Thursday, December 13, 2012

Add Windows Media Player to Task-bar as a Tool bar

Add your Windows Media Player to the task-bar as a tool bar and enjoy music controlling directly from the task-bar.








1. Actually Taskbar Toolbar or Taskband is stored in a DLL file called "wmpband.dll" which is found in "Windows Media Player" directory present in "Program Files" folder. Microsoft removed this DLL file from WMP 12 folder, that's why the toolbar no longer exists in Windows 7.
You can copy this DLL file from WMP 11 folder present in Windows Vista to Windows 7 and Windows 8. If you don't have access to a Vista system, you can directly download it from following link:
                   Download link
2. Once you download the above ZIP file, extract it and you'll get the required DLL file for both 32-bit and 64-bitWindows versions. Copy the appropriate DLL file and paste it to "Windows Media Player" directory present in "Program Files" folder. Just type %programfiles%\Windows Media Player in Explorer addressbar and press enter and it'll open the "Windows Media Player" directory.













NOTE: 64-bit Windows users will also need to copy the DLL file to %programfiles(x86)%\Windows Media Player folder.

3. Now right-click on Computer icon on desktop and select Manage, it'll open a new window. Now go toServices & Applications -> Services. You can also open the same from Administrative Tools ->Computer Management. Or you can directly open "Services" list by providing services.msc command in RUN or Start Menu search box.
Now right-click on "Windows Media Player Network Sharing" service and select "Stop". It'll stop the service.














NOTE: I already Stopped this service.
4. Now you'll need to register "WMPBand.dll" file.
Click on "Start button -> All Programs -> Accessories". Right-click on "Command Prompt" and select "Run As Administrator" option. If you are prompted to enter password, enter the password and continue. You can also open Command Prompt in Administrator mode by typing "cmd" in Start Menu Search box and press"Ctrl+Shift+Enter".
Now type following command and press Enter:
For 32-bit Windows users -  
               regsvr32 "%programfiles%\Windows Media Player\wmpband.dll"
For 64-bit Windows users -

               regsvr32 "%programfiles(x86)%\Windows Media Player\wmpband.dll"
5. That's it. Now run Windows Media Player, minimize it and select "Toolbars -> Windows Media Player" option by right-clicking on the Taskbar and you'll be able to enjoy the Taskbar Toolbar aka Taskband in Windows 7,8.

DONT FORGET TO COMMENT......

2 comments:

  1. Did not work for me... When I select the Windows Media Player Toolbar, the only thing that comes up are dividers\spacers on the task bar, nothing else :-(

    ReplyDelete
  2. It might be that I am using Start8 causing the problem

    ReplyDelete