Windows 7 - Windows Media Player 12 - Enable Taskbar Toolbar

   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.

You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.

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 7 that you have installed, and save it to your desktop.

32-bit (x86) wmpband.dll


64-bit (x64) wmpband.dll

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 a 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 on OK, and close the elevated command prompt. (see screenshot below and above)

7. Open Windows Media Player 12 and minimize it. (see screenshot below)

8. Right click on the taskbar, select Toolbars, and click 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.