Comments for

Comment from Sid on 2008-11-20

2008-11-20T23:06:32Z

This is the answer: "Hi all!
In response to Paul's post... Read Gabe's post above, you have to insert the DVD you're trying to play first, then try and change the region. It worked for me, I was also getting that same "Unable to update region..." message."

Thanks very much, Gabe!

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Comment from zia on 2008-10-05

2008-10-05T07:56:42Z

my dvd drive has fixt to region 3 how con i chang to 6 or 1

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Comment from Mel on 2008-08-27

2008-08-28T00:08:30Z

Would you happen to know why my windows xp will not allow me to change my region to region 1, considering that I am the administrator of my own computer? My computer is disallowing me from changing my region to region 1, saying that I am not the administrator. I've set the admin to be me in my control panel. Any solutions???

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Comment from Neil on 2008-08-21

2008-08-22T06:03:34Z

You can see how many changes you have remaining by doing this.
"Right Click" on "My Computer" and select "Manage".
Select "Device Manager", expand your "DVD/CD-ROM drives", "Right Click" the drive model and select "Properties" and select tab called "DVD Region".
This will show you how many "Changes Remaining" you have and give you the ability to change the region (so long as you have available changes left).

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Comment from Neil on 2008-08-21

2008-08-22T05:57:10Z

Read this
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/dvdregion.mspx
Some manufacturers fix a region code in the windows registry.
Also you may be able to upgrade your firmware of your dvd drive. (it may or may not start region count again but worth a try if nothing else will work.)

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Comment from Leah on 2008-08-05

2008-08-06T03:23:46Z

For all you Canadians who might have this problem consider this ... maybe your geographical area needs to be changed......I was trying to go back to Region 1 but kept getting the error message even though I had put in Region 1 disc & had administration privileges..... I kept trying to select CANADA but this error didn't go away. I selected UNITED STATES and it worked and set my Current Region to 1. Odd enough -- I bought this laptop in Canada but it came from the States. Thanks.

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Comment from Sean on 2008-05-28

2008-05-29T03:28:20Z

I ordered a Desktop from HP about a month ago, and when I got it, it was set to region 2 even though I live in North America. In fact, the desktop, during creation and shipping never left the US but for some reason it magically was set to Region 2 when I tried to play a DVD on it. Their help website says that I need to change the DVD region code but even though I am Administrator, I do not have access.

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Comment from Rocky on 2008-05-24

2008-05-25T03:59:05Z

Dell Inspiron 1526 Laptop (Windows Vista).
I just put a DVD (Region 1, I'm in the USA) for the first time. Windows Media Player said it would not play it because the DVD is region 1 and the DVD drive is set to 8. Then a window pops up to change the region. It says the CURRENT region is 2, and that I have 3 more changes. So I pick USA out of a very long list and region 1 shows up in the "change to" field. I click "change" and then get an error message... "Unable to update region settins, please make sure the drive contain region 1 media and you have administration privilege". But there is only ONE user account on the computer and it's set to administrator.
So...
1) It says I have 3 more changes.
2) A DVD that is region 1 is in the drive.
3) I'm signed into the computer with administration privilege.

Why won't it change the drive to region 1????

TIA,
Rocky

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Comment from Mohammed on 2008-03-22

2008-03-22T10:27:11Z

Try using a software called DVD Shrink to watch your DVDs on. But check if its legal to use in your respective areas.

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Comment from Hendrik on 2008-03-19

2008-03-19T13:13:19Z

Hi I got an Acer Travelmate laptop with a Matshita dvd drive that regional setting has been changed 5 times and now I can't change it back...what can I do now?

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Comment from r0lix on 2008-01-20

2008-01-21T03:49:34Z

I moved to Australia (R4) from the US (R1). I have many DVDs from both areas. I downloaded a video player called videoLAN, and with it I can watch R4 DVDs while my drive is still set R1.

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Comment from Doug on 2008-01-17

2008-01-17T09:39:22Z

I have a Toshiba A105-S1014 laptop. I want to watch DVD's with it, but this is where the problem starts..The DVD plays fine, audio is good, but about 45 minutes to an 1 hour into the movie it starts pixeling..the audio drags..then the computer shut down. I've tried new DVD's, old ones, but I get the same results..(Dvd's are free of smudges/finger prints, and scratches, mars)
I also noted that the drive bay area is hot to the touch...What is causing my problem..any ideas?

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Comment from Donald on 2007-12-11

2007-12-12T02:08:10Z

My region is *1 I have never changed my region settings but it is now set on *5 region? Guess what I can't chang it to *1 a Region setting Error
pops up,do I need to replace it the cd works fine

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Comment from loukilouk on 2007-09-11

2007-09-11T22:19:07Z

The Solution coming from IBM:

To change the region code, you must use a DVD disc that supports CSS (Content Scrambling System).

look here:
_http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-4QEKVZ

With this way I resolved the problem with my dvdrom.

Regards

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Comment from Astrid on 2007-08-04

2007-08-04T21:34:03Z

Hi all!
In response to Paul's post... Read Gabe's post above, you have to insert the DVD you're trying to play first, then try and change the region. It worked for me, I was also getting that same "Unable to update region..." message.

Hope that helps!

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Comment from Paul on 2007-07-09

2007-07-09T11:22:34Z

I have installed a new Pioneer 212 OEM on to XP - I get the same notice when I try & change my region from the preset 2 to 4. It has never played a DVD and it tells me I still have 4 changes left.

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Comment from ROZETTA BECKMAN on 2007-04-05

2007-04-05T22:26:07Z

Hi, I copied vhs tapes of my son on to dvd in the US to bring to the UK with me. It worked on the dvd player that I did it on in the US but in the UK it does not even recognize it and when I try to play it, I get a message telling me to insert a disk. I have tried changing the region but it will not let me. My son has passed away and I want to see the movies of him. Please help me. I would extremely appreciate any help you can give me. I have a MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-841S. THE DVD is MEMOREX PRINT DVD-R THANKS!!!!

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Comment from asam on 2007-01-21

2007-01-21T09:37:25Z

hi
i have DRU 830A ss23 and my region is 2 and i cannot read CDRW
what is kind region Disks?and how i can know kind region Disks?
and how can reset this ?
when i burned CD RW i can,t read it.
please help me and send me email asa_dx@yahoo.com

many thanks

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Comment from asam on 2007-01-21

2007-01-21T09:35:45Z

many thanks

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Comment from Gabe on 2006-12-22

2006-12-22T09:37:45Z

Hey, I might have apossible solution, it worked for me. Try putting in a dvd which is not made for multiple formats (i.e. Region 1, 2, 3 etc.), for e.g. I put in a Australian comedy disc which is only made for region 4, it enabled me to change back to that region. Hope this helps. If you are having trouble finding whether a disc supports multiple regions just try experimenting with a dvd which you might think is local to your country.

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Comment from Fats on 2006-12-14

2006-12-14T14:24:09Z

I dont play dvds on my pc so have never had to try, but cant you set the region to zero like you can do with stand alone dvd players and then be done with it?

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Comment from Thor Johnson on 2006-11-27

2006-11-27T13:29:44Z

2 Drives is definitely the "easy option".
For the more advanced:
And the worst part about it is that now that it is fixed, it is fixed for good unless you "flash" the drive's frimware. Check out http://www.vcdhelp.com for extra firmware for some drives.

And it is more insidious than that -- if the drive is operating "correctly", now that the region code is set, it will not even recognize "out of region discs", so you can't use any of the cracking programs (my favorite is DVDShrink -- freeware, works well. Not legal.)

For your next drive, if you use an illegal player (look for ones with "decss" in the description), there may be a way around setting the region # (I think windows will let you leave it unset. If you don't set it, you have to use a deCSS program to "crack" the dvd so you can view it.)

Welcome to the age of DRM -- where what you think you own and can use is subject to the whims of an external, unassailable, uncaring company....

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Comment from Simon on 2006-11-23

2006-11-23T18:12:09Z

If you happen to a resident of the beautiful island of Antigua, in the Leeward Islands, there is an excellent product called AnyDVD which you can purchase over the internet and subsequently download from http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html. Of course, pretty much everywhere else in the world this software is illegal; but if you happen to live in Antigua it's a great solution. They do seem to have a strangely large web presence for a company that caters solely to the population of an island less than 20 miles wide; I imagine this is due to a lack of DVD rental stores in Antigua, requiring the resident(s) to import region-encoded DVDs from elsewhere...

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