These days many keyboards come with a set of media buttons that can be used to control the media that’s playing on the computer. The media keys can be used to control both video and music, and often come with a set of 4-5 keys: Change tracks (fast-forward/backward), pause & resume, mute, and adjust the volume.
These keys come in very handy for people who have media running in the background while working on something else. The music or video can now be controlled from the keyboard instead of having to swap from one tab to the next just to change songs or pause.
Now, even with Windows 10 being a great operating system that’s quite user-friendly, you may still run into problems with the integration of your media buttons.
In a majority of cases, it’s easy to get these media buttons going again, thankfully.
So why are your media keys not working?
The media buttons on your keyboard are not working because the Google Play Music extension in Chrome is interfering with the buttons, or because you haven’t changed the default application for music in Windows 10 from Groove Music to the application you’re using. Change the default application and disable Google Play Music in Chrome to fix your media buttons. It could also be caused by Google Chrome controlling them.
I’ll show you how to do it down below. If neither of these methods gets your media buttons working again, that could be an indication that the keys are malfunctioning or damaged. Before jumping to the conclusion that they are broken, I would look at a few other things. Let’s start troubleshooting.
How to Fix Media Keys Not Working in Windows 10
Before you start thinking about replacing your keyboard, I would suggest you go through the following steps. This will, in most cases, get your media buttons working again.
Change the Default Application for Music
The media buttons on the keyboard in Windows 10 are known to work well with the program that’s set as the default application for music. Users have reported that their media buttons have stopped working when they’re used to control other applications. Changing the default application will fix this.
- Search for Default Apps in the Windows search bar in the lower-left corner. When Default Apps shows up in the list of programs – click on it or hit Enter.
- In the Default Apps window, look for Music Player and click on the current app.
- Pick the program you want to replace the default application with by clicking on it.
Great, now you’ve changed the default application for music. It’s not harder than that. Three easy steps and we’ve reached the finish line. Try the media buttons to see if this fixed the issue. Did it? Great! Continue reading if the issue persists.
Disable the Google Play Music extension in Chrome
The Google Play Music in extension in Chrome is known to hijack the media buttons, which stops them from working elsewhere. Other extensions in Chrome, such as Plex, can also interfere with the media buttons. Try disabling them one at a time until you have found what’s causing the discrepancy.
This is how you disable extensions in Chrome.
- Open Chrome
- Click the three dots in the upper-right corner
- Click Settings
- Click Extensions in the list on the left side of the screen
- Disable the extension by moving the blue slider to the left
- Restart the computer
If the issue persists, try removing the extension/application from Chrome completely, as it can still interfere with the keyboard, even if it’s disabled.
If a Chrome extension was causing these discrepancies, then the problem should have been reversed by now.
Disable Hardware Media Key Handling in Google Chrome
If you have disabled the Google Play Music extension but still experience problems with the media buttons, then you may benefit from trying the following.
Hardware Media Key Handling is described as an option that “Enables using media keys to control the active media session” and while that sounds exactly like what we’re looking for – it may actually indicate that Google Chrome is taking control of your media keys.
To disable this function:
- Open Google Chrome
- Search for Chrome:/Flags in the browser’s URL field. This should bring you to the flags page
- Search for Media Keys using the search function on the flags page
- Change Hardware Media Key Handling from “Default” to “Disabled“
Start the Human Interface Device Service
Turning on the Human Interface Device Service and setting it to start up automatically can fix the problem. I should mention that this fix has worked on Logitech keyboards primarily, for some reason. But that’s just my experience, which I’ve gathered from a small sample of keyboards.
- Right-click on the Windows menu in the lower-left corner or use the command Windows + X
- Select Computer management
- Look under the Computer Management tab on the left to find Services and Applications. Click on Services and Applications and double-click on Services
- Search for Human Interface Device Service in the list of services
- Click once on the Human Interface Device Service
- You should be able to see if the service is running or not on the left side of the Window now that the service is selected. If it says “Stop the service” the service is running. If it says “Start the service” the service isn’t running and should be started. Click Start the service
- To make sure the service stays active in the future, check the start-up type to make sure it’s set to Automatic.
- Right-click the service and go to Properties
- Under the General tab, change the startup type from Manual to Automatic
- Click Apply then Close
Why Are My Keyboard’s Media Keys Not Working on Spotify?
Now, the same thing can happen in a specific application, such as Spotify – but also when you’re browsing streaming websites, such as Youtube and Twitch. Well, what can you do about it when Spotify doesn’t answer to your media buttons anymore?
If your keyboard’s media buttons have stopped functioning on the Spotify application, it’s either settings within the application or a Chrome extension that’s interfering. Now, I do have a fix for this specific problem and it’s been working great for me. The following steps can fix your media keys in Spotify.
- Open up the Spotify application
- Click Options
- Uncheck Desktop overlay when using media keys
I anticipate that this should fix your problem. But if it doesn’t, I would try disabling Chrome extensions, particularly Google Play Music and Plex, as they can interfere with Spotify.
If neither of these works, I would try this fix that I found on the Spotify forums. It seems like a legit fix – but I would try the two other methods first before proceeding with this one.
“Type chrome://flags/#hardware-media-key-handling in your address bar and set Hardware Media Key Handling to disabled and restart chrome”
Why Do My Media Buttons Not Work on Youtube?
Youtube, just like Spotify and many other applications, can also be restricted from using the keyboard’s multimedia keys.
For those who use Youtube to listen to music, not being able to use the multimedia keys can cause quite a frustration, especially if you’re working or studying while listening to music. Regardless of what you’re doing, we need to fix this so you can enjoy the full potential of your keyboard.
The reason why your media buttons aren’t working on Youtube is that the Google Play Music extension for Chrome is enabled. The extension will prevent you from using your hardware keys and must be disabled in order for your media buttons to work on Youtube. The extension can be disabled in Chrome settings.
Simply disabling the extension doesn’t always work, and if it doesn’t, then you may have to uninstall the app. This can be done by typing “chrome://apps” in Chrome’s address bar. This will take you to Apps.
If it still doesn’t work, try enabling the Media Session service and Hardware Media Key Handling. Earlier we talked about disabling these functions, but sometimes the issue can be fixed by enabling them, and it varies a bit depending on which application is experiencing the problems.
Anyways, it’s worth trying to both disable and enable them. Here’s how it’s done:
Enable media keys in Chrome flags by going to chrome://flags. Once there, make sure Media Session Service and Hardware Media Key Handling are both ENABLED.