How to download and install umdl software
This article will give you a step by step guide to installing your favourite umdl software.
Whether you are looking to play games, use simple photo editing software, or use a web browser with privacy and encryption settings we have the answer.
What is umdl software?
UMDL (Universal Media Deflator) is a media player that allows the user to play Blu-Ray and DVD discs as well as watch videos online.
The user will need Windows 7 SP1 64 bit or newer version of this operating system for this process to work correctly.
As of this date (February 2017), the latest version is umdl 3.7.2.4 and the latest version on its website can be found here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/umdl/.
This also includes RockChip RK3229 based devices such as the Mi TV 2, Mi Box, etc. but for this article we will focus on playing Blu-Ray and DVD discs with this software.
We have tested all systems with the latest version of umdl and it works perfectly!
In order to install this program, your operating system must have a 64bit version of Windows 7 SP1 installed on it otherwise it will lead to an error message attempting to install this program.
What are Blu-Ray discs?
Blu-Ray discs are the same thing as DVDs except they have more storage space, so your videos can be in much higher quality.
They are also harder to copy due to the type of media used, but that does not mean it is impossible.
Why do I need umdl software?
The main reason why you would need this umdl software is because in order to play a Blu-Ray disc you need to use a USB drive in order to play it.
The reason for this is because it uses a form of encryption which prevents you from playing the content unless certain requirements are met.
What are the requirements?
The first requirement is that you need at least 4GB of free space on your USB drive. This does not include your files that you want to watch, this is just for the program itself.
The second requirement is that the capacity of your USB drive must be higher than 25GB or it will also not work. If you have a 30GB capacity drive then only use 28GB on it because it can’t go past 29GB according to its developer.
How do I install the software?
Here are steps to download and install umdl software:-
Step1. Download the latest version of umdl from its website.
Step 2. Extract the contents of the zip file to a folder on your computer.
Step 3. Go to “Start” and then “Computer” in Windows 7 or 10 64bit versions.
Note: If you are using Windows 8 or 8.1 skip to step 5 due to an error that occurs when you click on ‘Computer’.
Step 4.(Windows 7 only). Double click the “Program Files (x86)” folder in order to open it. If using Windows 10, go to step 5 instead of this one.
Step 5.(Windows 10 only). Double click the “Program Files” folder in order to open it.
Step 6. Double click the umdl icon that should be in the open directory from step 5.
Step 7. Once the program opens, click on ‘Add’ which is located at the bottom of the program to add a copy of your drive. This will make sure it works correctly.
The drive should already appear in your files list by now if it did not already appear before this step was taken.
It may take a while for a few seconds to do this, but once it has been added it will work correctly and won’t do anything else unless you have made changes to your system or have installed another program that overwrites umdl’s files.
Step 8.(Windows 10 only). Either right click on the “Programs” icon in the start menu or click on “All Apps” at the bottom of your start menu. Then, click on umdl and select “Pin to Start”. This will keep a shortcut to umdl where you can find it much easier.
Please take note that this method involves modifying system files as well as getting rid of a few Windows updates so if you are not confident in doing this then please wait for a video next week.
If you have any questions, write them in the comments section below and we will do our best to answer them all.
UMDL was originally written for Ubuntu 11.10 but it should work on other Linux distributions as well, so please give it a try and let us know! The main developer of this project is gomadic1 who has contributed heavily to the development of this program since version 2.
