Setup default dvd player

[bambam]

Hi
Can anyone tell me how can i tell windows 2000 to lunch a specific dvd player when a dvd is being put in the dvd player. ?

thanx

[redwudz]

I haven't used W2000 for a while, but in XP, right click on DVD drive and select 'Properties'. Select 'Autoplay', then use the top window to select 'DVD movie'. Select 'Action to perform', and select your player of choice, then 'Apply'. This should start your selected player when you put a DVD movie in the drive.

[Legendsk]

You may have to open the control panel and select 'Folder Options', then the 'File Types" tab. Near the top is DVD Video. Highlight DVD Video and click on the 'Advanced' tab. You will likely already have 'Play' showing in the 'Actions' window. If not, add it with 'New' Then make sure the program selected is the DVD Player you prefer to use.

[bambam]

I can see these options in windows xp but not on my 2000 machine ...

[TBoneit]

In 2000 as I recall it you need to open "My Computer" then choose the "Tools" tab. Then "Folder Options" Then the "File Types" Then Browse down to "IFO" or follow Legendsk dirctions above and be sure it is set to the player you want.

Hope this helps?

[bambam]

Ok thanx

so what determines what happen when a dvd is inserted
is that windows is looking for a .ifo file and then open it with the default application for this file extension ?

[Legendsk]

For Windows XP, you just right-click on the CD/DVD drive and choose properties, then the 'Auto Play' tab. But sorry, I don't remember if that is true on Win2k or not. If not, then probably under device manager or folder options.

[bambam]

I was wondering what exactly windows does underneath when you insert a dvd-video.
because the same action will not be triggered if a dvd-data is being inserted ...
is it looking for .ifo in the VIDEO_TS folder ?

[Legendsk]

The WinXP 'Autoplay' tab lets you select one of 7 different types of media / files / content and then for each type, a list (of all the installed programs that could be used) appear fors you to select your choice of response, including Win Explorer and 'Always prompt for a response'. I don't remember Win2k having that feature, but I don't have a Win2k system running any longer to go test with.

[bambam]

For an audio files ... it probably look for file with extension wav, mp3, mid etc
For an image files ... it probably look for file with extension bmp, jpg, gif etc
For an video files ... it probably look for file with extension avi, mpg, mov etc
For an mixed files ... it probably look for file with any extension
For an Music CD ... it probably look for file with extension dat
For an empty CD ... it probably look for a CD with no file

But for an Movie DVD ... what does it look for ???

[Legendsk]

As far as I know,
For a DVD movie, it will look for a folder named:
VIDEO_TS
that contains a file named:
VIDEO_TS.IFO
I did not go dig into the registery to confirm this.

[parikp]

Use regedit to modify "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DVD\shell\play\command" to appropriate DVD player software path.

[jman98]

parikp - I appreciate your trying to be helpful, but we generally discourage people from digging up old threads and adding to them. After 2 and a half years, the interested parties have either long stop looking for updates or found other ways to do this.

Welcome to the forums, but please don't make a habit of digging up old posts and adding to them.

[bzag00]

Hi
Can anyone tell me how can i tell windows 2000 to lunch a specific dvd player when a dvd is being put in the dvd player. ?

thanx

The relevant registry entry is:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DVD\shell\play\command

I had this problem after installing a GNU code pack and it then always tried to run dvdplay.exe in my system32 directory, which promptly blue screened my W2K. So, I temporarily renamed dvdplay.exe to dvdplay.ex so Windows could not find it again and I went looking for "dvdplay" in the registry, found it, noticed my VLC install command was also there in a subkey, and copied that command into this one. The point is to use a working player command in the string, and it now works when I insert the DVD in the drive or double click on the DVD drive in My Computer. VLC seems to have the codecs for all the older DVD drives and I have never had a problem with it, so if you dont have a working DVD software player try installing it and if it doesn't come up as the default DVD player then do this fix. I just didnt want to reinstall VLC because of the megapack of codes i just installed, afraid of overwriting something again.

[Ai Haibara]

You didn't read jman98's and parikp's posts, just above yours?

Also, you're willing to install a codec pack, but not reinstall VLC? The codec pack is much more likely to overwrite something or cause damage than VLC (which also uses its own self-contained codecs, not anything else installed on the system).

[SirReno7]

I just registered to say:

What jman98 & Ai Haibara failed to REALIZE, is that old forum threads can still be helpful to NEW people who stumble upon them.. jman98 wrote to parikp, "After 2 and a half years, the interested parties have either long stop looking for updates or found other ways to do this."

Well, in MY case, the advice which parikp came along and added, on Dec 5, 2008, to a conversation which started on April 3, 2006, was STILL very helpful to me, ALL THE WAY here on July 26, 2014!!

My issue was SIMILAR to the OP, but not quite the same. One difference is that I'm using Win7, as Win2000 is obviously now outdated.. And the OTHER difference is: The OP was related to "Auto-Play." MY auto-play was working FINE (when I first insert a DVD, it launches the DVD in my media player classic, like I WANT it to), but if the disc is already IN the tray (from a previous viewing), and I go to "start" then "computer" then double click the drive (or alternatively right click on the drive, and select "PLAY"), then I wanted it to play the disc AGAIN, but instead, it was giving me the error: "This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Please install a program, or if one is already installed, create an association in the Default Programs control panel."

But Windows has a way of associating your drive (in this case a DVD drive with a DVD in it) with a program in a way that is separate from the file associations "&/or auto-play settings" within control panel, and my problem required a manual registry edit to fix (because in Control Panel, it simply gave me options for specific file types, like .vob, or .ts, but NOT for using the "PLAY" command on a drive with the disc already in it, unless we're talking about auto-play, which wasn't my problem (and editing the specific behaviors of handling .vob, or .ts, or .ifo files, etc, didn't help)... So I Googled for solutions, and found THIS very conversation.

As it turns out, following the advice of parikp, and modifying the data value of "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DVD\shell\play\command" to include
"C:\Program Files (x86)\K-Lite Codec Pack\Media Player Classic\mpc-hc.exe" "%1"
-- did EXACTLY what I needed it to. Note, that for SOME people, who are using a different version of MPC, the correct .exe file to direct to, would have been "mplayerc.exe" (right before the "1%" at the end of that data value), but in MY case, it was "mpc-hc.exe" because I use the HOME CINEMA version of Media Player Classic.. Or for people who use OTHER movie players, the specific directory & .exe file, would have been something totally different, of course..

In THIS case, I got LUCKY, because my problem (and parikp's solution) was slightly DIFFERENT than what was asked about in the OP (which actually CAN be fixed from Control Panel, without editing the registry).. But the advice still HELPED someone (me). Late additions to threads can still be helpful to SOMEONE, somewhere, instead of people starting a new thread, to ask something which has been asked and answered a thousand times, and maybe there are just SLIGHT tweaks & adjustments to add to the conversation (like parikp did), as Operating Systems and tech methods advance and change..

So the bottom line is: I just wanted to send a BIG THANKS to parikp, for the solution, even if it WAS posted "late," and even if I'm viewing it "EXTRA late." -- And thus, a big NO THANKS to those who generally discourage people from digging up old threads and adding to them. YOUR approach to that behavior wasn't helpful.... parikp's WAS.