You're trying to save a stream in Windows Media Player, and it just slaps you with that error. Annoying, I know. Let's fix it directly.
The One-Line Fix
The most common cause: the media server you're streaming from explicitly blocks saving. You can't override that from your side. But you can bypass it. Here's how:
- Close Windows Media Player completely.
- Open File Explorer and navigate to
%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player. - Delete everything inside that folder. Don't worry—Windows will recreate what it needs next time you open WMP.
- Restart Windows Media Player and try saving the stream again.
That usually clears the stored rights metadata that's tripping up the save. If it still fails, move to the next step.
Why Deleting Those Files Works
What's actually happening here is that Windows Media Player caches DRM (digital rights management) and license info locally. When a streaming server sends a Recording.Not.Allowed flag, WMP stores that permission in a hidden database inside that folder. Over time, that database can get corrupted or retain stale flags from a previous session. Deleting it forces WMP to re-request the streaming rights fresh, and in many cases—especially with local network streams or older media servers—the renegotiation succeeds where the cached permission didn't.
The reason step 3 works is that Windows Media Player regenerates these files from scratch on next launch, pulling new license info directly from the server instead of relying on the (possibly broken) local copy.
When That Doesn't Work: The Real Cause
If deleting the cache didn't help, the server is really telling you no. This happens with paid streaming services, DRM-protected content from sites like Hulu or Netflix back when they used Silverlight, or corporate training videos with enforced license restrictions. In those cases, you can't save the file legitimately—period.
What you can do:
- Check if the stream URL works in a different player like VLC. VLC ignores many DRM flags and can often save streams that WMP refuses. Open VLC, press Ctrl+N, paste the stream URL, then under the dropdown choose "Convert" and pick an output file.
- If you control the server (say, a home media server running Windows Media Services), log into the server and check the playlist or publishing point settings. Look for "Enable cache and proxy" and "Allow recording". Both need to be enabled for clients to save streams.
- For ASX playlists (old-school streaming), open the .asx file in Notepad. Find the
<REF href="mms://..." />line. Themms://protocol sometimes adds extra DRM headers. Try changing it tohttp://if the server supports HTTP streaming.
Prevention: Keep It From Coming Back
This error tends to recur if you often switch between different streaming servers or use WMP with a home media setup. Two things help:
- Regularly clear the
Media Playerfolder every few months. It's safe—no settings lost, just cached rights. - If you're running a media server, explicitly set the publishing point to allow recording in its advanced properties. On Windows Media Services (Windows Server), right-click the publishing point, choose Properties, then the "Authorization" tab. Tick "Allow recording of this stream".
For most users, the cache deletion fix is all you'll ever need. For the stubborn server-side blocks, switch to VLC—it doesn't play games with DRM flags the way WMP does.