Step 4: Rebuild the Library

Open WMP. Press Alt to show the menu, go to Tools > Options > Library. Click Configure sharing (if available) or just click Monitor folders. Add all folders that contain your music, then click OK. WMP will rebuild its database. This can take a few minutes if you have a huge library, but it's the nuclear option that fixes corruption.

Test playback. If the error reappears, check that you're not accidentally running a startup script that loads an empty playlist. Some third-party tools like “Windows Media Player Control” or “WMP Tweaker” can set repeat mode globally—uninstall those if present.

I've seen this error on Windows 7 through 11, but it's rarest on Windows 8.1 (which oddly handled playlists better). The real fix is making sure WMP isn't holding onto a stale “now playing” list. Once you clear that cache and registry state, the repeat button won't have an empty playlist to complain about.