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Summary: DVD Region Codes are intended to restrict where a DVD can be played. Computer DVD drives can sometimes alter region codes, but only a few times. I am in England so when I played an English DVD, the region changed. But now I want to watch American DVDs so I need to change it back. But when I put the DVD in, the change the region prompt doesn't come up. I went through the device manager to try to change the DVD, but when I press ok to have it changed to region one, it says: "Unable to update region settings. Please make sure the drive contains a region 1 media and you have administration privilege." I have never had a problem with administration privilege before, so how do I fix this? And how do I change the DVD region? I am sure I have administration privilege, it's my computer. DVD region coding is one of the most controversial aspects of commercial DVD production. It's trying to solve a problem, doing it poorly, and as a result consumers are once again stuck in the middle, getting burned. Yes, I think that things are much worse than you imagine. • Region codes define the area of the world that a DVD is "allowed" to be played in. Regular DVD players are encoded with the region code that they're targeted for, so when you put the two together - DVD's coded for region 1 (North America), can only be played on a player purchased in North America. Send it to your family overseas, and they'll not be able to view it. The stated "reason" is copy protection, and the fact that movies may be released in one country on DVD before it's finished playing in theaters elsewhere in the world. Being able to ship the DVDs to that country could cannibalize theater attendance. I don't buy it, myself, but that's at least part of the thinking. I ran into this exact scenario you're facing some years ago when a relative of mine in Holland sent me a commercial DVD of the Dutch royal family. I couldn't view it, since I live in a different region code than the DVD was targeted for. Very frustrating. "...if the region code can be changed at all, it can
only be changed a small number of times..."
With the advent of DVD players in PC's, things got even more interesting. Like stand-alone DVD players, DVD drives are initially configured to a specific region code as well. However unlike they standalone players, the region code can be changed. This, of course, defeats the purpose of region codes all together. So, DVD player manufacturers set a compromise: if the region code can be changed at all, it can only be changed a small number of times; usually something like 5. After the 5th region code change, it can no longer be changed at all. Very frustrating. Again. And that's where I believe you are. This isn't about administrative privileges, it's about having exceeded the number of times you can reset the region code on your drive. And to the best of my knowledge there's no legal way to circumvent it with that single drive. If this is something you do often, perhaps it's worth installing a second DVD drive, configuring it to the "other" region code. Watch region 1 DVDs in one drive, and region 2 DVDs in the other. You'll note that also defeats the purpose of region codes, and that's one of the reasons I thing it's such a poorly considered approach. There are illegal solutions - such as ripping the DVD contents to your hard disk, which I'm lead to believe will remove the region code. With enough space on your hard disk (not uncommon these days) you can then watch the movies without the DVD player at all. But as I said, those approaches are technically illegal in most countries. Related: Article 10942 | Posted November 22, 2006 |
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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?
Posted by: Hendrik at March 19, 2008 6:13 AMTry using a software called DVD Shrink to watch your DVDs on. But check if its legal to use in your respective areas.
Posted by: Mohammed at March 22, 2008 3:27 AMDell 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,
Posted by: Rocky at May 24, 2008 8:59 PMRocky
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.
Posted by: Sean at May 28, 2008 8:28 PMFor 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.
Posted by: Leah at August 5, 2008 8:23 PMRead this
Posted by: Neil at August 21, 2008 10:57 PMhttp://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.)
You can see how many changes you have remaining by doing this.
Posted by: Neil at August 21, 2008 11:03 PM"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).
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???
Posted by: Mel at August 27, 2008 5:08 PMmy dvd drive has fixt to region 3 how con i chang to 6 or 1
Posted by: zia at October 5, 2008 12:56 AMThis 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!
Posted by: Sid at November 20, 2008 3:06 PM