CodySnider.com

Let me start by saying this is only legal if you own a legitimate copy of Windows. These are proprietary codecs that Microsoft owns the rights to. If you don't have a paid-for copy of Windows and you'd still like to enjoy your movies as they are, break the law. If you get in trouble then it's your own fault.

Let me start by saying this is only legal if you own a legitimate copy of Windows. These are proprietary codecs that Microsoft owns the rights to. If you don't have a paid-for copy of Windows and you'd still like to enjoy your movies as they are, break the law. If you get in trouble then it's your own fault.

Ok, first, you need to get a copy of the codecs. You can either use this one that I used (current at the time of writing this HOWTO) or you can download the latest one from here:

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design7/dload.html
(just download the “essential codecs package”)

Mirror for the above link:
http://www4.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design7/dload.html

Ok, next step. This will ensure that you have the packages that this codec works with:

sudo apt-get install xine-ui totem-xine

Now, launch the program that you'll be using and try to play a movie. No, this won't work, but it will create a configuration file.

We need to create a directory where the codecs will be installed. In your console, run the following:

sudo mkdir /usr/lib/win32

If you're using the file from this site, then go to the directory you downloaded to and type the following:

tar -xjvf essential-20061022.tar.bz2

If you are using the latest version from the link above, please replace the filename to match.

Now that we've extracted the file, let's go ahead and copy the files to the directory we created earlier:

sudo cp essential-20061022/* /usr/lib/win32

Now, restart the application you were using to play the video and try it again. Works, huh? Enjoy. :-)