Windows 10: "Cast to Device" menu stubbornly shows long gone devices despite removal effort

First, let's clarify the topic we're talking about. By "Cast to Device", I mean this menu which appears any time I right-click on any eligible media file in Windows Explorer:Here is a problem.As you can see in the above image, there are devices called "HUAWEI FreeBuds Studio" and "Beats Solo^3". These devices were bluetooth headphones I have owned years ago, and I stopped using them for at least a year. I am very confident that either of these devices are located at least 5,000 miles away from my computer.I have made the following effort to eliminate themelete whatever such entry from "Setti

:)

 

Cast to Device problem with long playlists

Hello,

Further testing has shown that Long playlists cast perfectly OK to a Bluetooth speaker! So casting any length playlists to the BT speaker works every time.

The Long playlist problem exists when casting to a network device (over Ethernet, not WiFI), such as my PanasonicTV with in-built DLNA. (The DLNA function from the TV work OK too. It will play media from my computer on the TV.)

So this issue may not be related to Long Playlists.

This Panasonic TV shows up in the Windows 10 connected devices list as a
PLAY Device AND a as ANOTHER Device, both with the name of my Workgroup name. Both devices also are listed as
Media Devices AND one of them on the Other Devices list as a cast-able device (I think), along with my ChromeCast dongle device (which, however, does not show up in WMP as a cast-able device).

Starting to Cast to the TV works intermittently. Sometimes it will cast a Playlist over 100 tracks, other times it will not cast ONE track in the playlist.

Resetting WMPNetworkSvc, restarting WMP, or rebooting does not solve the problem.

Thanks for any other advice.

Dietmar

 

No Cast to media device button in menu

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I understand that you wish to cast media to device from Microsoft Edge.

• 
  What build are you working on?
  

Let us try the following steps, and check if it helps.

• 
  On Microsoft Edge, open the website that contains the media (ex: video, picture, audio) that you want to cast.
  
• 
  Click on the More Actions (. . .) at the top right.
  
• 
  Click on Cast media to device.
  
• 
  Windows will now try to connect to your network and detect your Miracast device.
  
• 
  Click on the Miracast or DLNA device you want to cast to.
  
• 
  Windows will now connect and cast to your Miracast device.
  

Hope it helps.

Kindly let us know if you need any further assistance with the issue. We are glad to assist you.

 

'Cast to Device' context menu entry does not display.

I installed Plex media server on my my friend's laptop and was demonstrating how it worked with her smart TV. "You can also just right-click on a media file in 'File Manager' and throw it to your TV"...except when I went to show her... there was no sign whatsoever of the 'Cast to Device' context menu entry. I was at a loss.

I have the exact same make/model laptop so used the same Win 10 (MCT-created) installer to carry out exactly the same clean installation of 1903, including interrupting the OOBE to run a Windows 10 Decrapifier script, as I did on her laptop a few days ago. My only amendments to context menu entries were to remove the Edit with Photos and Edit with Paint 3D as I had removed the apps. I've made no amendments to any services, so they all at their default settings.

As far as I can tell (and remember) I have carried out exactly the same steps that I did on her laptop... yet my laptop shows the 'Cast to Device' entry whilst hers doesn't.

I thought at first that it was Miracast I needed to troubleshoot but now realise that Miracast is very slightly different, i.e. screen 'mirroring' or extending your screen to a wireless-enabled display device as opposed to 'screencasting' of both video and audio which appears to be a DNLA connection to another wireless network device (aka 'WiFi Direct' or 'HDMI over WiFi').

As a result I don't actually know what wireless method I should be looking for that results in the 'Cast to Device' entry.

For info, when I issue Get-ProvisionedAppXPackage -Online | Select DisplayName in an elevated PowerShell window I get a very short list of just 4 remaining built-in apps (which was my intention):

Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller
Microsoft.StorePurchaseApp
Microsoft.WindowsCalculator
Microsoft.WindowsStore

dxdiag shows that 'Miracast is available, with HDCP' and netsh wlan show drivers shows - for 'Wireless Display Supported' - Yes to both 'graphics' and 'wifi' drivers.

I can't get access to her laptop until next week but I want to research why my laptop displays 'Cast to Device' whilst hers doesn't.

Does anyone have any suggestions what to look for, i.e. what may be missing that I need to fix?