How to Play DVDs on Your Windows PC for Free

While most PCs that come with DVD drives include some form of DVD playing software, if you added the DVD drive, you may find your PC unable to play DVDs. This can be remedied with free downloadable and legal software. This article describes one method that works on a Windows PC, however, alternate methods that work on both Windows PCs and other platforms including Macs are available in the Related wikiHows section, below.
Steps
1. Make sure you have a DVD-Rom or DVD-RW drive. A CD-Rom or CD-RW drive will not play DVD media. Look for the DVDRom symbol on the front of the drive
2. Install a free media player program. VLC Media player (VLC) plays DVDs and almost all other videos out of the box. You can also use Windows Media Player, which comes installed on most PCs and is simple for beginner users, but requires extra software to play DVDs and many other video formats.
3. If you are using Windows Media Player, upgrade to the latest version. Go to the help menu to find a link to the latest upgrade, currently version 11.
4. Install an MPEG 2 codec. This is the file you need for Windows Media Player to know how to interpret the files on the DVD.
5. Download a free MPEG 2 codec. While there are several versions, including Stinkycodec that are purportedly functional and free, many people find they don't work. The best solution is to download the free 30 day trial version of Cyberlink PowerDVD (see external links).
6. Run the Power DVD installation software.
7. Use Power DVD, a great product, during the free 30 day trial to play your DVDs.
8. Consider buying the software, which many consider superior to Windows Media Player, at the end of the trial.
9. Know that even if you uninstall Power DVD at the end of the trial, it will leave the MPEG 2 codec on your PC, and you will still be able to play DVDs on your PC.
Tips
1. Try comparing Windows Media Player and Power DVD head to head. Some have found that the picture, especially the colors, are superior on Power DVD when displayed on a plasma TV.
2. Another alternate method to enable DVD playback is to download a package like "K-Lite Codec Pack" which not only adds support for DVDs but also adds support for playing just about any format of media, or A/V file out there.
3. With VLC, you do not need to download any codecs or anything else. VLC can play basically any audio or video file.