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I'm currently using the Microsoft 8000 keyboard on Windows 7 and before installing Microsoft's Keyboard application, it was opening Zune and playing music with the play button. After installation, it is now opening Windows Media Player (WMP) rather than Zune.

If I have Zune open and press play, it will open WMP and upon pressing it again, will kick off the play command in Zune. I've checked the default programs in the control panel and have set Zune as default for all available, but that hasn't changed anything.

Has anyone run into this before? I'm a bit stumped as googling does not produce any relevant results.

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This is a bug and it's not just you.

I sent a bug report to Microsoft and have not heard back from them on this yet... (a year later). I will also point out that if you have both Windows Media Player and Zune open and something playing on one and something paused on another...(giggle) they will toggle the playing state...

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It looks like Windows 7 and Microsoft keyboards prefer WMP control if there is a playlist loaded otherwise it will allow you to control Zune without an issue.

Here is how I got it to work:

  1. Open Zune
  2. Open WMP
  3. Make sure the WMP playlist is clear
  4. You can minimize WMP or leave it up as long as the playlist is clear
  5. Now you can completely control the zune even when it is not in focus

It seems that the two keys are having WMP open and the playlist clear, which is weird because I used the same keyboard on XP Professional and Vista Ultimate but didn't experience this issue. I think the WMP integration with Windows 7 is much tighter than previous versions of Windows.

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Make sure you're setting Zune as the default player in the "Set program access and computer defaults" dialog.

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I have installed the Microsoft software for the keyboard. Usually you need to set the preferred action for your buttons, especially if different from the standard profile actions. I have to do this with my Logitech mouse to change the scroll wheel rocker action from scrolling to back / forward

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  • Yea, I know.. but the action is set to "Play / Pause - Plays and pauses media track." It's just trying to play the media track in the wrong location
    – Chance
    Commented Jan 31, 2010 at 18:45
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After trying all the file association fixes and registry hacks listed here and scattered across the Internet I finally discovered that uninstalling IntelliType Pro 7.1 and reverting back to IntelliType Pro 7.0 fixed the issue.

I don't need WMP "lurking" in the background for Zune to respond to keyboard controls anymore.

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