Media Player fullscreen Problem

[Agentstarks]

I have a Dell laptop and the Docking station so I can have a 19" monitor. My problem is that when I open a .mpg or similar video file, Windows Media Player opens the file fullscreen and there is no way to get out of it. I can't alt-tab to switch applications, esc doesn't do anything, I can ctrl-alt-del to get to the task manager but as soon as the manager comes up the video goes back to fullscreen. Alt-enter doesn't do anything. The only solution I found so far is to log off and log back on or to wait until the video finishes and then ctrl-alt-del to the task manager. Then it will finally go to windowed mode. I've checked all the options in WMP so that's not it. I have the latest versions of everything, including service packs. What could it be?

 

[linney]

Do the Ctrl+1 and Ctrl+2 shortcut keys work while it is in fullmode?

This site is the best WMP troubleshooting site around.

http://www.nwlink.com/~zachd/pss/pss.html

Also have a look at any Group Policy settings that may be set via Local Computer Policy/ User Configuration/ Administrative Templates/ Windows Components/ Windows Media Player/ User Interface

Have you tried another player?

 

[vickero007]

Reinstall it if nothing else works since it wouldn't take long at all.

-Volkoff007

 

[Agentstarks]

Nothing I type on the keyboard works, so ctrl+X doesn't work. I've already tried reinstalling WMP several times but it's still the same. I'm wondering if it might be a problem with the Dell docking station or something. It doesn't seem to have the problem when I use the laptop by itself.

 

[bcastner]

Try Alt-Enter

 

[Agentstarks]

As I said before, Alt-enter doesn't do anything. I can ctrl-alt-del to get to where I open the task manager, but the video takes over again fullscreen before I can switch to the processes to kill it.

 

[zofo00]

Do u having a tweaking program such as FRESH UI or TWEAK XP PRO installed they have an option of locking the media player in the current mode, I think that may be your problem.

As no keys are working try it out,
cheers
zofo

 

[linney]

Windows Media player 9
thread779-569522

 

[DRedman]

I had this same problem, Dell c840 on a docking station with a 19 inch monitor. I tried everything I could think of for about a week, updating video bios, drivers, etc, all with no luck. I kept having to log out, I couldn't even get the process list in the task manager to come up so I could kill the process.

I just got it to work, it now launches media files in a smaller window that allows me to use the controls. The last 2 things I did, was run chkdsk/f, and I also undocked the notebook to get the serial number off the bottom, I think that undocking did the trick, now its working, I also shutdown and rebooted, still working correctly.

This one was a big challenge.

I hope that it helps!
Thanks
Dan