My keyboard has no "media" keys; can I control media without them?

Question

My USB keyboard does not have "media" keys -- that is, dedicated keys for play, stop, next, prev, volume up/down, etcetera.

For the sake of this question, I would prefer not to install additional software if I can avoid it.

Is it possible to issue some standard key sequence on a generic USB keyboard that emulates these play, stop, etc. multimedia keys?

Like Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F12 or something obscure like that?

Answer 1

I'm pretty sure it's not possible to do what you want. Media keys don't send key combinations; instead, they have their own usage IDs in the HID. See this document (media keys are in the Consumer Page (0X0C)). If you want to simulate them using a key combo, you're going to have to do it in software.

Answer 2

Windows

AutoHotkey

AutoHotkey (AHK) is a free, open-source macro-creation and automation software for Windows that allows users to automate repetitive tasks. It is driven by a scripting language that was initially aimed at providing keyboard shortcuts, otherwise known as hotkeys, that over time evolved into a full-fledged scripting language.

http://ahkscript.org/

To learn about AHK I recommend checking its site, pages mentioned in Quick Reference and especially skimming at least AutoHotkey Beginner Tutorial. Don't forget to download, install and fiddle with it yourself. There is also helpful forum.

Example

In this case you should look particularly at following pages: Hotkeys (Mouse, Joystick and Keyboard Shortcuts), List of Keys, Mouse Buttons, and Joystick Controls and Send / SendRaw / SendInput / SendPlay / SendEvent: Send Keys & Clicks. Then you'll be able to assemble simple AHK script, e.g. something like:

^!Left::Send   {Media_Prev}
^!Down::Send   {Media_Play_Pause}
^!Right::Send  {Media_Next}
+^!Left::Send  {Volume_Down}
+^!Down::Send  {Volume_Mute}
+^!Right::Send {Volume_Up}

^!.::
MsgBox, 0, , Hello AHK world!
return

Here you define following actions:

• Ctrl+Alt+← sends Previous
• Ctrl+Alt+↓ sends Play/Pause
• Ctrl+Alt+→ sends Next
• Ctrl+Shift+Alt+← sends Volume Down
• Ctrl+Shift+Alt+↓ sends Mute
• Ctrl+Shift+Alt+→ sends Volume Up
• Ctrl+Alt+. invokes message box greeting AHK world (just to show non-oneline key-commands mapping ending w/ return)

Usage

You create .ahk file, paste above code in it (w/o useless MsgBox, of course), save and double click to run it. You'll get H icon in systray allowing you to interact w/ the script, particularly: suspend hotkeys, pause script (not useful here) or just exit it. For better convenience I suggest compiling such script. You can do it using Right Button Mouse on the file and choosing Compile Script. Then you'll get .exe file (pretty big, but it's like complete autohotkey) that you can share w/ others or add to autostart for instance.

Remapping via the Registry's "Scancode Map" / KeyTweak

In AutoHotkey's Remapping Keys and Buttons page you can read about other way of assigning keys to keys, remapping. It may be not useful in your case (unless you're ready to "lose" some keys), but it's still worth reading. (Then you should figure out why I haven't used AHK remapping in my example.)

Let me quote it (w/o blockquote to preserve formatting) and fix some links along the way:

<quote>

Advantages

• Registry remapping is generally more pure and effective than AutoHotkey's remapping. For example, it works in a broader variety of games, it has no known alt-tab issues, and it is capable of firing AutoHotkey's hook hotkeys (whereas AutoHotkey's remapping requires a workaround).
• If you choose to make the registry entries manually (explained below), absolutely no external software is needed to remap your keyboard. Even if you use KeyTweak to make the registry entries for you, KeyTweak does not need to stay running all the time (unlike AutoHotkey).

Disadvantages

• Registry remapping is relatively permanent: a reboot is required to undo the changes or put new ones into effect.
• Its effect is global: it cannot create remappings specific to a particular user, application, or locale.
• It cannot send keystrokes that are modified by Shift, Control, Alt, or AltGr. For example, it cannot remap a lowercase character to an uppercase one.
• It supports only the keyboard (AutoHotkey has mouse remapping and some limited joystick remapping).

How to Apply Changes to the Registry

There are at least two methods to remap keys via the registry:

1. Use a program like KeyTweak (freeware) to visually remap your keys. It will change the registry for you.
2. Remap keys manually by creating a .reg file (plain text) and loading it into the registry. This is demonstrated at www.autohotkey.com/forum/post-56216.html#56216

</quote>

EventGhost

EventGhost is an advanced, easy to use and extensible automation tool for MS Windows. It can use different input devices like infrared or wireless remote controls to trigger macros, that on their part control a computer and its attached hardware. So it can be used to control a Media-PC with a normal consumer remote. But its possible uses go much beyond this.

http://www.eventghost.org/

Haven't tried it, but looks interesting and a bit related, so I think it's worth mentioning it here.

Some SuperUsers may remember Girder, that unfortunately stopped being freeware long time ago. EventGhost seems somewhat similar. I no longer have AverMedia's TVPhone98, but using remote via Girder was fun.

Answer 3

If you have some useless keys, (like scroll lock, or pause, or the key to invoke the contextual menu, or the windows key at the right side, or else) you can remap it to media keys.

Windows: with Sharpkeys.

Mac: with Karabiner

Answer 4

I don't blame you for not wanting to install extra software, but AutoHotKey is a program which lets you write scrips for key presses.

AutoHotkey is a free, open-source utility for Windows. With it, you can:

• Automate almost anything by sending keystrokes and mouse clicks. You can write a mouse or keyboard macro by hand or use the macro recorder.

• Create hotkeys for keyboard, joystick, and mouse. Virtually any key, button, or ombination can become a hotkey.

• Expand abbreviations as you type them. For example, typing "btw" can automatically produce "by the way".

• Create custom data-entry forms, user interfaces, and menu bars. See GUI for details.

• Remap keys and buttons on your keyboard, joystick, and mouse.

• Respond to signals from hand-held remote controls via the WinLIRC client script.

• Run existing AutoIt v2 scripts and enhance them with new capabilities.

• Convert any script into an EXE file that can be run on computers that don't have AutoHotkey installed.

Answer 5

Many media player applications have support for "Global Hotkeys" -- key combinations that allow you to play/pause, go to next track, etc. from anywhere on your computer. (Many of the Ctrl / Alt / Shift / Option combinations have already been claimed by other software, but the Win / Super / Meta key combinations are relatively open.)

For example, I'm running Songbird and I've mapped Win+NumPad0 to play/pause, while Win+NumPad4 and Win+NumPad6 are previous track and next track respectively.

Check to see whether your preferred media player natively supports global hotkeys (and if it doesn't, get a better one).

Answer 6

As others have said, AutoHotkey can help in this case greatly. For example, this script will remap Previous/Next buttons to Winkey + < / >, Volume Down/Up to Winkey+ [ / ] and Mute Toggle to Winkey+ \ . For Play/Pause, Space bar works anyway by default in YouTube by default and in desktop players like MPC-HC / MPC-BE / VLC. Just for Windows Media Player, you can remap Ctrl+P (default for Play-Pause) to Space.

; AutoHotkey Multimedia Keys
#,::Send {Media_Prev}
#.::Send {Media_Next}
#\::Send {Volume_Mute}
#]::Send {Volume_Up}
#[::Send {Volume_Down}
#IfWinActive ahk_class WMPlayerApp
Space::Send {Media_Play_Pause}

Now your keyboard has multimedia keys :)

Answer 7

Windows 10 has quite robust Speech Recognition. Set it up and activate it, then use these commands to control media:

switch [name of open media software]
next
previous
pause
play
volume, press right
volume, press left

You don't need to say the entire name of the software: switch media player is enough to switch to switch to Windows Media Player; switch cast is enough to switch to Windows' Cast to Device media casting tool.

To find out what commands you can use in an open window, you can hover over the buttons with your mouse, and check the tooltips. If there's no tooltip, you can say show numbers, and a matrix of numbers will overlay over any actionable elements on your screen.

Answer 8

I found that "Snip" software not only displays current song played but also allows you to control your player. It currently supports: Spotify, iTunes, Winamp, foobar2000, VLC, Google Play Music Desktop Player, Quod Libet

Take a look at https://github.com/dlrudie/Snip

Answer 9

This isn't a complete answer to your question since it is likely too specific but it may contain some useful information so I am passing it along:

I do it like this using fluxbox and ogg123 - I have this in .fluxbox/keys

# Control ogg123
Mod4 p :Exec killall -STOP ogg123       # pauses ogg123 
Shift Mod4 p :Exec killall -CONT ogg123 # unpauses ogg123
Mod4 o :Exec killall -INT ogg123        # skips tracks in ogg123
Mod4 Shift o :Exec killall ogg123       # stops ogg123

# Control volume
Mod4 = :Exec amixer sset Master,0 1+
Mod4 - :Exec amixer sset Master,0 1-
Shift Mod4 = :Exec amixer sset Master,0 toggle

Answer 10

On Windows 8, you can find "Keyboard" in the Control Panel. From there, open up the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center. Under Keyboard, Basic settings, there's a list of special keys. Click on one of them, click on "View all commands". Below there, "Media commands" includes "Next Track", "Previous Track" and "Play/pause" among others.

Works well for me with Windows' own Music app.

I have a Microsoft keyboard, so I don't know if the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center works the same with other keyboards.

Answer 11

I think WMP Keys might be a solution, but it only works with Windows Media Player.

WMP Keys What is it?

WMP Keys is global hot keys support addon for Windows Media Player

Installation

Close Windows Media Plyer
Download latest version of installer (wmpkeys.msi)
Double click wmpkeys.msi for installation
Launch Windows Media Player
Turn on plugin in Windows Media Plyer menu

Answer 12

I found one app which can do almost all of them in windows 7 and it works without any issues when your desktop is unlocked. Also it is pretty easy to use.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/hotkeyp/?source=typ_redirect.

Only drawback I found is it will not work when desktop is locked say I come back from sleep and the computer is locked and I have loud music playing. Multimedia keyboards can mute from there itself. But with this app you need to unlock first.