Where can I actually find the latest version of Windows Movie Maker for XP?

November 2, 2007 11:13 AM

How can I go about getting the latest version 2.1 of Windows Movie Maker for Windows XP? I currently have version 2.0 and have SP2 installed. However, Movie Maker is nowhere to be found on Microsoft Update, despite what Microsoft says.

I own a Dell laptop which did not have WMM pre-installed. It did come with SP2, however. I was interested in getting started with video editing and located a downloadable version 2.0.3312.0 of WMM on a third-party download site. For the most part it works splendidly, but there are a couple of bugs that are driving me crazy. Namely, if I try to split a clip more than 5-6 times in timeline view, the program abruptly closes itself with no error message whatsoever. It also has a bad tendency to crash when importing MP3s into collections.

According to Wikipedia, there is a newer version 2.1 for XP SP2. I'd like to think the newer version might fix some of these bugs, even though that may not be the case. According to Microsoft, it is available pre-installed on SP2 or via Microsoft Update. However, it is definitely not listed when I load MS Update (and it is MS Update, not Windows Update). It's also not available under Add/Remove Windows Components in the Control Panel.

So where on earth do I find this alleged version 2.1?

Thanks!

(Bonus question - is there anywhere I might find the oft-recommended but now discontinued Avid Free still available for download?)

posted by dustinAFN to computers & internet (7 answers total)

according to Windows Movie Maker 2.1 Download page it is available on cd.
posted by phil at 11:16 AM on November 2, 2007

sorry wrong link. the correct address is http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx
posted by phil at 11:17 AM on November 2, 2007

did you select the express or custom option when running update? if you tried express i would suggest trying custom and looking for the update in the "Software, Optional" category.
posted by phil at 11:24 AM on November 2, 2007

Thanks, but that's actually just a CD of SP2, with which Movie Maker comes bundled. I already have SP2, though, so theoretically I should already have the latest Movie Maker. I'd like to avoid ordering a CD and/or reinstalling SP2 if possible. That page lists MS Update as another option, but as I mentioned there's no Movie Maker update listed for me.
posted by dustinAFN at 11:24 AM on November 2, 2007

And yes, I did look under the software/optional category as well. I just tried again and it's still not there.
posted by dustinAFN at 11:29 AM on November 2, 2007

Have u tried downloading SP2 and reinstalling it?

FWIW, I have SP2 and here is the version of movie maker:

2.1.4026.0 shp 3,555,328 08-04-2004 moviemk.exe
posted by mphuie at 12:04 PM on November 2, 2007

mphuie, that did the trick. not that it wasn't a lot more trouble than it should have been. thanks, MS. a simple 10MB movie maker download link on the web site would have been nice.

it seemed odd to me that the setup program let me install SP2 when I already had it installed according to System Properties. nevertheless, it ran for 10+ minutes and installed/updated a bunch of files, one of which was movie maker. i now have the same version 2.1.4026.0 as well. following some quick testing, the new version seems to have fixed the worst of the bugs i'd been experiencing.

hooray!
posted by dustinAFN at 12:41 AM on November 3, 2007