Netflix error code n8156-6013

"You know, I've never gotten Netflix to work" is not what you want to hear from your wife when she's trying to get a movie to play on your HTPC.  Wife Acceptance Factor (WAF) is all-important when it comes to integration of new technology into the home and having something "never work" makes for very low WAF.  It turns out there is a pretty common DRM issue that happens with the Netflix plugin for Windows 7 Media Center on Windows 7 x64.  There's a bug in Microsoft Silverlight 4 where it cannot write to a file which triggers a DRM error and makes it so no movie will play through the plugin.  What do you see instead of Dora or the latest Chick-Flick?  "Netflix error code n8156-6013".

Luckily, the fix is pretty simple though it's possible following this procedure could render other DRM protected media unplayable so YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).  Close W7MC and any other media players.  Find the file 'mspr.hds' and rename it to 'mspr.hds.old'.  In Windows 7 x64 I found this file under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\PlayReady.

Now restart W7MC and try the Netflix plugin.  You should be able to play movies again and bring your home WAF back in line to where is should be: still highly suspicious if this is all necessary but happy to be able to listen to the latest Colbie Caillat album at the press of a button.