Troubleshoot problems with publishing a movie to your computer

This error occurs if you are publishing a movie with a file size that exceeds the 4 gigabyte (GB) file size limit imposed by the FAT32 file system. This problem may especially occur with long movies that are published with a high setting on a volume or partition that is using the FAT32 file system.

To address this issue, do one or more of the following:

• Reduce the length of your movie by removing items from the storyboard/timeline in Windows Movie Maker, and then try to publish your movie again.

• Choose a lower quality or file size setting when publishing your movie. To learn more, see Movie settings: frequently asked questions.

• If your computer's hard disk drive has multiple partitions, and one is formatted using the NTFS file system, then publish your movie to the NTFS partition. The NTFS file system supports files larger than 4 GB.

• If you are recording your published movie to tape and you have multiple partitions on your hard disk, and if one partition is formatted using the NTFS file system, you can use that partition as your temporary storage location. To change the temporary storage location, do the following:

  1. Click Tools, and then click Options.

  2. In the Temporary Storage box, choose the drive that is formatted using the NTFS file system.

• Convert your file system to use the NTFS file system. The NTFS file system supports files larger than 4 GB. To learn more, see Convert a volume to NTFS format.

To address this issue, do one or more of the following:

• Reduce the length of your movie by removing items from the storyboard/timeline in Windows Movie Maker.

• Choose a lower quality or file size setting when you publish your movie. For more information, see Movie settings: frequently asked questions.

• Publish your movie to a location that has more available disk space.

This error can occur if you chose to publish the movie to a removable storage drive and the drive is disconnected or unavailable. This issue may also occur if you chose to publish your movie to a network drive and that location is no longer available.

To address this issue, do one or more of the following:

• If you specified a removable storage drive as the publishing location, verify that the drive or removable media is still available and properly connected to your computer.

• If you specified a network drive as the publishing location, make sure that the network cable for your computer is attached properly and that the networked computer to which you are publishing your movie is still available.

• Specify a publishing location on your computer's hard disk.

This can occur if you try to publish a movie after one or more of the source files for the corresponding clips in your project have been moved, renamed, or deleted.

To address this issue, do one or more of the following:

• Locate the original source file, and move or copy it to the location on your computer when it was first imported into Windows Movie Maker. To find a missing file, click the missing clip in the collection or project pane, click Edit, and then click Browse for Missing File.

• Verify that any network locations are still available if the source file was originally located on a shared network location when it was first imported into Windows Movie Maker.