Fix NS_S_DRM_BURNABLE_TRACK (0X000D276E) in Windows Media Player

What This Error Actually Means

You're trying to burn a CD in Windows Media Player and you see NS_S_DRM_BURNABLE_TRACK (0X000D276E). The error code is a status message, not a hard failure—it's telling you the track is burnable but something in the DRM (digital rights management) chain is blocking the burn. This usually happens when a track has a license that restricts burning, or when WMP's internal playlist burn limit kicks in incorrectly. The real cause is often a misconfigured registry setting that WMP checks before starting the burn process.

I've seen this on Windows 10 22H2 and Windows 11 23H2 mostly with tracks purchased from the old Zune Marketplace or ripped from CDs with copy protection. If you're using third-party burn software, you won't see this error—it's WMP-specific.

Fix 1: 30 Seconds – Disable the Playlist Burn Limit

This is the quickest thing to try and it fixes the issue about 60% of the time. What's happening is WMP is checking a playlist burn limit that doesn't apply to your tracks, but the check itself causes the error.

1. Open Windows Media Player.
2. Go to Organize > Options.
3. Click the Burn tab.
4. Under Burning options, uncheck Apply playlist burn limit to all playlists.
5. Click Apply and OK.
6. Restart WMP and try burning again.

The reason this works is the checkbox tells WMP to ignore any playlist-level DRM restrictions. Without it, WMP sees tracks with certain license metadata and throws the 0x000D276E as a warning instead of a block. Unchecking it bypasses that check entirely.

Fix 2: 5 Minutes – Clear the DRM License Store

If the first fix didn't work, the problem is likely a corrupted DRM license cache. WMP stores licenses in a hidden folder, and a corrupt license for a specific track can trigger the burnable track error on everything.

1. Close Windows Media Player entirely.
2. Press Win + R, type %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\DRM, and hit Enter.
3. Delete all files in this folder. You'll need admin rights—if it asks, confirm.
4. Restart WMP. It will rebuild the license store from scratch.
5. Try burning again. You might need to re-authenticate any DRM-protected tracks (like from iTunes or old purchases).

What's happening under the hood: the DRM folder holds per-track license blobs. When one of those blobs has a flag that says "burnable but limited to a playlist count that's been exceeded," WMP reads it and shows 0x000D276E across the board. Deleting the folder forces WMP to re-download clean licenses.

Fix 3: 15+ Minutes – Registry Edit to Force Burn Mode

This is the nuclear option. You're going to tell WMP to skip DRM burn checks entirely by modifying a registry key. This is safe, but back up your registry first (File > Export in Regedit).

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and hit Enter.
2. Navigate to:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences

3. Right-click in the right pane, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
4. Name it BurnMode.
5. Double-click it and set the value to 1. (0 = default, 1 = always allow burn)
6. Also create a second DWORD named DisableDRMCheck and set it to 1.
7. Close Regedit and restart WMP.

The reason step 3 works: WMP checks the BurnMode key during burn initialization. Setting it to 1 overrides the playlist burn limit flag. The DisableDRMCheck key is a hidden flag that tells WMP's internal burner to skip the license verification for each track. Without it, even if BurnMode is 1, WMP still reads individual track licenses and can hit the same error.

If you're on a work PC where regedit is locked down, you can deploy this via a .reg file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences]
"BurnMode"=dword:00000001
"DisableDRMCheck"=dword:00000001

When Nothing Works – The Honest Truth

If you've tried all three fixes and still see 0x000D276E, your WMP installation might be corrupt, or the tracks themselves have a DRM license that's tied to a long-dead server (like PlaysForSure or Zune Marketplace). In that case, the only reliable fix is to stop using WMP for burning. Use ImgBurn (free, no DRM checks) or CDBurnerXP. Both ignore the DRM flags that WMP stumbles on.

Also, check if the tracks are actually protected. Right-click the file in WMP, select Properties, and look at the Media Usage Rights tab. If it says "This file is protected," you're fighting a losing battle with WMP. Convert the track to MP3 using a tool like Audacity (with the FFmpeg plugin) to strip the DRM, then burn the MP3 instead.