Unable to link directly to WMV video file

Question

I have a wmv video hosted in SharePoint. I've created a Content Editor web part with a bit of custom content and I've placed a simple link to the video <a href="http://mysite/video.wmv" target="_blank">Click to view</a>.

There is really nothing special going on here. Some users can click on the link and the video opens in their default video player. Other users see a range of different errors/prompts. Some users are prompted for their network credentials and others receive a generic "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage.

The same problems occur if I create a generic HTML web page (outside of SharePoint) and have users try to launch the video.

I am trying to avoid embedding the video in the HTML and just have users link directly to the video itself.

Has anyone encountered this issue and do you have any suggestions for making this work?

Answer 1

This appears to be a combination of browser issues and file security.

People are being asked for their network credentials because the file itself is not "public"; it requires authentication to be read, or appears to do so from your description. Different browsers will display different messages when attempting to authenticate for the file.

Additionally, the default player for a browser may not be set or the browser may not allow passoff to third party programs, both of which will generate different messages for different browsers. This will always be an issue for hot-linked videos, and there's nothing you can do about it except use some guaranteed playback platform that all consuming browsers must have installed, such as Flash or Silverlight. That comes with issues all on its own, but such is the nature of the online world.