How to enable the DVD Library in Windows Vista Media Center

Tony Williams | Apr 17, 2007 | View Comments


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Iv’e spent a lot of time copying my DVD library to my computer’s Hard Disk to protect my disks and to save having to swap them around everytime I want to watch them. In Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, DVD content that was stored on the hard disk automatically appeared in the My Videos folder, but it didn’t in Windows Vista.

I’ve finally worked out how to get my DVD Library to appear under Windows Vista Media Center and it involves a quick registry change to enable the ‘DVD Gallery’ feature that Microsoft have disabled in the default settings.

Warning: Remember all registry changes are made at your own risk.

  1. Exit Windows Media Center if it is running.
  2. Click StartStart button, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then click regedit in the Programs list.
  3. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

    4. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\DvdSettings

  4. In the results pane, right-click ShowGallery, and then click Modify.
  5. Delete the contents that appear in the Value data box, type Gallery in the Value data box, and then click OK.
  6. Exit Registry Editor

Now all of your DVD titles should appear in the new Vista DVD Gallery, providing easy access.


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  • matt
    If your still interested John, There is a plugin that will allow you to watch your dvd library on media center extenders but the Xbox 360 doesn't support playing the movies as it doesnt recognize the file formats. There is a way you can get this to work but it's not really fully functional, you'll only get the movie with nothing else and ou have to manually create hard links to files and playlists. im pretty sure i saw it on thegreenbutton.com. hope this helps
  • Hugh
    What plugin???
  • gareth
    hi, awsome hack, however i have Vista Home Premium, the hack worked fine for 5 mins but then i got the message VMC has stopped workin, now whenever i click to go into my dvd library i get the same message and VMC closes?

    any ideas, Oh i did the hack via the Windows Fix
  • John
    Here is my question. I did the registry modification and it shows my DVD library fine. I added an xbox 360 to my domain and setup the extender and everything looks good, but the dvd library doesn't show. Any fix for that?
  • Tj
    I loaded everything up on my Vista Ultimate x86 system and it works great except for one small problem.  The bottom corner shows the drop down button so that you can scroll through the rest of your movies.  However when I move my mouse, the MC icon shows up over the top of the scroll buttons, so I am unable to see anything more than the first page of movies.  Is there a way  to move this or set up the movie list to scroll to the left or the right so that both options are available and visible?  thx.
  • Tom Curran
    I have the same problem. What is a NAS and how do I turn it off?
  • Miker
    I changed the registry to enable the DVD library and there it was.. perfect. However,

    1. I see the DVD twice but once has the artwork and the other does not. Not sure what to do to remove one. I looked in the share dir but no NAS. Any thoughts?

    2. I copied a home recorded DVD from a tivo recording and it works but the sound is very low, barely there. Any thoughts?
  • MrMallu
    This hack worked on my office vista machine but didn't for hp s3200t media center pc.

    a windiff on the media center registry key export (exists both in HKLM and HKCU) from my office machine with that s3200t helped me to find this.

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Start Menu]
    "HideDVD"=dword:00000001

    set the above value to 0.

    I can see dvd library in s3200t now.
  • whiteboykrs
    I just got vista ultimate. now how do i create backup's of my dvd library to put them in the media center library.
  • @wayt

    Can't remember!

    @Wouter

    Sometimes it takes a while to create the library - does it totally freeze?
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