# VLC MEDIA PLAYER



## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

My son managed to take the movies off my old computer and I have them now in a folder on this new computer. They each show the VLC icon on the files. Double clicking the files and/or right-clicking and choosing "play with VLC video player" does nothing to bring up the movie. Adding it to VLC playlist does not add it either. The only way I'm managed to play these movies is by opening the VLC video player to "playlist" and DRAGGING the file onto that list. Then clicking "play" on that moved file will play it just fine. However, if I place more than one of these movies in this VLC playlist, the movies will not play. 

Can anyone explain what is occurring here and how I can get these movies to play in this VLC media player without having to pull up the media player and dragging file into its playlist first?

I un-installed the VLC media player on PC; then went and downloaded from the VLC site. Still the same situation is occurring. I don't understand why VLC is not working on this PC. Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can find out why it will not work on this PC? (I have discovered that the "windows media player" will play these same movies. Just need to choose it to open the file each time.)


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

I've never seen VLC do that, and have no idea what would make it do it. All I can suggest is go to Tools / Preferences (or press Ctrl-P), and click on Reset Preferences at the bottom of that window.


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## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

Maybe go into settings, apps and tell it to use the player for all vls files.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

backwoodsman I did pull up VLC media player and went to tools > preferences > reset preferences. Then right-clicked a movie with that VLC icon on it and chose "play with vlc". Same thing occurred...nothing.

painterswife have not tried the settings > applications > telling PC to use the VLC for all vls files because I'm not real sure the VLC will work; and since at least I'm getting to watch the movies via windows media player, thinking maybe I'm just as well off....I'm always concerned about messing up my PC because I have little to no understanding about technical stuff.......


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## sniper69 (Sep 23, 2007)

Right click on the file and select "open with" then choose vlc player. Or alternatively, right click on a file, go to properties, and where it says open with, select change and then go to VLC and apply/save.

I use VLC for all of my video files. I don't use windows media player as (in my opinion) it is clunky and doesn't work as nice.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Sniper I did right-click on a movie and selected "open with" > VLC media player, which did nothing. I also right-clicked the movie > "properties" > change (which already showed VLC was there); then "apply" > "ok". Still nothing!


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

You might try uninstalling & reinstalling VLC. Something might've gotten tweaked somewhere in Windows' internals, and that might fix it.


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## sniper69 (Sep 23, 2007)

Did you install from the official site? VLC: Official site - Free multimedia solutions for all OS! - VideoLAN 

Also what is the video extension that you're trying to play?


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## RoBlaine (Mar 24, 2015)

Have you tried other video files? sniper69 asked what I was going to - what is the file extension that's listed on the files?
I'm kind of wondering if the files may have been altered when they were transferred. If your son used a file manager or a third party file managing or rescue program they shouldn't have been changed, but if he used a video program or a video rescue program to import and then export the files, they could have been altered.
Another possibility is that somehow your actual files may be in another location, another folder, and you're trying to play file links. That's odd, but a possibility and VLC shouldn't balk over file links either, but this whole scenario is odd.
I've used VLC for decades, back when I used Microsoft, then again when I switched to Linux. I've used it through the command line and also in script files with option switches and I've never had one bit of problem with it. I definitly can't imagine how to replicate this problem.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I did un-install the VLC; then I went to that official site for the download; installed it. Problem continued.

There are two file extensions, i.e. MP4 and WEBM. The MP4 will open with "windows media player" as well as something I'm not familiar with, i.e. looks like a hyperlink to "movies & TV" as the icon is a little blue square with ">" in it. The WEBM only has the one option to open with, i.e. the "movies & TV" one.

David used a "thumbnail" to copy/paste.

I've used this VLC for years. Recently received message to update to new version that stated there was an error in it so needed to go to download folder to make it work. That sounded strange to me so never did that.

I just went over to the VLC official forum and posted about this problem. Hopefully they can help too.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I got one response in the VLC official forum and it gave me an URL that said how to possibly fix this problem. The 2 suggestions for windows 10 were:

1. Pull up VLC Media Player and go to tools > preferences > re-set preferences. I've done that. Problem continues.

2. Go to "explorer" and type "_%APPDATA%_ " into the address bar. I have no idea where this "explorer" unless it is referring to a browser called Internet Explorer which I don't even have on this PC.


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

motdaugrnds said:


> 2. Go to "explorer" and type "_%APPDATA%_ " into the address bar. I have no idea where this "explorer" unless it is referring to a browser called Internet Explorer which I don't even have on this PC.


Windows Explorer is your file manager.

But surely there was more to the instructions than just typing that into the address bar? Did they say to delete the vlc folder or something?


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

yes the cache; yet I cannot find a "file manager" on my PC. Where should I look for it?

I found control panel > programs > default programs where there were 4 to choose from, i.e. set default programs, associate a file type or protocol with a program, change autoplay settings, & set program access and computer defaults. In clicking "associate a file type or protocol with a program" a "default apps" window showed up and VLC media player was listed as the video player. Doesn't that say VLC should open all the video files? In clicking that "VLC media player" hyperlink another window came up showing all the same options I get when right-clicking a video file with "movies & TV" recommended for windows 10.


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

motdaugrnds said:


> I cannot find a "file manager" on my PC. Where should I look for it?


Usually there's an icon for it in the task bar; it looks like a file folder. And on Windows 10, you can find whatever you need by typing it into the search box near the left end of the task bar.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I think "task bar" is the bar at bottom of monitor? If so, there is no icon that looks like a file folder. Only icons I have at bottom of monitor are: mozilla fox browser, chrome browser, "my computer" (opens to show lots of folders but none that identify self as "file manager"), notepad on one side; then on other is tiny arrow that brings up 4 icons (bluetooth devices, "safely remove hardware and eject media", windows security & Radeon software), network access, speakers at 100%, time/date and "new notifications".

Are you talking about "cortana"? If so I stay logged out of that...forgot why but seemed wise...like staying logged out of "one drive".


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## sniper69 (Sep 23, 2007)

By your start button (lower left corner) do you have a box that says "Type here to search"? If so, type in the %appdata% and it will open the appropriate area. If you don't have that search area, click on the start button and type (it will do the same thing).


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I clicked start > windows system > file explorer that brought up window with place to type something in and do search. I typed in %APPDATA% and searched and it brought up a window with folders listed, one being VLC. When opening this folder it shows: a "crashdump" folder, the VLC icon with "ml" next to it, a file with "vlc-qt-interface" next to it and another file with "vlcrc" next to it. None of these look like a "cache" that I'm suppose to be clearing. Instead it all looks like the VLC I recently re-downloaded; and the dates next to each of these show the same date, i.e. my recent new download of VLC (after I had uninstalled the VLC I had). Thus, I'm confused as to what to do.


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