Member Avatar for dee101g

I've had great luck with Windows7 thus far, but on one machine (running Home Premium) I can't get Windows Media Center to retain the default speaker setting. On the same machine, the Windows Media Player component does save this. I'm stumped how to make the same speaker set the default for everything. Any ideas?

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Brief summary and why this happens: Windows Media Center (WMC) has its own speaker setup and, on Windows 7, commonly forces the system playback endpoint that it expects a Media Center PC to use. That behavior can make WMC appear to “re-take” the default device even when the Control Panel shows a different default. already tried swapping players and the usual Control Panel tweaks; those steps are sensible but won't always stop Media Center's own configuration logic. (superuser.com)

Practical checklist (new items not covered in earlier replies): run WMC’s Set Up Your Speakers wizard (Tasks → Settings → General → Windows Media Center Setup → Set Up Your Speakers) and explicitly pick the intended device; then verify the speakers entry in Sound. In the Sound applet, open the playback device’s Properties → Advanced and clear “Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device” so a single app cannot seize the endpoint. Also check the Communications tab and set “When Windows detects communications activity” to “Do nothing” to avoid automatic switching or volume ducking. (support.microsoft.com)

Driver/utility and HDMI gotchas: vendor audio managers (Realtek, NVIDIA HDMI, Creative, etc.) often have jack/HDMI auto-switch or their own role rules that override Windows defaults. Temporarily disabling the non-Microsoft audio utility or the unused output (right‑click device → Disable) isolates whether a driver/utility is flipping the default. If the problem persists, gather evidence rather than guessing. (learn.microsoft.com)

Advanced capture and a workaround: capture a short Procmon trace filtered for registry writes and the Media Center/WMP processes to see which process changes the default, and use a tool such as NirSoft SoundVolumeView to save/restore or script the preferred device while investigating. Identifying the exact actor (WMC vs. a driver/utility) is the fastest path to a clean fix. (learn.microsoft.com)

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Member Avatar for caperjack

cant imagine why it would make a difference as media center only uses WMP[or your default player ] to play the music,is WMP set as your default media player device .
check default device to make sure

Edited by caperjack because: n/a
Member Avatar for dee101g

cant imagine why it would make a difference as media center only uses WMP[or your default player ] to play the music,is WMP set as your default media player device .
check default device to make sure

Tried that, without success. Also tried setting default to RealPlayer, rebooting, and changing back, rebooting, resetting each player to the speakers I want, rebooting, changing order of players addressed to reset speakers I want, rebooting, and trying again. Just doesn't seem to hold. That the Media Player is holding is what makes this so strange.

The gent who uses this machine needs Media Center for only some of his "entertainment", but it seems to keep appropriating the default once it is used from Media Player, which is what makes this problematic. There is no flag requesting permission to make the change, it just happens automagically.

Member Avatar for JemB

go to control panel, select sound and check what the default set to speakers or line out are set to. try changing them
it will make no difference what the default player is

Member Avatar for dee101g

go to control panel, select sound and check what the default set to speakers or line out are set to. try changing them
it will make no difference what the default player is

Control panel changes do not affect the situation.

What is stumping me is that Media Center keeps "re-taking" the default and refusing to keep the default speakers for its use. Opening Media Player individually, etc. will use the correct settings. Defaults all show that Media Player should be primary.

Edited by dee101g because: n/a
Member Avatar for JemB

is there any other sound card management software running. it may be worth checking the default settings this is using. you may have already tried but if not also completely removing the drivers and reinstalling from a fresh download

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