Windows Media Center is not part of Windows 10. None of the editions of Windows 10 ship with Windows Media Center or officially support installing Windows Media Center.
A lot of users who were not aware of the fact that WMC is not available in Windows 10 have upgraded their Windows 7/8.1 installations to Windows 10 and now missing the feature.
A little more about Windows Media Center
Windows Media Center was first introduced as a special edition of Windows XP back in 2002 and was named Windows XP Media Center Edition. Since then, it had been part of every version of the Windows operating system till Windows 8.
That said, as everyone knows, even in previous Windows versions, Windows Media Center was not available in all editions. In fact, Media Center was not part of Windows 8 as well, but Microsoft let Windows 8/8.1 Pro users purchase and install Media Center for a small fee.
Since Media Center is not available for Windows 10 and is not officially supported, the Media Center has been removed while upgrading your Windows 7/8.1 installation to Windows 10. That is, for instance, users who previously had Windows 7 Ultimate edition with all the goodies are not able to enjoy Windows Media Center in Windows 10.
Alternatives to WMC
Although WMC never became hugely popular (could be because it was not available in all editions), there are plenty of users who still find the program better than any other third-party media center program. The cool set of features, compatibility with devices, and easy-to-navigate UI made the program very popular among a section of PC users.
Sure, there are a couple of free alternatives out there for Windows Media Center, but everyone knows that none of them are even remotely close to Windows Media Center when it comes to ease of use. Among the alternatives out there, the free Kodi (previously known as XBMC) is probably the best media center software around in the absence of WMC.
Install Windows Media Center in Windows 10
Just like other classic Windows features, whenever Microsoft discontinues a feature or program, Windows enthusiasts and developers try their level best to bring the classic features to the newest version of Windows. In this case, some developers and Windows enthusiasts have managed to install and run Windows Media Center on Windows 10!
In order to successfully install and run Windows Media Center on your Windows 10 PC, you need to complete the given below instructions. And before you jump to the download page, please create a manual system restore point, so that you can easily revert to your current settings if Windows 10 or WMC fails to work.
Step 1: Visit this page of MajorGeeks to find the download links for WMC for Windows 10. Click on one of the links provided to download the WMC for Windows 10 ZIP file. The download size is about 87 MB.
Step 2: Extract the zip file to get the WMC folder. Open it up to find _TestRights, BackupRestoreSettings, InstallerBlue, InstallerGreen, Uninstaller, and other files.
Step 3: Right-click on the _TestRights file and then click Run as administrator. Click Yes button when you see the User Account Control screen.
Upon running the above file, it will open a Command Prompt window. If the Command Prompt window closes and launches a new window, you are good to proceed to Step 4. If a new window is not opening, please reboot your PC and then try this step again.
Step 4: Right-click on InstallerBlue or InstallerGreen file (depending on the color you like) and run as administrator. Click Yes for the UAC prompt to begin installing Windows Media Center on Windows 10.
The installer will transfer required files and install Windows Media Center on your Windows 10 PC. Once installed, you may launch the Windows Media Center.
The Uninstaller file is provided if you want to uninstall the WMC from Windows 10. Simply run it with admin rights to get rid of WMC from Windows 10.
Good luck!
