Solved Jumping through hoops to achieve media streaming

I recently replied to a post on the above topic and thought I would post my reply here as well so you can see the issue I am facing more clearly.

The meat of the matter is, more and more people seem to having issues with 'simple' streaming on Win 11 main due to the fact that many, many features have mysteriously disappeared. Here is my reply:-

I fear it is a bit more ominous than that. I have been riding this merry-go-round for the last 2 + weeks, simply trying to stream audio from my pc (was Win 11 24H2) with not only no luck, but, just as I started getting somewhere...... the apps/progs I was using started to disappear from my pc. NO, this is not "another conspiracy theory".

Yesterday, at the request of a Microsoft 'Help' expert, I was asked to upgrade to 25H2 which would "sort all my issues out." The "issues" such as, no option available in WMP to turn on 'Media Streaming'. This option has just disappeared, along with ANY links etc to WMP Legacy links. Oh, and any mention of DNLA. All gone.

Today I decided to try out the option 'Cast to' which was originally to be found (used to be) in the explorer under "other options". To my surprise it worked first time faultlessly. I was so surprised I foolishly, temporarily, switched off the pc to do another task. When I switch it back, only some 10min later, the "Cast to" option had done a disappearing act and was nowhere to be seen.

It seems pretty obvious to me, now, that Microsoft, for what ever reason, doesn't want anything to do media streaming and is going out of its way to stop anybody else doing it.

Of course they won't admit to it publically.

I've reached the point now of thinking if it is worth it to go back to a Win 10 machine as a dedicated media server????

Are you Casting to your TV wirelessly?
Make sure the computer and the TV are on the same Wireless Connection on your network.
If there is a Wifi connection to your computer and TV then Right click ANY media file and choose Cast To..


Have you tried connecting your TV via an HDMI Cable directly?
Once your computer is connected to the TV, start any audio player, like VLC player to play your video or audio files you do not have to use WMP.

I have just tried WMP(Legacy) on both Windows 11 and Windows 10, they are the same as regards Media Server functions. Same options and dialogue boxes.

Many thanks guys for the replies. Some good thoughts here which may have an impact on solving this.
First, - I'm trying to stream directly to the Denon AVR so that any audio file or playlist are transmitted to multiple rooms in the house either at the same time or, selected for individual transmission to separate rooms.

As for VLC, as I understand it, for it to work correctly, it needs to be running on both my pc (server) and the receiver, in this case the Denon AVR. There, that is the issue. I can't see how I can get it onto the Denon unless it is made available from my pc in the form of a dedicated network server.

This brings us back to something like a DLNA or similar network server on the pc streaming the media. Originally the (old) WMP (legacy) had this option on the UI called - "Stream Media". All you had to do was click on it and the DLNA function was setup automatically. The Denon can receive DLNA data.

But......... as I said above, Microsoft seems to have now deleted ALL references of either media streaming via WMP and, by definition, the DLNA feature, all of which was a standard addition in Windows 10. Windows 11, and in particular 25H2 no longer seem to offer this facility.

"Helmut" - you say you have just tried WMP legacy on Win 11. How did you manage that? I tried extracting it from an old Win 10 CD install and, when I tried to run it on the 25H2, it was automatically deleted (not by me) when I tried to open it again.

"Spunk" - Yes, I have now found that the "Cast to" has been moved to a new location and, does work, sort of, but, can't play playlists or shuffle multiple files, also, there seems to be a limit on the number of files it will work with. It looks like approx 1000.

pdoth0001 said:

This brings us back to something like a DLNA

Click to expand...

See if anything in my post helps you:

OK Guy's. After 'only' 9 hrs, and two re-installs of WIN 11, I 'think' I've solved it, or, should I say, Microsoft AI helped (about 97%).

So, the story goes, the WMP legacy was the touch paper. Once that disappeared from the system, all hell broke loose. Windows did NOT want this reinstalled at any cost. I think we went to 38 pages of instructions and trials. Still none the wiser why or what caused it all and, I'm sure I want to go poking around for some time to find out........... just in case.

My apologies to all who gave it a valiant try to pin it down but, don't feel as though there was any form of failure. It took the MIGHT of Microsoft (well AI) to solve it.

Now, all I have to do git the 4723 MP3 files in a playlist on the Denon and start, dare I say it............STREAMING.

Just had a thought, the 'other word' that sounds pretty close to streaming, is SCREAMING..................! I will sleep well tonight :;