“I have an HP S5160F desktop PC. It has a super disk reader/writer that includes Blu-ray. Since I upgraded to Windows 7 I have not been able to play a Blu-ray disk. I recognizes and plays regular DVDs but not Blu-ray. Media Player shows the disk is loaded but says it is empty. Device manager says the latest drivers are loaded. Automatic downloads are enabled.”

Windows Media Player does not support Blu-ray playback. So what is a Blu-ray movie-loving Windows 7 user to do? you may look for a free way to play Blu-ray discs on Windows 7 pc, so VLC media player will be the best way to play Blu-Ray in Windows 7 64-bit or Windows 7 32 bit for free.

To better support Blu-Ray playback in Windows 7, VideoLAN and the VLC development team present the fifth version of “Twoflower” which is VLC 2.0.4. The a major updated VLC 2.0.4 introduces an important number of fixes and improvements especially for Blu-Ray under Windows 7. However, for legal reasons, AACS and BD+ DRM libraries and keys still are not shipped.

This article will guide you to download and place the AACS and BD+ DRM libraries and keys in order to play Blu Ray on Windows 7 with VLC for Free.

Step 1: Install the latest nightly of VLC 2.0: Go to: VideoLan,then download the latest version for your system.

Step 2: Download the Blu-ray playback addon pack from: here, and install the Key file from addon pack – “KEYDB.cfg”

Windows 7 – [place in folder named “aacs” located in appdata directory]
* Open your user area (start->”your username”)
* Enable view hidden files and folders (Organise->Folder and Search Options->View{tab} and select “show hidden files…”->select ok)
* Open “AppData” directory
* Create a folder and name it “aacs” {no quotations}
* Place the KEYDB.cfg file in this folder directly from the unzipped Blu-ray playback addon pack.

Step 3: Download Install AACS dynamic library for VLC to use:

Windows 7 32bit: put that file in your VLC directory
Windows 7 64bit: put that file in your VLC directory

Windows 7 – [Place in VLC program directory]
* Open “Computer”
* Open “Local Disk (C:)”
* Open “Program Files” [Or “Program Files (x86)” if running 64bit]
* Navigate to “VLC” directory
* Move appropriate file from unzipped Blu-ray playback addon pack to this directory (file located in “aacs/windows 32″ directory in pack)

Now, you can easily play Blu-Ray disc with VLC on Windows 7 64-bit or Windows 7 32 bit for free. Note: VLC 2.0 still doesn’t have menu support yet.

Tip: If VLC still can’t help you play Blu-ray disc movie on Windows 7, you need a third party software to help you. You can get a UFUSoft Blu-ray Player for Windows 7(Only $39) to play Blu-ray movies on Windows 7 directly with Blu-ray effect. Or you can hire a UFUSoft Blu-ray Ripper for Windows 7(Only $49) to rip and transcode Blu-ray discs to WMV/AVI/MPG/MPEG/MOV/MKV/MP4 etc for playing on Windows 7 PC or multimedia players. Or you can hire a UFUSoft Blu-ray Copy for Windows 7(Only $35) to copy Blu-ray disc to another blank Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray folder and ISO files. It supports BD-R, BD-RE, BD-R DL and BD-RE DL. Blu-ray Copy can also copy 3D Blu-ray movies with the original video effect 1:1 to another Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray folder and ISO files on Windows 7/Vista/XP PC.