I'm setting up a terminal server for a 5 user company to replace ageing windows xp desktops. At the moment I'm experimenting with internet radio streaming because a couple of users are accustomed to their radio streams playing in the background as they work 🙁
After extensive testing and trial and error I have determined that the audio quality depends upon Windows Media Player (WMP) being installed. The streams the users access are always the same via Tunein.com and the Flash streams are too choppy to be acceptable.
I've installed WMP via the "Desktop Experience" feature, but I'm not keen on all the other features that get installed e.g. themes, defender. I have not been able to find any information regarding the standalone installation of WMP, so I tried VLC and that seemed to work fine.
Although, VLC is an option I would like to ask for any alternative solutions to the radio streaming requirement of my users 😉
Best Answer
Technically not an "alternative", but could be used with your initial solution. After you install Desktop Experience, you can disable the other features:
I'm not 100% sure on this, but I believe the reason Desktop Experience is required to be installed is because Windows Server lacks a lot of the underlying functions that WMP requires to run.
However, note the following on the Technet article: