Play/Pause and stop media keys not working

Anonymous
2022-01-24T02:02:23+00:00

Hi everyone,

So I've got a weird problem, and I haven't found anyone else with the same issue.

For some reason the play/pause and stop media keys on my keyboard (K55) aren't working. If I test it on keyboardchecker.com it says MediaPlayPause and MediaStop, so the keys itself do work. I've tried it with both Spotify and VLC, and it they not do anything. Other keys like previous track, next track and volume controls work fine. It's just the play/pause and stop keys that don't work. Nothing happens.

Anybody got any clue as to what's going wrong here?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Input and language

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments

57 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Anonymous
    2022-11-17T15:54:02+00:00

    I just wanted to note that it works not only with the WINDOWS key but also with CTRL, ALT, ALTGR and SHIFT. I like this better because it does not open the start menu.

    For me it ended up being Microsoft Teams. With Teams opened after making or receiving a call, the play/pause and stop keys stop working, but last/next track still does. As soon as I close Teams, it's fine again, and stays fine until I reopen teams and make/get another call. Even after a test call, the media keys no longer work.

    Was this answer helpful?

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2022-11-10T14:06:18+00:00

    Similarly to others, Win + Play/Pause worked for me. Very strange.

    In my case, MS Teams was the issue. My best guess is it got hooked on a gif or some other element. Restarting Teams fixed it for me.

    this is what worked for me to fix the issue

    Was this answer helpful?

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2022-10-29T00:57:45+00:00

    This is exactly what happens to me sometimes when I hit play/pause... Teams starts playing the call ringing sound even though there isn't a call taking place...

    Sure enough killing teams fixed the issue for me as well... Man the Teams code base is SO shoddy.

    Was this answer helpful?

    10 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2022-02-16T09:48:53+00:00

    I had the same issue: Play/Pause not working while Next/Prev track work.

    Tried everything and in the end it was Skype. Killing all Skype processes worked for me.

    Was this answer helpful?

    10 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  5. Anonymous
    2022-01-24T03:09:34+00:00

    I've already disabled the media keys control for Chrome through flags a long time ago because I found it pretty annoying. Still, I tried fully exiting Chrome, and it's still not working. I checked task manager, and none of the browsers I have installed were running.

    I tried restarting the HID service, but that didn't do anything either.

    Remember, the previous and next track keys work fine. It's only the play/pause and stop keys that don't work.

    Was this answer helpful?

    10 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments