Can I prevent Windows Media Player from hiding the video List?

Question

I am utterly angry at MS for how stupid they do things. These people are overpaid.

It used to be possible to keep playing videos in a list without the stupid program hiding the list every time (giving you the trouble to show it again, in a never-ending battle with the stupid program), but it seems it's not working like that anymore.

Any tips on how to make that not hide the video list? Did they force some update to make it worse, as they usually do?

Tips are appreciated.

Answer 1

Hello JR JR, welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

I understand your frustration. Unfortunately, there's no setting to keep the playlist permanently visible in Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player is legacy software that Microsoft deprecated years ago and no longer actively maintains. Over time, some behaviors may have changed or worsened as the program isn't being updated properly anymore—what you remember working before may have degraded.

You still got some decent options:

1. Use the keyboard shortcut: Press Ctrl+M to quickly toggle the playlist on/off when you need it.
2. Stay in Library view: Instead of switching to Now Playing mode, stay in the Library view where the playlist remains visible.
3. Switch to a different media player: VLC Media Player or MPC-HC have persistent playlist panels that don't auto-hide—they might be a better fit for how you want to use it.

Since WMP is deprecated and actively getting worse over time without support, switching to a modern player like VLC is your best path forward if this is disrupting your workflow.

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Answer 2

Unfortunately, the provided context does not contain specific information on preventing Windows Media Player from hiding the video list. It may be helpful to check the settings within the application or look for updates that might address this behavior. You could also explore forums or support resources for user-shared solutions regarding this issue.

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References:

• Create a media player
• Play a list of media items with MediaPlaybackList