Windows 10: Default Music Player Constantly Activating

Running Microsoft Windows Version 20H2 OS Build 19042.662 on a desktop tower PC.


This problem began soon after installing the 20H2 updates.


Something in this build is constantly and repeatedly opening the default music application even though no request to play any music has been made. The activations seem to be random. It will remain quiet for a period of time and then will repeatedly active for a few minutes before going quiet again.


I have changed the default music app currently Groove Music to other programs but the problem continues with repeated opening of whatever application I select.


I changed the default app to Notepad as a test and noted dozens of notepad instances getting created over a period of a few seconds before going quite again.


This constantly pulls focus from whatever application I am using email, word document, games, etc which is becoming very annoying.


I have tried disabling and reinstalling the default music app but this does not make much difference. I have not been able to determine what is making so many calls to the default music app.


I also have a Surface Pro 4 laptop running the same windows version but it does not have the same problem.


Hoping someone can help with this issue.

:)

 

Default Music Player

Hello,

I want to assign my keyboard's launch music player key to Spotify on win 10. For this I need to either assign the media key to the program somehow, or change the default music player.

The default music player is Groove and this is the one that starts when I press music player button. I cannot change the default program to Spotify, because it does not show up in the list when I go to default programs > music player. It suggest I search
in the store, so I downloaded store version of Spotify as well, and it still doesn't show up there.

So how do I either change the behaviour of the music launcher key, or change the default music player to a program that does not show up in the list of music players under default programs.

 

music player

"someone f****d about with my laptop, they seem to have moved music to aforesaid Groove..."
The Groove library works like WMP's. You can choose which folders it looks for music at startup. Open Groove, hit the gear setting in L column (see screen). If you click 'choose where . look for music', likely the default is your entire This PC/Music folder. If you delete all the folders, there will be no music on the interface when it opens. But if you really want to use WMP, follow the above suggestions on how to make it your default player rather than the current Windows 10 default of Groove.

 

Windows Media Player is not in Default apps list in Windows 10

I know, this question was asked many times, but there is still no answer that can actually solve the problem. There are steps to get the WMP in Windows Optional Features, install it if missing, etc. - I did all that, and now WMP runs and plays media files. However, there is no way in Windows 10 to set it as a Default App to play media file types.

• Go to "Default apps" > "Music Player" > "Choose Default" - WMP is not there.
  
• "Choose default apps by file type" > ".mp3" > "Choose a default" - WMP is not there.
  
• "Set Defaults by app" > Windows Media Player is here! > select "Manage" > find ".mp3" > "Choose a default" - the only choice is "Look for an app in the Microsoft Store".
  

After a long time spent searching I found this article: How to make any program the default on Windows 10 - gHacks Tech News

Apparently after 1803 you are supposed to use hackers tools to set the Microsoft's own Windows Media Player as default. I used FileTypesMan as was suggested in the article, but when I try to change assignments for .mp3 files, I get "Error 5: Access is denied" from the tool. Also, if I right-click on an .mp3 file and select "Open with..." it still suggests me to go to Microsoft Store, open with Notepad, Paint, Word, but not Windows Media Player.

What is the proper way to make WMP the default media player, so it shows up in the Default apps list?