How to Fix VLC Media Player in Vista

It has been almost over 5 months, since Microsoft released Windows Vista, but I got my free upgrade kit just two weeks ago. Like everybody else, even I had the curiosity to make the switch. Unfortunately, my favorite VLC media player which plays almost every media format refused to work on Vista. I could hear the sounds, but no video.

Thanks to my googling skills, I found the solution which told me to set the video rendering engine to OpenGL. Here’s what you have to do:

  1. Start VLC Media Player
  2. Click on Settings and select Preferences
  3. Now, Expand Video and just click on Output Modules
  4. Check the Advanced Option in the lower right corner and set the output module to OpenGL.
  5. Finally, you should restart VLC Media Player to reflect these changes.

Hopefully, future versions of VLC will set the OpenGL as the default video rendering engine.

This post was published by on May 21, 2007

About the Author: Thilak Rao works as a Social Media Expert. He is one of the first professional bloggers from India, and he loves to write, travel and click photos. Follow him on Twitter @thilak

  • http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2007/05/22/quick-links-220507/ Quick Links 22/05/07 | Connected Internet

    [...] How To Fix VLC Media Player In Vista [...]

  • http://www.gadget9.com Singh

    Yeah man,, Couldn’t agree more.. VLC’s Da best

  • http://www.avirtualexit.com Web 2.0

    Goo d tip thanks.

  • http://www.jasonbagley.com JBagley

    Awesome! I was crying the other day because I couldn’t get it to work on my Vista… Now it does!

  • http://www.cucirca.com Cucirca

    Thanks for the tip ;)

  • Memzy

    yes thank you.. it helped..

  • Richard

    Thanks so much for the tip! I was at a lost of how to get it to work, but this came up straight away and video was up and working in seconds. Hopefully vlc will fix issues with vista but in the mean time thanks so much!

  • http://www.webwards.net/far-funzionare-vlc-media-player-su-windows-vista-855.html webwards » Blog Archive » Far funzionare VLC Media Player su Windows Vista

    [...] soluzione è stata trovata da techbuzz.net e consiste nell’impostare come motore di rendering l’OpenGL. Ecco, nel dettaglio, i [...]

  • mat

    Thanks man!! I was looking for that fix. Tried the new skins and I have decided to not use Windows Media Player for good!!!

  • http://www.ccbahamas.co.nr blazingangel1986

    good one thanks vlc is the best

  • http://www.winvista.it/vlc-media-player-su-windows-vista/ WinVista.it il Blog su Windows Vista » Blog Archive » VLC Media Player su Windows Vista

    [...] eseguito all’interno di Windows Vista. Esiste però una soluzione che il sito tech-buzz.net ci propone per ovviare al [...]

  • yonep

    fuh..i almost cried when my vlc doesnt have any picture..lol..thanks a lot!!

  • steve

    Thanks a lot :)

  • jeph

    yeah……. vlc is good media player, but GOM player leaves everything in dust behind, just try GOM for once, and i am sure, you wont ever take name of vlc in future.

  • Julie

    Thank you soooooooo much!

    You’re a superstar!

  • Luke Smith

    Thanks for the info! I’ve been tryin loadsa different things to get VLC to work ever since i got vista, now i does! Thanks

  • Scott

    I couldn’t believe how many others were experiencing the same thing. I actually stumbled across this simple fix by mistake and I’m glad I did. Thanks abunch!

  • piopimp

    amazing. i have been waiting for this.

  • alex

    Thanks for this tip. It was very clear and simple. Now I can watch my movie and enjoy my sunday afternoon. You have my gratitude.

    Alex

  • Me

    Thanks! It worked! I been trying everyting but this was the trick! You made my day…

  • Arch

    Thank you! Problem solved, you rock!

  • http://indiatimes.com ajay

    thanx a lot 4 d tip
    it really workd……..i was looking 4 it
    once again thank you

  • Ananth

    Thanks a lot for the solution boss.

  • Razendai

    Thank you so much. Its working fine.

  • Lordaris

    Download The latest player 8.6h…its made to be compt. with Vista. M usin it with no problems and modifications

  • http://www.activelement.com Lokendra

    Hey Buddy,

    Thanks for your TIP……… :)

    It worked…….

  • nadine

    sorry if this is a repeat but, i have vista, and vlc and they work fine together(i cant play dvds but im gonna try those fixes to sort that out later =) ) my problem is that i like to use Vlc for screen capping, it takes the best snapshots and i watch alot of sort of…visually arresting films, that i like to cap for wallpapers etc

    Well ths function has ceased to work on my vlc player, in fact it crashes the program when ever i try to do it

    is this a vista compatability problem that will be fixed in the Vista ready VLC release or is this my computer being lame?

  • neuwelt

    I don’t worry about VLC player not fully compatible with Vista, since Media player classic does all the magic.

  • antonio

    good morning,
    i have the opposite problem,audio is working scattered.
    i tried various settings on instruments but it doesn’t work.
    i use winxp sp2.
    many thanks
    antonio

  • http://tech-buzz.net/2007/05/21/how-to-fix-vlc-media-player-in-vista/ Timothy Dalton

    High i have the VLC working really nice on my vista but there is this problem with the graphic equalizer. It keeps on deactivating my personal setting at the end of each song. Have to get each it adjusted every now and then – it sucks! Need help.
    TDN.

  • Phyllis Gault

    Dear Admin:
    You are hero of the day. Yahoo!!
    Thank You,
    Phyllis

  • http://yahoo.com neonite

    truly your google skill are appreciated..

    thanks.
    neo

  • jbear725

    Thanks a bunch for the tip.

  • Sofia

    Thank you soooooo mutch
    i thought it was something wrong whit my computer luckely it was just the wrong setup!
    great help dude
    // Sofia from sweden

  • Sofia

    okej i just sad that it work for like 2 minutes, sorry to truble you again but i need help!
    plz

  • http://www.tech-buzz.net mohitha

    when i try to run the vlc media player after downloading it a window opens which says nsis error…n it tells installer integrity check has failed..what do i do… please help me.

  • Pravin

    ya , i will try the solution , i have visited many sites and found the same solution for this problem.
    Thnx anyway

  • http://www.belmos.com Watch TV Shows Online

    great post, thanks

  • dustinmorrison

    I am having problems even getting vlc to download on my vista computer what could I possibly be doing wrong?

  • dustinmorrison

    I am having problems even getting vlc to download on my vista computer what could I possibly be doing wrong?