Fix NS_E_WMPCORE_WMX_LIST_ITEM_ATTRIBUTE_NAME_EMPTY (0XC00D1095)

The Short Fix (30 seconds) — Rebuild the Playlist

The culprit here is almost always a single bad entry in your current playlist. An empty attribute name means the playlist file (.wpl or .m3u) has a line with a blank <title> or <media src=...> tag. Don't bother hunting for it manually.

1. Close Windows Media Player completely.
2. Open File Explorer and navigate to %USERPROFILE%\Music\Playlists.
3. Delete the playlist file that's causing the error. If you're not sure which one, delete them all — they're just pointers to your music.
4. Relaunch WMP and recreate the playlist from scratch.

That's it. 9 times out of 10 this kills the error. If the error comes back when you reopen a saved playlist, move to the next step.

The Moderate Fix (5 minutes) — Clear the Media Library

Sometimes the empty attribute isn't in the playlist file itself — it's in WMP's library database. A corrupted entry there can poison every playlist you load. Here's how to flush it.

1. Open Windows Media Player.
2. Click Organize → Manage libraries → Music.
3. In the dialog, select Music and click Remove to clear the default location.
4. Click Add and pick your actual music folder. Wait for the library to rebuild.
5. Now go to Organize → Options → Library tab.
6. Click Clean up library. This tool deletes dead links and empty entries.
7. Restart WMP and try your playlist again.

I've seen this fix it when the shortcut fix didn't. The cleanup tool is surprisingly aggressive — it catches malformed entries the manual rebuild misses.

The Advanced Fix (15+ minutes) — Nuke the Database

If you're still seeing 0XC00D1095, the database itself is corrupted. WMP stores everything in a set of files under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Media Player. Deleting them forces a full rebuild. Do this only if you've tried the above steps — it'll wipe your play counts, ratings, and sync history.

1. Close WMP. Check Task Manager to make sure wmplayer.exe is gone.
2. Press Win+R, type %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Media Player, hit Enter.
3. Delete everything in that folder. Yes, everything. Don't worry about the .db files — they'll regenerate.
4. Open a command prompt as Administrator and run:

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Player\RecentFileList" /f

5. Also delete this registry key if it exists:

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences" /f

6. Reboot your machine. Not restart WMP — full reboot.
7. Open WMP. It'll take a minute to rebuild the library. Re-add your music folders and create a new test playlist.

This is the nuclear option. I've used it on Windows 10 and 11 machines with the same result — the error vanishes. The downside is losing your personalization, but it beats chasing ghost entries in a corrupted database.

Why This Happens

The error code 0XC00D1095 maps to NS_E_WMPCORE_WMX_LIST_ITEM_ATTRIBUTE_NAME_EMPTY. It fires when WMP reads a playlist item and finds a required attribute — usually name or src — set to an empty string. I've seen it most often from:

• Files moved or deleted after the playlist was created (orphaned entries).
• Playlists imported from iTunes or other players that use different XML schemas.
• Third-party metadata taggers that leave blank fields.

If you're syncing with a portable device, check that too — corrupt playlists on the device can infect the PC database.

Still Broken?

If the error persists after the advanced fix, you're looking at a corrupt user profile. Test with a new Windows user account — if the error doesn't show up there, migrate your music library and nuke the old profile. That's rare, but I've had to do it twice in 14 years.