How to Add Windows Media Player Taskbar Toolbar in Windows 7 and Windows 8
Information
This tutorial will show you how to add back the old taskbar toolbar from Windows Media Player 11 (WMP 11) to use with Windows Media Player 12 (WMP 12) in
Windows 7 and
Windows 8.
This will not work in
Windows 8.1.
You must be logged in as an
administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.
Here's How:
1. Click on the Download button below to download the same 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) version of the zipped
wmpband.dll file as your
32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) version of Windows that you have installed, and save it to your
desktop.
2. Open the downloaded ZIP, extract (drag and drop) the
wmpband.dll file to the desktop, and
unblock the
wmpband.dll file.
3. Copy the extracted and unblocked
wmpband.dll file into the folder below. If prompted, click on
Continue and
Yes to approve the copy.
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player
4. Open an
elevated command prompt (run as administrator).
5. In the elevated command prompt, copy and paste the commands below one at a time and press Enter after each one. (see screenshot below)
- net stop WMPNetworkSvc
- regsvr32 "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Media Player\wmpband.dll"
- net start WMPNetworkSvc
6. When finished, click/tap on
OK, and close the elevated command prompt. (see screenshot below and above)
7. Open Windows Media Player 12 (wmplayer.exe) and minimize it. (see screenshot below)
8. Right click on the taskbar, select
Toolbars, and click/tap on
Windows Media Player to check it. (see screenshot below)
9. If you like, you could
unlock the taskbar, drag the
Windows Media Player toolbar to where you like on the taskbar, and
lock the taskbar.
Tip
If the Windows Media Player toolbar disappears on you, say on reboot, then right click on the taskbar, select Toolbars, and click on Windows Media Player to uncheck it. Next repeat steps 7 and 8 to have it back.
That's it,
Shawn