WMP not opening up automatically when doubleclicking avi file

DualMonitors

Member
Sep 26, 2004
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i purchased a new digital camera and made some avi files to test it. saved them to a file on my hard drive. when i double click an avi, Windows Media Player does NOT open up, yet, the sound of the avi starts, so obviously, something is "playing", but there is nothing on my monitor to show that, and there is not WMP interface displayed (no image of the avi is playing, ONLY the sound).

may i please ask how to resolve this?

FYI: i have a dell computer, something like 2.2GHz, an Nvidia video card with 1 dvi and 1 vga output, a samsung 21.3" LCD connected to the vga output, and a dell 24" (16:10) LCD connected to the dvi output.

i tried to re-download WMP 10 from Microsoft, which was successful, but the situation is almost the same: that is, the sound comes on, NO WMP interface visible (no controls), but on my secondary LCD (the 21.3" Samsung), the avi starts to play in FULL screen mode (no controls of any sort visible). the only way to "get out" of this is to click the WMP icon near my start button at the bottom of the screen, and when WMP opens up, THEN, the avi starts OVER again from the beginning! Of course at this point, i then have the various controls (start/stop/fast forward...etc) available to me.

i have no idea what's going on! any help would be most appreciated.

thank you in advance!
 

DualMonitors

Member
Sep 26, 2004
165
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the issue is that, of course, i have WMP10, in fact, i re-installed it again as per the suggestion of someone else. But, alas, it still does NOT open automatically when i double click on the avi file Again, i only hear the sound. The ONLY way it will open up properly is to right single click it, then select Open With...then choose WMP10.

while it's not the end of the world, this is not "normal" behavior and i'd like to find a resolution.

thanks for helping me troubleshoot.

someone recommended MPlayerClassic. do the others here like it more than WMP10?

ugh. troubles...
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
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Media Player Classic is definitely better than WMP10, much more streamlined. Open the Task Manager and check the performance and processes tab the next time you double click an AVI and only get the sound. Look for WMPLAYER.EXE in the processes, that will tell you whether WMP is actually running.
 

DualMonitors

Member
Sep 26, 2004
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So Mr. Bateluer:

thanks for your advice. i did double click the avi file, the sound started, and i did check the processes tab, and lo and behold, wmplayer.exe is indeed running! now what? i'm lost.

i only hear the sound, no video, and no controls whatsoever. of course, the way to workaround this is to go to the bottom of my task bar, click the WMP icon, when that opens up, go to file and select my avi from there. that way, i'm forcing the wmp to open up first, then file and open my avi. of course, this is not desirable as it is much more cumbersome than simply double clicking on the avi file that i want to see. there's no good reason why it should work for me. i'm baffled.

maybe it has something to do with me having two LCD screens and something's confusing the nvidia card or windows dual screen management??
 

DualMonitors

Member
Sep 26, 2004
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Mmm, i'm "confused" by the previous posting. Is my question/issue unsuitable for posting on this site? If so, I'd be more selective in choosing what I should post here as a question and what not to post.
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
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Originally posted by: DualMonitors
Mmm, i'm "confused" by the previous posting. Is my question/issue unsuitable for posting on this site? If so, I'd be more selective in choosing what I should post here as a question and what not to post.

No, he was just being stupid.

Have you tried any other players? Look up Media Player Classic in Google, its a very good free player based off WMP 6.4. See what happens with that.
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
Originally posted by: DualMonitors
Mr. Bateluer:

Thanks for your thoughtfulness and kind comment.

is this where i'm supposed to get my MPlayer Classic? there are so many choices that i'm a bit lost. just look at this page please, so many items to download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/

is MPlayer Classic 6.4.8.4 the right version:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=84358

thanks for helping!



Yep, those are the right versions. 6484. Personally, I like MPC better than WMP too.

I know there is a bug in WMP10 that causes nothing to display while still starting a CPU process; which also usually takes up CPU cycles. MS might have something up in the Knowledge Base about it, but I haven't looked. Its a rare occurance for me, usually happening when I try to open several different movie files over the span of several seconds.