Windows 10: A Windows 10 bug can corrupt some FLAC music files, but there’s a fix

If you’re maintaining your own collection of FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) downloads from an online store, makes sure that you don’t edit the metadata using Windows 10’s File Explorer. This is according to a new support document issued by Microsoft.

In Windows 10 version 2004 and newer, there is a bug that will corrupt the FLAC music files if you modify its metadata using File Explorer. This bug affects Windows 10 Pro, Home, Enterprise, Workstation and other editions of the operating system.

As per a support document published earlier this month, Windows 10’s File Explorer bug will corrupt certain FLAC files that contain an ID3 frame before the FLAC header. ID3 is a frame and it’s responsible for storing information such as the music title, artist, album, track number, etc.

On Windows 10, the FLAC hander ignored the ID3 frame because it assumed that FLAC files use the 4-byte fLaC at the beginning. When the music file was edited by users, the ID3 frame was overwritten without the start code. As a result, music players couldn’t identify the modified file.

The music files wouldn’t play or load if their title, artist, or other metadata is changed in File Explorer.

Fortunately, Microsoft has identified the root cause and a fix is now available via Windows Update.

In the KB5003214 update changelog, Microsoft confirmed that the bug has been fixed and Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) music files will no longer become unplayable if you change their title, artist, or other metadata.

For those with corrupted music files, Microsoft has released a new PowerShell script that you can run to make the file playable again. However, it cannot restore the lost metadata that was stored in the ID3 frame.

To avoid issues with FLAC music files in future, Microsoft recommends applying this month’s optional cumulative update.

However, to be on the safe side, it’s generally a good idea to wait and see how other users are finding the latest updates before you decide to upgrade. For example, reports have suggested that KB5003214 is causing issues with taskbar and system tray icons, especially when News and Interests feature is enabled.

The post A Windows 10 bug can corrupt some FLAC music files, but there’s a fix appeared first on Windows Latest

Weiterlesen...

 

Cast to Device in Windows for .flac files

In the file explorer you can cast music to a dlna device. This works for wma, wav and all other native Windows audio files. Unfortunately this doesn't work for .flac files although Windows should support flac now in Windows 10.

When I start with a wma file and casts this to my dlna reciever, it works. When I manually add .flac files to the play list, the flac files are streamed also to the dlna server. So some how Windows does support flac, but didn't implement this in the user
interface.

Please, is there someone that can fix and complement this for me in Windows 10?

 

Corrupted file RAR

If the archive has been created using WinRAR, why don't you try WinRAR itself? It has a built-in repair feature for repairing corrupted archive (ZIP as well as RAR). Follow the steps given below:

• Open WinRAR application in your system.
• Now click on File tab > Open or simply press Ctrl+O.
• A small window "Find Archive" will pop up. Locate the corrupt RAR archive from your system directory and select it.
• Now click Open button.
• Click Tools tab > Repair archive or simply press Alt+R.
• Again a small window "Repairing File name.rar" will pop up.
• Now click Browse to select a location to save the repaired archive.
• Check the box "Treat the corrupt archive as RAR" and click OK.
• WinRAR will start repairing of corrupt RAR archive. Once it gets completed click Close.

I hope the above steps will help you repair the corrupted RAR archive.

Thanks.

 

FLAC & Media Player in Windows 10

Here is what I have learned so far. Windows 10 implementation of FLAC is flawed and needs to be fixed. Windows 10 does not support all of the FLAC format tags. Everyone who runs across this issue needs to report this to Microsoft through the feedback
tool. Then they may fix it.

When Windows failed to recognise the tags, I went the old way for getting FLAC to work in Windows. In Windows 7 I used a program called WMP Tag Plus. They know of the issue and give instructions on how to fix this problem listed below.... You have to actually
disable Native FLAC support and install the WMP Tag Plus to correct the problem. The instructions seem complicated but they worked fine for me.

You can download this add-in for Windows Media Player at this link. Any good codec pack will also work if it has FLAC support.

BM-productions

Is WMP Tag Plus compatible with my system?

WMP Tag Plus supports Windows Media Player 12 on Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 10.

The plug-in should also still work fine with Windows Media Player 11 on Windows Vista, but that combination isn't officially supported anymore.

Why am I experiencing issues with FLAC tags on Windows 10?
Microsoft has added native FLAC support in Windows 10. This means that, in a default Windows 10 installation, WMP Tag Plus isn't used anymore by Windows Media Player for FLAC tags.

Unfortunately, Microsoft's native FLAC support has been proven to still contain some issues. For example, it doesn't recognize certain tags that are recognized by WMP Tag Plus and most other FLAC implementations. The first thing you should do when you come
across such an issue, is report it via the Windows 10 feedback tool. That's the best way to urge Microsoft to fix their FLAC support.

Because of the issues with the native FLAC support, you can optionally force the use of WMP Tag Plus for FLAC on Windows 10, thereby giving you the same FLAC support as in earlier Windows versions. For this, you will need to disable the native FLAC support.
See the next question for instructions on how to do this.

How do I disable Microsoft's native FLAC tag support in Windows 10?
First of all, make sure that you have the latest available version of WMP Tag Plus. Only versions 2.6 and newer support Windows 10.

Removing existing FLAC songs from the library
Warning: if you skip this step, there's a high risk that you will lose some of the tags in your FLAC files!

• In Windows Media Player's library, select Music on the left, and type
  type:flac in the Search field.
• Select a single song, then press Ctrl+A to select all songs.
• Right-click the selection and select Delete. Choose Delete from library only, then click
  OK.
• Close Windows Media Player.

Disabling the native FLAC tag support
This will not only disable the native FLAC tag support in Windows Media Player, but also in Windows Explorer. It's not possible to disable the support for Windows Media Player and leave it enabled for Explorer at the same time. However, if you're experiencing
issues with FLAC tags in Windows Media Player, then you will very likely see the same issues in Explorer, so there's not much point in leaving it enabled in the latter anyway.

• Create a system restore point, just in case things get messed up.
• Launch the Registry Editor: press Win+R, type regedit, and press
  Enter.
• Navigate to the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PropertySystem\PropertyHandlers\.flac.
  
• Select the (Default) value, press Del, and click
  Yes to confirm.
• 64-bit Windows only: repeat the previous step for the registry key
  KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PropertySystem\PropertyHandlers\.flac (note the
  Wow6432Node component).
• Navigate to the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PropertySystem\SystemPropertyHandlers.
  
• Right-click the SystemPropertyHandlers key in the tree, select
  Permissions, and click Advanced.
• Click the Change link next to Owner, type Administrators as the object name, and click
  OK.
• In the existing Permission entries, select the Allow entry for
  Administrators and click Edit.
• Tick the Full Control box, then click OK three times so that you're back in the main Registry Editor window.
  
• Select the .flac value, press Del, and click
  Yes to confirm.
• 64-bit Windows only: repeat steps 7-11 for the registry key
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PropertySystem\SystemPropertyHandlers (note the
  Wow6432Node component).
• Close the Registry Editor, and restart Windows for the changes to take effect.
  

Adding FLAC songs back to the library

• Launch Windows Media Player and make sure that WMP Tag Plus is ticked in the
  Tools – Plug-ins menu, meaning that the plug-in is active (press
  Ctrl+M if you don't see the Tools menu).
• Make sure that the native FLAC tag support was successfully disabled. To do this, go to WMP Tag Plus settings (Tools –
  Options – Plug-ins – select Background – select
  WMP Tag Plus – Properties). In the list of supported file extensions, the
  Native support column should show No for FLAC. Finally, close the WMP Tag Plus settings dialog again.
  
• To re-add the FLAC songs that were previously removed, go to Tools –
  Advanced, select Restore deleted library items, and click
  Yes.

Undoing your changes
If you want to enable the native FLAC tag support again, you can undo these changes by downloading and opening one of the following .zip files. Then unzip and open the included .reg file to import it into the registry:

• 32-bit Windows:
  native_flac_prophandler_x86.zip
• 64-bit Windows:
  native_flac_prophandler_x64.zip

After the .reg file has been successfully imported, remember to restart Windows for the changes to take effect.