16

For the longest time the Media button on my keyboard used to launch Winamp. I don't remember having to do anything to set that up. But suddenly now the button launches stupid Windows Media Player when I press it. I have tried everything I can think of to change it back. Winamp is set to open all the filetypes it can. It is set as my default media player (from Default Programs > Set program access and computer defaults). When I go to Default Programs > Set Default Programs there is only a small list of programs there and Winamp is not one of them and there doesn't seem to be anyway to add or remove programs from that list. I don't no what the point of that silly thing is.

I tried re-installing Winamp. I looked through the Windows Media Player options, nothing there. I considered uninstalling or disabling WMP but that isn't easy and I'm not sure if I want to do that anyway. My keyboard doesn't have any special drivers installed and I can't find any for it, BenQ doesn't support it anymore. It worked fine before without drivers anyway.

So the question is where is the magic place to set what the Media Button does? Something in the registry?

Moss
  • 699

9 Answers9

18

On Windows 7 (and since Windows ME apparently) these enhanced keyboard keys can be handled directly by Windows using the APPCOMMAND system.

The associations for these keys are stored in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AppKey.
(It can be overridden, per user, by adding it in HKCU as well I think).

AppKey 16 is the "Media Launcher" key (APPCOMMAND_LAUNCH_MEDIA_SELECT). By default it has an association with .cda (Audio CD's).

So which ever program you have set as the program to handle Audio CD's will be what opens when you hit the Media Launch key.

I have Winamp currently set to control .CDA files (Winamp-->Options-->Preferences-->General Preferences-->File Types), and it opens when I hit the "Music note" key on my Logitech with no additional drivers installed.

Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007
  • 113,841
3

In Windows 7 run registry, go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AppKey.

AppKey 16 is the "Media Launcher" key. By default it has an association with .cda (Audio CD's).

Delete value "Association". Creat new value "ShellExecute" (REG_SZ type) and as data set path to the program.

E.g: ShellExecute = c:\Program Files\foobar2000\foobar2000.exe

Wojtek MTA
  • 39
3

For Windows 10 I had to change the default app for Music player:

Settings -> System/Apps (depending on Windows build) -> Default Apps -> Change Music player

Stoinov
  • 292
3

This is the real thing you have to do to make anyprogram be default of media button: Startmenu-> Control Panel-> All Control Panel Items-> Default Program-> Associate a file type of protocol of program -> ... find .cda, click on it and click "Change program..." -> Choose any media program you want like Jetaudio or Winamp -> OK

Then you can instead open your program by pressing media button.

kientaki
  • 31
3

In Windows 8.1

  • Control Panel\Programs\Default Programs - Set program access and computer defaults
  • expand "custom"
  • in "Choose a default media player" select "winamp"
Andrea
  • 1,536
bejko
  • 31
2

http://www.winamp.com/help/Winamp_Preferences_guide#General_Preferences:_Global_Hotkeys

The Winamp Preferences screen is accessible via the Bento or Modern skin by selecting 'Preferences' from the 'Options' menu.

It can also be accessed in all skins by hitting Ctrl+P on your keyboard, when Winamp is the focused application.

General Preferences: Global Hotkeys

  • Enable default multimedia key support: Will attempt to process media keys by using WM_APPCOMMAND messages ('off' by default). Try checkmarking this option if your Play/Pause, Stop, Previous & Next keys aren't recognized by just using the 'Enable' Global Hotkeys setting below.
  • Enabled: Checkmark this to enable Global Hotkeys. Global Hotkeys can be used to perform actions (Play, Stop, Next, Previous, Rate Items, Copy Title, etc) even when Winamp isn't the active application.
  • Action: Select which extra hotkeys to enable via the drop-down menu.
  • Hotkey: Use your keyboard to select a unique hotkey for the selected action (eg. hold down Ctrl + Shift + H) then click the 'Add' button.
matthewk
  • 993
0

For Windows 8.1 (32-bit) this is the simplest solution:

Control panel >
Default programs >
Associate a file type or a protocol with a specific program >
Click MP3 under Extensions >
Change program

nicorellius
  • 6,815
Jane V
  • 1
0

There is another solution which, in my opinion, is a little more elegant. Not sure if it's still needed as the original question was answered more than 5 years ago, but I hope it will be useful to someone:

  • Run RegEdit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AppKey

    As Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 mentioned in the accepted answer, your Media button is AppKey 16

  • Delete the Association registry key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AppKey\16

  • Add a new String Value key and name it ShellExecute

  • If you have Winamp installed, set the value simply to winamp

  • If Winamp is not installed in your system, like when you just have it in a folder or it's a portable install, a refugee from the previous OS, or if the previous step does not work for some reason, set the value to the absolute path of your Winamp executable, e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Winamp\winamp.exe

Now your Media button should run Winamp exclusively.

You can actually make media keys run any other programs, BAT files, VBS scripts or shell commands using the same technique.

lightproof
  • 241
-1

For Windows 10 LTSC Settings -> Apps -> Default Apps -> Music Player change the default Program to Winamp

dawood javanbakht
  • 11