Player Cannot Connect to NetShow Stream Using an ASX File

ID: Q193517

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Server NetShow 3.0 Services

SYMPTOMS

When playing an Advance Stream Redirector (ASX) file, the Windows Media Player may display the following error:


   Cannot play back the file. The format is not supported.

It is unable to connect to the ASF stream specified by the <REF> tag in the ASX files. Despite this error message, if you enter the URL that is specified in your <REF> tag into the File, Open dialog of the Windows Media Player, you can connect to the stream.

CAUSE

This problem is caused by one of the following:

The ASX file has a blank line or extra space at the top of the file.

The ASX file was created with a UNIX based text editor or some other editor that does not place both carriage returns and line feeds at the end of each line.

There is a syntax error somewhere in the ASX file.

RESOLUTION

If you have confirmed that there are no syntax errors in your ASX file, open the ASX file in Notepad and confirm that there is no extra line at the top of the file. Then use the following steps to verify that each line has both a carriage return and a line feed at the end of the line.

Move the cursor to the end of the first line.

Press the Enter key, and then press the Delete key to remove the extra line you just created.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each line in the ASX file.

Save the changes that you made to the file.

Additional query words:


Keywords          : 
Version           : WINNT:3.0
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: June 23, 1999