The reason for this can be a multitude of issues – like a dodgy codec, etc – and seems to be rather in-discriminant as to which file type it decides to screw up with (AVI, MPG, WMV, ASF, etc).

To get around this problem though, it is possible to easily disable this feature. Either fire up a command prompt or execute this straight from the run dialog box:

regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll

And if you want to re-enable it again at a later date:

regsvr32 shmedia.dll

Now, the only knock-on effect is that you’ll no longer be able to see summary information in the file properties. In my opinion though, it’s a small price to pay!!

phbrtr#sh vpdn session

PPTP Session Information Total tunnels 1 sessions 1

LocID RemID TunID Intf   Username State    Last Chg    Uniq ID
32       32768   37       Vi3   user            estabd 00:00:18   31
phbrtr#

That pesky user!! Lets disconnect him..

phbrtr#clear vpdn tunnel pptp id 37
Starting to clear the tunnel
phbrtr#

Note here that we’ve used the TunID from the previous command (in this case – 37). Another quick ’show vpdn session’ (or for the lazy: ’sh u’) will show that your user has disappeared.

If you’ve got a lot of users, looking up their id and clearing can be quite tedious. To clear ALL PPTP sessions:

phbrtr#clear vpdn tunnel pptp all
Clear all PPTP tunnels? [confirm]
Starting to clear the tunnel

phbrtr#

Simples!