I'm trying to watchin some videos from various sites and I get

Windows Media Player cannot play the file. If the file is on another computer, verify that you are connected to the network. If you typed a path, verify that it is correct. If the problem persists, the server might not be available.

Error ID = 0xC00D1197, Condition ID = 0x00000000

What do I need to do?

If you're wondering, they're videos about ferrets. lol
I'm thinking of getting one.

It sounds like the file is corrupted, which is entirely possible or maybe you don't have the correct "codec" to watch the video (think of a codec like ... a "filter" or "translator" that lets you watch certain types of video your player would not normally be able to see)

Some video formats like .AVI videos (I think thats the one) are susceptible easily to corruption because they store a stamp at the beginning and end of the video which identify the content of the file - and if either one is lost or screwed up, the entire video is unplayable.

If you are downloading this file from a filesharing program like Kazaa (God forbid you are using filesharing programs, 90% of them install backdoors (trojans) viruses, worms and spyware on your machine), chances are you have not finished the download or the download is incomplete.

I would do one of the following things ...

Try using a repair utility on the video file like this one (link: http://www.repairvideo.com/news.html ) or some other one ... I cannot gaurantee the validity of that particular piece of software, just be sure your antivirus is up to date before using it :D.

Try using a different media player like Media Player Classic (link: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_players/media_player_classic.cfm )

Either one should get you a result you want. You can also go to Windows Update and download a more recent version of Windows Media Player (we're at v10 now) and give that a shot! Just open Internet Explorer and choose "Windows Update" from the Tools menu.

Thanks a bunch for replying. :) It's nothing from a file sharing site. I just googled ferret videos and it allows you to download them from there.
http://www26.brinkster.com/ferrethutch/video.html
http://www.extremeweezils.com/ferretmovies10.html

Were the two I was trying to view. I'll try a different media player and see if that works.
Thanks again
David

I checked out a couple of those videos (video #4 at the first link) - using Windows Media Player 10 that I downloaded from Windows Update, I am able to see those videos. I also have the Xvid codecs installed on my computer. You can download those here:

http://download.divxmovies.com/XviD-1.1.0-30122005.exe

I would try upgrading to WMP 10 at Windows Update, reboot, then install the codec I just listed and try again.