Windows 10 N edition is one very special version of the operating system that doesn’t include the media apps and functionality that you typically find on Microsoft’s platform, and this not only that means users are lacking essential tools for working with media files, but also that some apps cannot be launched.
Fortunately, Microsoft does provide separate download links for the Media Feature Pack, which brings all the media functionality to N edition, and recently, the company rolled out the dedicated pack for computers updated to the Windows 10 Creators Update (version 1703).
Features missing, apps not working
For background, N editions of Windows 10 do not come with Windows Media Player (and all associated modules), Windows Media DRM, media sharing and Play To options, Windows 8.1 Portable Devices (WPD) infrastructure, audio codecs, Groove Music (which is Microsoft’s most recent big bet in the media business), Video, Voice Recorder, and Skype.
“Some websites and software, such as Windows Store apps or Microsoft Office, use Windows Media-related files that are not incorporated into these editions of Windows. Users can make these websites and software work correctly by installing the Media Feature Pack for N editions of Windows 10,” Microsoft itself explains.
As a result, there are lots of Windows 10 features that are not available in these N editions, including here Windows Hello, Windows cameras, Alarms and Clock, OneDrive and Photos (both of them unable to play videos), webcam, and even Cortana, as speech interaction is not working.
Users running Windows 10 Creators Update N edition whose policy allow the installation of this add-on can download the Media Feature Pack for Windows 10 Creators Update (version 1703) from Softpedia right now.
Keep in mind that a system reboot is necessary and creating a backup always comes in handy, especially because this pack modifies system files and this kind of modifications can have an impact on system stability.
