Missing Windows Media Player context menus

By devnulllore
in Microsoft (Windows)

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Grand Master

devnulllore

Posted
Posted

Windows did that massive upgrade last night and everything fared well but I no longer have the context menus for Windows Media Player when I right click a media file. There used to be an option to open with or add to a media player play list. I made sure WMP is my default for all types. No luck. Where do I start with this?

Grand Master

devnulllore

Posted
  • Author
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  On 15/06/2019 at 18:07, Jim K said:

Are you talking about this ???

 

 

Capture.JPG

Expand  

Yes that's it.

  On 15/06/2019 at 17:33, LaP said:

Can't help you with that but WMP is mostly deprecated software. I don't think MS plans to keep it for long. You should look at alternative imo.

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I have over 2,000 playlists for Windows Media player are there any media players that will use them?

Grand Master

Jim K Global Moderator

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  • Global Moderator
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Unfortunately this is really beyond my "real world experience" ... I use iTunes for all my music.  I believe VLC has everything that you need ... but others may give better recommendations.  

Grand Master

Brandon H Supervisor

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  • Supervisor
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Foobar2000 or neowin member developed Dopamine should work well as a WMP replacement

 

I'm not sure if Dopamine currently supports queuing through the context menu but I'm sure @Raphaël G. would be happy to develop it in if requested :)

Grand Master

Jim K Global Moderator

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  • Global Moderator
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yea, you can queue ... but I'm not really sure I would recommend iTunes.  I personally like it (just because I've used it forever) ... I'm sure someone can give a better recommendation though.

 

Also...you sure VLC doesn't allow you queue?

Grand Master

devnulllore

Posted
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  On 15/06/2019 at 22:11, Jim K said:

yea, you can queue ... but I'm not really sure I would recommend iTunes.  I personally like it (just because I've used it forever) ... I'm sure someone can give a better recommendation though.

 

Also...you sure VLC doesn't allow you queue?

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Well I played with it for a long time and can't see how.

 

Grand Master

Brandon H Supervisor

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  • Supervisor
Posted
  On 15/06/2019 at 22:11, Jim K said:

Also...you sure VLC doesn't allow you queue?

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last I checked it "does" but it's clunky and only doable through the VLC file menu; not through explorer/context menus

Grand Master

devnulllore

Posted
  • Author
Posted

After playing with VLC and iTunes I found both do not support Windows Media Player playlist files. Windows Groove does so I am going to look into that. If anyone has any further suggestions please let me know

Grand Master

LaP

Posted
Posted

I heard very good thing about MusicBee but i don't know if it does want you want. I know you used to be able to import wmp playlist with it. When importing your playlist you should work on a copy of it if possible and be sure the auto-organizer function of the new software is turned off.

 

  • BoondockSaint
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Grand Master

goretsky Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

Hello,

 

I found a page on SuperUser which gives the registry edits to restore the missing Windows Media Player context menu items at:

 

https://superuser.com/questions/807783/how-to-add-windows-media-player-context-menu-to-library-root-folder

 

There's also a page with some downloadable .REG files that appear to contain some additional entries at:

 

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/83169-remove-play-windows-media-player-context-menu-windows-10-a.html

 

I do not use Windows Media Player's Play List functionality myself, so I do not know how well either of these solutions work.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

Grand Master

devnulllore

Posted
  • Author
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  On 16/06/2019 at 10:19, goretsky said:

Hello,

 

I found a page on SuperUser which gives the registry edits to restore the missing Windows Media Player context menu items at:

 

https://superuser.com/questions/807783/how-to-add-windows-media-player-context-menu-to-library-root-folder

 

There's also a page with some downloadable .REG files that appear to contain some additional entries at:

 

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/83169-remove-play-windows-media-player-context-menu-windows-10-a.html

 

I do not use Windows Media Player's Play List functionality myself, so I do not know how well either of these solutions work.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

Expand  

Thanks Aryeh but somewhere down the line Microsoft must have charged those entries. None f the tips listed worked. I guess I will just go around and see what media players suppoprt context queuing. I used winamp many years ago and it does support context support but it costs $30. Is it worth it these days? I remember when I used it people tried to get me to go back to WMP all the time now I am looking down the other end of the barrel.

Mentor

BoondockSaint

Posted
Posted

As mentioned above, MusicBee https://getmusicbee.com/ can do what you are looking for. You can enable context menu queuing and import your WMP playlists. It's completely free (no ads), and a great community willing to help with questions.

 

I've been using it for years with hundreds of GB's of audio files and haven't found any other software that would make me think of changing.

Grand Master

Brandon H Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted
  On 15/06/2019 at 23:09, devnulllore said:

After playing with VLC and iTunes I found both do not support Windows Media Player playlist files. Windows Groove does so I am going to look into that. If anyone has any further suggestions please let me know

Expand  

you can convert your WMP playlists to the generic m3u format that most other players support :)

 

https://www.razumny.no/2009/05/exporting-itunes-and-windows-media-player-playlists-to-m3u-format/

 

edit: btw if you do wish to use WinAmp then you'll be happy to hear it's not pay-for anymore since being resurrected last year :)

http://www.winamp.com/

Grand Master

macrosslover

Posted
Posted
  On 15/06/2019 at 17:22, devnulllore said:

Windows did that massive upgrade last night and everything fared well but I no longer have the context menus for Windows Media Player when I right click a media file. There used to be an option to open with or add to a media player play list. I made sure WMP is my default for all types. No luck. Where do I start with this?

Expand  

It seems you are going to switch media players, but for what it's worth have you considered formatting and re-installing the OS?  I only say that because like you I still use WMP as my primary music/video player and I upgraded to the latest OS and haven't lost any of my context menu functions, so maybe your OS install got messed up somehow.  Windows does annoyingly change my default video/music app after every OS upgrade, but when I change it back to WMP I've never lost any of my right-click context functions.

Grand Master

SnoopZ

Posted
Posted

Have you tried reinstalling/repairing WMP?

 

Here's a few links in case they help.

 

https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-reinstall-windows-media-player-in-windows-7/

 

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/26107/how-to-reinstall-windows-media-player-in-windows-7-to-solve-problems/

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