Windows Media Player 12: How to permanently display the list pane

Solution if list pane is gone when changing movie:

This is a workaround from my part that I found helping when listpane is hidden after changing movies.

• add a mp3 file in top of your playlist then the movies you want to watch after that.
• with list pane and all files visible start your mp3 file and skip to next movie.
• list pane might be hidden again, just choose to show it again and hit mp3 file then a movie file.

FINALLY!  This solution works perfectly, and it's the only solution that appears to fix the original problem of the play list disappearing every time you change videos.

There's another work around that absolutely works, Ive been doing it for over a year now.  When you open WMP and are in the Now Playing Screen, right click where the video plays and hover over "Video", a drop down window opens.  I have my settings set at, "Fit Video to Player on Resize" is checked.  Next I have unchecked "Fit Player to Video".  Now if you have these settings set they will remain set for you every time you open WMP.  Then whenever you want to play/load more than one video, open WMP and you're in the Now Playing Screen, Take and make sure WMP is opened to the max (or Maximize), done in the upper right corner of the program.  You don't really have to have it maximized but it's better if you do, you'll see what I mean.  Then right click and choose "Show List"  Then right click where the video plays and hover over "Video", a drop down window opens.  "Fit Video to Player on Resize" should be checked, and "Fit Player to Video" unchecked.  Then click/check the "Fit Player to Video" and then do it again and uncheck the"Fit Player to Video", and your done.  I know it sounds like a lot of maneuvering, but once you have the "Fit Video to Player on Resize" and the "Fit Player to Video" setup as your personal default, then it's three quick moves, right click and choose "Show List", then click on "Fit Player to Video" to make it checked, and then repeat to uncheck it.  Then the Play List will remain until you close the program.  Unfortunately the 3 quick moves must be repeated every time you open WMP to watch vids.  I agree with everyone else on here that we shouldn't have to do any of this crappolla, it should done with one click the first time you watch something, and then keep those settings until YOU THE USER decides they want to change them.

Some of you are wondering why MS doesn't listen to the masses and fix the problem(s).  But really why should they?  They have a monopoly over us.  It's why EVERY TIME MS comes out with a new version of windows, they feel obligated to change almost everything about the new version.  Why?  Because the new version isn't really changed all that much from the previous version, a few new bells and whistles, but not really that much of substance.  So their DUMB@$$ solution is to change virtually everything so the new version is definitely different from the previous one.  My first was "Windows 95", then "windows 98", my next OS was "Windows XP" (my personal favorite), next up was UGGGHHHH!!!  "Vista" (the worst IMHO), Then "Windows 7" and currently "Windows 10".  every time I got a new OS tons of things were different.  Things that were real simple to locate kept becoming harder and harder to find, or something only took one quick click to launch or take care of, takes four or five clicks to do the same procedure.  It's truly ridiculous.  I don't believe ole Bill Gates in his infinite wisdom (or make that dumb@$$ philosophy) agrees with the old adage "IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT"  Earlier I mentioned that MS has a monopoly over us, which they do.  If you have a PC you're at the mercy of the Evil Bill Gates.  You either buy whatever he feels like creating, or you can go jump in the lake.  Your only other option is to junk the whole PC technology and everything related to or connected with it.  Then go out and purchase the MAC technology and everything related to or connected with it.  That would cost you thousands of dollars so tht's not a viable option.  There is one more option, but that's not available to everyone, or even most of us.  If you're a multi-millionaire then you could hire a top IT guy and have him customize your system to your exact specs.  Once again, this option is for the very few, though I wish I was one of the few, lol.  Also another thing that bugs e about WMP12, is the blue BG of the Now Playing Screen.  I should be able to change the color like in past versions of WMP.  Why was this option removed?  Once again changing something that didn't need changing and for no reason that I can think of.  I read in another forum pertaining to this issue, that MS doesn't want people changing the color to something like black because it's gonna make us depressed.  First of all that's not your job, or problem to try and solve.  Your job is to make the best product you can that will generate the most sales for your company.  It's not to tell us how we should live our lives, or not to tell us how we should customize or more to the point, not be able to customize the look of a product to our individual preferences.  Gates and MS remind me of an old Twilight Zone episode.  It's called The Obsolete Man. 

It's about a future totalitarian state.  Burgess Meredith is put on trial for being obsolete.  His professed occupation as a librarian is a crime punishable by death as the State has eliminated books.  He believes in God, also a capital crime, as the State claims it has proven God does not exist.  The Chancellor finds Meredith guilty and sentences him to death.  It's really a great episode/story.  This is what Gates reminds me of, telling us what we are going to like and that's that.  It doesn't matter what you think or say, only the state (Bill Gates/MS) matters, nothing else.  I'm surprised Gates doesn't have a swastika as the MS logo, he's just as much a dictator.  It's always a BIG RED FLAG whenever someone starts dictating how to live your life.  You get no say, you're supposed to just blindly follow along like everyone else, like good little Nazi's and keep your mouth shut.  Because we need everyone to be exactly the same as everyone else, no individualism, just a bunch of zombie clones.  That kind of reminds me of another Twilight Zone episode.  "Number 12 Looks Just Like You".  In a future society, everyone must undergo an operation at age 19 to become beautiful, and you only have two choices, and status quo is not one of them.  So everyone in this future world either looks like option A or option B.  It's another wild story from Rod Serling.

Well I'm getting off the soap box now before I fall off, hopefully the play list workaround helps everyone out, it has for me for quite awhile.

freesky2, I don't think you're talking about the same thing.  I frequently add videos or songs to WMP and watch or listen to them.  I like seeing the "now playing" or "playlist" panes to see what is coming up and to switch around to different songs or videos.  With Windows 7 (WMP 12?), every time a different song or video is played the list disappears.  The way I listen, I always have to right-click and pick "Show list" to see it again.  Whether it is a playlist or the default "now playing" list has zero effect.

Contrary to what you said, this is the first version of WMP that works this way.  Every version from Windows Media Player 6 up to version 11 has kept the list open.  This is a huge step back in functionality for me, the change frustrates me enough that I now use VLC even though I prever Windows Media Player controls.  Is there a reason that this changes was made?  How hard would it be to put a checkbox in options to keep the pane open until manually closed?

_____!

Thanks for your answer freesky2 .

Got to find another player so :/

Hi Phil74,

Welcome to Microsoft Answers Forum.

Create a playlist:

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Windows Media Player.
2. If necessary, click Library.

You now see an expandable view of all the media items in your library.

If items appear in the Now Playing list, clear those items from the list to start fresh.

3. Click Now Playing List and then click Clear List.

The list is cleared, and you are ready to build a new playlist. In this example, you will build a playlist of songs from several albums.

4. To add an album to the playlist, in the Contents pane, click the plus sign next to All Music to expand the list, and then click the plus sign next to Album to expand the list of albums.

Windows Media Player expands the category and shows all the albums in your library.

5. In the Contents pane, select an album title in the list, and drag the title to the List pane under Now Playing List.

When you drag an album from the Contents pane, all the songs in that album are added to the playlist.

6. To add selected songs from an album, in the Contents pane, click the album.

In the Details pane, all the songs on the album are displayed.

7. In the Details pane, hold down the CTRL key, and then click the songs you want to add to the playlist.
8. Drag the selected songs to the List pane.

The selected songs are added to the playlist.

To Save your Playlist :

1. Click Now Playing List >> Click Save Playlist As.
2. In the Save As dialog box, type a file name for your playlist, and then click Save.
3. Your new playlist appears under My Playlists.
4. To listen to or watch your new playlist, expand My Playlists, and then double-click the playlist you just created.
5. Windows Media Player adds the songs from the playlist to the List pane and plays the songs, starting with the first song in the list.

Thanks & Regards,

Hope this helps. Let us know the results.

Vijay – Microsoft Support

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