On my old computer (running Windows 98 SE) I was able to play .RMI music files by double-clicking on the file. However, on my new computer running Windows XP SP2 with Windows Media Player 10 an error message appears saying “Unable to find or execute SynthCore11.EXE program!”. How can I play the .RMI files on my new computer?

RMI files are a rather obscure format of MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) files, which are audio files which used synthesised instruments to play music. The error message which appears, saying that the SynthCore11.EXE program cannot be found, indicates that the file association for RMI files has become corrupted or the SynthCore11.EXE program is no longer on your computer. When you double-click a particular file type in Windows (for example, a .DOC file) Windows knows that this file needs to be opened using a particular application (in the case of a .DOC file, the most suitable application would be either WordPad or Microsoft Word). This is called the file association – where a particular file is associated with a particular program. In your case, when you double-click on an RMI file this file type is associated with the SynthCore11.EXE program. However, this program cannot be found on the computer and thus the error message is appearing.

Researching your problem on the internet I have found several other users who experience exactly the same problem when attempting to play other MIDI file formats on their computers. There are a few methods we will try to resolve this problem. First, we can try playing the RMI files in a different program. You could first try playing the RMI files using Windows Media Player 10 which is installed with Windows XP. Looking in the supported file types within Windows Media Player I have seen that RMI files are listed, indicating that playback of the RMI files may be supported. Open Windows Media Player and go to the “File” menu > “Open”. Navigate to the location of the RMI file and then try to open the file. If this works correctly, and you are happy to continue using Windows Media Player to play the RMI files, we can setup a permanent file association to link RMI files to open and play using Windows Media Player. To do this, find an RMI file on the computer then right-click on the file. In the context menu that appears, click the “Open With” command > “Choose Program”. A window will appear allowing you to select which application should be used to open that type of file. In the list of programs, find and select “Windows Media Player” Tick the box “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” and click OK. Now whenever you double-click on an RMI file it will open in Windows Media Player.

Should Windows Media Player not play the file correctly, try downloading VLC Media Player (www.videolan.org). This is a free, open source media player which practically supports playback of all types of media files. If this works, then you can establish a permanent file association between RMI files and VLC Media Player using the same procedure as above, but just select VLC Media Player in the list of programs rather than Windows Media Player.

However, should Windows Media Player or VLC Media Player not work, then you may need to use SynthCore to play the RMIL files. In this case, we will try re-establishing the association between the RMI files and the SynthCore program. Find an RMI file on your computer then hold the SHIFT down on the keyboard and right-click on the RMI file. In the context menu that appears, click the “Open With” command > “Choose Program”. A window will appear allowing you to select which application should be used to open that type of file. Scroll through the list of applications and check whether SynthCore is in the list of programs. If so, highlight the entry then tick the box to always use this program to open that type of file, and click the OK button. The RMI file should open using the SynthCore application. Should this not work, or if the SynthCore application is not in the list of programs, you will need to manually find the SynthCore program on the computer. Click the “Browse” button and then attempt to locate the SynthCore11.EXE file on your computer. Your first port of call might be looking in the C:\Program Files directory as to whether the SynthCore program had been installed in this directory. If you are unable to find the SynthCore11.EXE file on your computer, you may need to search for the file. Leave open all the windows which are currently open and go to the “Start” menu > “Search” and search for the SynthCore11.EXE file. Once the file has been found, note the location of the file and then switch back into the window (where you are specifying the location of the SynthCore11.EXE file) and direct the window to the location of the SynthCore11.EXE file. Then click OK, tick the box to always use this program to open that type of file, and click OK. The RMI file should successfully open in the SynthCore program.

However, in the event that you cannot locate the SynthCore11.EXE file on your computer, this indicates that the problem you are experiencing is more than simply a corrupt file association – it seems that the entire SynthCore program is missing from your computer! In this case, you will need to reinstall the SynthCore program. From the research I have done for this program it seems that SynthCore comes with the sound card drives for your computer, and may also be part of the SoundMAX software with the drivers. Unfortunately it appears that SynthCore is legacy software which is no longer widely supported or updated, so you cannot download an updated copy of this software from the internet. As such, you will need to locate your original drivers for your sound card. Once you have found your drivers, follow the instructions which came with the drivers to reinstall the drivers on your computer. After this has completed, restart the computer and check whether the problem continues.

Should you still encounter difficulties, you may need to first uninstall all the sound drivers and devices on your computer and then attempt a reinstallation from scratch. This is a more cumbersome procedure, but may be necessary to resolve the problem. Be aware, this will uninstall all the sound devices on your computer and then, hopefully, reinstall the sound devices. However, things could go wrong resulting in the sound devices not reinstalling correctly resulting in your computer having no sound. While this is unlikely, it is possible. As such, only proceed with this procedure if you are happy to take this risk. Should you wish to proceed, first make sure you have the sound drivers disc or CD handy, as you will need these for the reinstallation. Then, go to the “Start” menu > “Control Panel” and open the “Add or Remove Programs” control panel. In the window that appears check whether SynthCore and/or SoundMAX appear in the list of installed applications. If so, uninstall these programs. Then, return to the Control Panel and open the “System” control panel (you may need to first open the “Performance and Maintenance” category). Click the “Hardware” tab then the “Device Manager” button and expand the “Sound, video and game controllers”. This will list all the sound devices which are installed on your computer. Right-click on each of the sound devices and select “Uninstall”. Once all the devices are uninstalled, restart your computer. Upon restarting Windows should recognise that you have new devices connected to your computer (i.e. the sound devices, as you have just uninstalled these devices) and guide you through the process of reinstalling these devices from the original driver discs or CD which came with the sound card. Once the installation has completed, restart the computer to see whether the problem has been resolved.