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Question

How to Mute Media Center but not PC

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While Googling and Binging I see this is a common request.  Is there a way to configure Media Center so that when you click on the speaker icon (while not in full screen mode) in Media Center it mutes only Media Center and not the entire PC?

Yes, I see that you can double click on the speaker icon, click mixer, scroll right, and finally mute just the media center but geesh that is a lot of clicks for such a rudimentary task.  Surely the developers realize that people use Media Center AND do other things while it is running.  Is there another option (registry hack, etc) that would allow me to mute just Media Center when I click on the speak icon inside Media Center.
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hossnine

hossnine

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Answer

Hi Hossnine,

Welcome to Microsoft Answers.
Media Center sound level is directly linked to main PC volume. However, you may try these:

A) While you are watching live TV or a movie, move the mouse, and then click the - or + button to increase or decrease the volume or Click the Mute button to turn muting on or off.

B) We can also mute sound from Windows Media Player. Possibly, this is because Windows Media Center acts like Windows Media Player User Interface.

C) The other option is to pause or stop the video or the music.

D) You can also use F8 key to mute volume in Media center.

More information check the link http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Watch-TV-in-Windows-Media-Center

“Windows media center Keyboard shortcuts” http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Windows-Media-Center-keyboard-shortcuts

Diana
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer
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Diana D

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Diana D
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"Media Center sound level is directly linked to main PC volume."

Diana,

Thank you for your response.  The first sentence of your response cuts to the quick of the issue.  Microsoft should provide an option (inside Media Center) to uncouple Media Center volume from the system volume.  I can see having the volume tied to the system volume if you are running Media Center in full screen mode or perhaps if you set Media Center to 'always be on top' but the way it is right now is down right annoying.  If you have MC running and you have media start up from another source (web, local, etc) you have to either close MC or go through half a dozen clicks to mute MC audio via the mixer.  That and some people may want to listen to their music library while MC plays a news program muted with closed captioning.

Concerning the other information posted in your response.  Hopefully that will help someone in the context of the group where this post was moved to but realistically it doesn't apply to the question at hand.

Working in the software industry myself I deal with this type of situation every day.  A customer asks why one of our applications does or doesn't do something in the exact way they would expect.  With so many customers it is impossible to do everything just the way everyone wants so when these questions come in we have to break it down to "working as designed", "defect", or "enhancement".  In my humble opinion the question/request I pose would fall into the "enhancement" category (some would call it a bug).  When we have something fall into the "enhancement" category we have to further review the request to see if it is a design oversight or an enhancement that applies to that specific customer or the broad spectrum of customers.  To me this looks like a design oversight based on the number of threads available on Google for people wanting this function.  I'm sure the developers will argue that this is working as designed but given how easy this would be to implement I hope someone on the MC team will add it the future enhancements list for inclusion in the next MC update.

Thanks much and have a great day.
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hossnine

hossnine

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Hello hossnine,

Thank you for posting to the Microsoft Answers Forum.

You might want to post on thegreenbutton.com/forums as they are experts in dealing with Windows Media Center and if there was any workaround someone on that forum would know about it.

The second thing you can do is leave feedback on Windows 7 for Windows Media Center for the functionality that you think would be benefical to alot of user.
Click here to leave feedback.

I hope this will help.

Sincerely,
Marilyn
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer
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Marilyn O

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Marilyn O
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