Windows Movie Maker
(Note: This topic describes not just Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2, but also Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3.)
On This Page
Benefits and Purposes of Windows Movie Maker
Overview: Using Windows Movie Maker in a Managed Environment
How Windows Movie Maker Communicates with Sites on the Internet
Procedures for Configuration of Windows Movie Maker
Related Links
Benefits and Purposes of Windows Movie Maker
With Windows Movie Maker, users can bring together video, audio, and other multimedia content, then arrange and edit the content to create a finished movie. After creating the movie, users can save it on a hard disk, CD, or DVD, send it in an e-mail, or send it to a video hosting provider on the Web. These tasks are kept simple with an interface based mostly on drag-and-drop and on short lists of tasks from which to choose.
As part of keeping tasks simple, Windows Movie Maker can display links to Web sites, such as a link to a potential video hosting provider, and can automatically download missing codecs for audio and video files. (A codec—compressor/decompressor—is software that compresses or decompresses audio or video data.)
Overview: Using Windows Movie Maker in a Managed Environment
If you want to prevent users from running Windows Movie Maker, you can use Group Policy. You can also allow users to run Windows Movie Maker, but use Group Policy to control whether Windows Movie Maker can do the following:
Automatically download codecs
Display links to Web sites
Save movies to an online video hosting provider
Note that by default in Windows XP with SP2, Windows Movie Maker does not automatically download codecs. You can configure this option through Windows Movie Maker itself, in addition to configuring it through Group Policy.
How Windows Movie Maker Communicates with Sites on the Internet
The following list describes how Windows Movie Maker communicates with sites on the Internet:
Specific information sent or received: The following list describes the information that is sent or received in specific situations.
When the user clicks Help and then clicks Windows Movie Maker on the Web, Windows Movie Maker displays the following Web site:
https://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/default.mspx
When the user clicks Help and then clicks Privacy Statement, Windows Movie Maker displays the following Web site:
When the user clicks Tools\Options\Compatibility and clicks the link to learn more about video filters on the Microsoft Web site, Windows Movie Maker displays the following Web site:
https://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/default.mspx
When the user chooses to save a movie to the Web, through a wizard, a connection is made to the following Web site in order to obtain a list of potential hosting providers to offer to the user:
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=26247
This occurs when, after creating a Windows Movie Maker project, the user clicks the task Send to the Web. Alternatively, the user can click File, click Save Movie File, and then click The Web as the location for saving. The Save Movie Wizard then guides the user through the process of saving the movie and sending it to a video hosting provider’s Web site.
When the user imports an audio or video file for which no codec is available locally, and automatic downloading of codecs is enabled, Windows Movie Maker connects to the following Web site to locate a codec to download:
Default settings: By default, Windows Movie Maker offers options that allow the user to link to Web sites for information or for saving a movie, as described in the previous item. However, by default, Windows Movie will not automatically download codecs.
Triggers and user notification: When downloading of codecs is enabled, connection with the codec server is triggered when the user imports an audio or video file for which no codec is available on the local computer. The user is notified and must confirm the download for it to occur. Otherwise, to cause Windows Movie Maker to connect to a site on the Internet, the user must explicitly click a link or choose the option of saving a movie to the Web.
Logging: On the sites to which Windows Movie Maker connects, the only data saved by Microsoft is the number of downloads of a given codec. No computer is identified in the process of a codec download.
Encryption: There is no encryption of the requests for Web sites or of the codec downloads that can occur through Windows Movie Maker.
Privacy: You can view the Windows Movie Maker privacy statement at:
Transmission protocol and port: When Windows Movie Maker communicates with sites on the Internet, it uses HTTP with port 80.
Ability to disable: You disable Windows Movie Maker through Group Policy. You can also control whether Windows Movie Maker connects to the Internet as described in the following procedures.
Procedures for Configuration of Windows Movie Maker
This subsection provides procedures for the following:
Disabling Windows Movie Maker by using Group Policy.
Locating the Group Policy settings that control how Windows Movie Maker communicates with the Internet. These settings control whether Windows Movie Maker can automatically download codecs, display links to Web sites, or save movies to an online video hosting provider.
Configuring Windows Media Player on a specific computer to prevent automatic downloading of codecs.
To Disable Windows Movie Maker by Using Group Policy
See Appendix B, "Learning About Group Policy and Updating Administrative Templates,” for information about using Group Policy. Ensure that your Administrative templates have been updated, and then edit an appropriate GPO.
If you want the policy setting to apply to all users of a computer and to come into effect when the computer starts or when Group Policy is refreshed, click Computer Configuration. If you want the policy setting to apply to users and to come into effect when users log on or when Group Policy is refreshed, click User Configuration.
Click Administrative Templates, click Windows Components, and then click Windows Movie Maker.
In the details pane, double-click Do not allow Windows Movie Maker to run.
To Locate the Group Policy Settings that Control how Windows Movie Maker Communicates with the Internet
See Appendix B, "Learning About Group Policy and Updating Administrative Templates,” for information about using Group Policy. Ensure that your Administrative templates have been updated, and then edit an appropriate GPO.
If you want the policy setting to apply to all users of a computer and to come into effect when the computer starts or when Group Policy is refreshed, click Computer Configuration. If you want the policy setting to apply to users and to come into effect when users log on or when Group Policy is refreshed, click User Configuration.
Click Administrative Templates, click System, click Internet Communication Management, and then click Internet Communication settings.
View the following Group Policy settings:
Turn off Windows Movie Maker automatic codec downloads
Turn off Windows Movie Maker online Web links
Turn off Windows Movie Maker saving to online video hosting provider
For a detailed explanation of a setting, select the setting and click the Extended tab, or open the setting and click the Explain tab.
Important You can also restrict Internet access for this and a number of other components by applying the Restrict Internet communication policy setting, which is located in Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/System/Internet Communication Management or in User Configuration/Administrative Templates/System/Internet Communication Management. For more information about this Group Policy and the policies that it controls, see Appendix C, "Group Policy Settings Listed Under the Internet Communication Management Key."
To Configure Windows Media Player on a Specific Computer to Prevent Automatic Downloading of Codecs
Click Start, click Programs or All Programs, and then click Windows Movie Maker.
On the Tools menu, click Options.
Click the General tab.
Make sure that the check box for Download codecs automatically is cleared.
Note By default, automatic downloading of codecs for Windows Movie Maker is not enabled.
Related Links
For more information about Windows Movie Maker, see Help in Windows Movie Maker, or see the Windows Movie Maker page on the Microsoft Web site at:
https://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/default.mspx