Currently, there is no way to replace the native movie library in the Movies start menu strip. Also, Windows 7 Media Center doesn’t allow for the addition of extra plug-ins to the default strips. What can we do to replace the default movie library menu strip then? We’ll remove the movie strip and simply replace it with a strip of our own creation which includes the Media Browser plug-in.
To get this done a few files have been created which can be downloaded here. The first one is a patch that will enable turning the default movies strip on and off through a registry setting. This patch has only been tested under the official Windows 7 beta 1 (build 7000) at this point but should work under any version. As always, it’s highly recommended that you backup your files (in this case C:\Windows\ehome\ehres.dll) before modifying any system files.
Also included are a number of registry files for altering the start menu strip setup. Two of the files allow for the turning on and off of the default movies strip and another set of files for turning on and off the new Media Browser movies strip. The last registry file will remove the default strip and add the new Media Browser strip at once.
To enable using these registry files you’ll need to download and apply this patch. For the patch to be installed it’s also necessary to take ownership of the (C:\Windows\ehome\ehres.dll) file. If you haven’t already, install the “Take Ownership” registry fix by double-clicking “take ownership.reg” included in the download zip. Then you will need to right-click the ehres.dll file and select “Take Ownership”.
Once you’ve successfully taken ownership of the ehres.dll file and applied the patch file included in the download zip you can now use the registry files included in the options folder of the zip to modify whether or not the movies strip is enabled. As well as turn on or off the new Media Browser Movies strip. To both enable the new movies strip and disable the old native movies strip apply the “Add Media Browser Strip and Remove Movies.reg” file to your registry.
Unfortunately, at this time it’s not possible to transfer the default movie trailers, play DVD or other movies strip entries to the new strip. But you can follow these directions to include other plug-ins in your new movies strip. The category for this new strip in the registry is “Media Browser”.
That’s all there is to it, now just sit back and relax knowing you’ll never need to explain to anyone why they “shouldn’t use that movie library use that one” and then where to find it.
