Windows – How to display current playlist/track list in Windows Media Player 12

playlistswindows media player

On my work computer, Windows Media Player 12 is installed: Version: 12.0.7601.17514. I'm not able to get the currently queued tracks or playlist to display like in previous versions.

Here's what I'm seeing:

My WMP

Note: I've got Windows 7 with the Aero theme turned off, which is why the player looks so bland.

Here's what I'd like to see (the "Play list" section on the right):

Ideal WMP

Note: In my version of WMP, under the Help menu, the Check for updates... option is disabled.

Update:

There is no Library option in the View menu…

View Menu

Best Answer

You're now in WMP's Skin mode. To switch back to Library mode, open the View menu and select Library, then select the Play tab on top to show the current playlist.

In response to the update:

Then the group policy to prevent you from using WMP's library is probably active on your system. To deactivate it, open the Start Menu, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter. In the Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to User Configuration - Administrative Templates - Windows Components - Windows Media Player - User Interface, double-click Set and Lock Skin and set it to Disabled.

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Windows – Getting Windows Media Player to play at startup

I did a little digging, and there is an auto-generated play list of most recent items located in the following directory:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player\lastplayed.wpl

Using the command prompt and simply specifying this file fired up Windows Media Player and started up the playlist with a few songs that I had dragged to a playlist, but did not save.

You should be able to add a simple start menu/registry command that launches Windows Media Player targetting the file above.

I got this to work in Windows 7 with Windows Media Player 12, but there shouldn't be any issues updating the paths for XP and Windows Media Player 11 should have the same folder structure.

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There's no built-in recent file history in WMP, but you can easily create one yourself by using WMP's Auto Playlist functionality.

In WMP's library, click the arrow next to Create playlist and select Create auto playlist. Enter a name for the playlist, and under Music in my library, add the condition Date Last Played. Then further customize the condition so that it reads Date Last Played Is More Recent Than Yesterday. Click OK to create the auto playlist.

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