The Command Line

Media Center can be controlled by command line parameters sent to the appropriate command launcher:

• Media Jukebox - mjextman.exe
• Media Jukebox 12 - mj12.exe
• Media Center 11 - mc11.exe
• Media Center 12 - mc12.exe

NOTE: replace all instances of mc12.exe in this document with the appropriate command launcher for your version. Also, note that the command launcher for the particular application version you are using is not located in the application installation directory (inside C:\Program Files\ for example) but is instead found in your standard system directory. This is often found at C:\WINDOWS\system32\ for most Windows installations. However, because the System directory would normally be found in your system's "path" it is not normally necessary to specify the full path when calling the command launcher.

Execute Parameters

Executing mc12.exe with one of the following command line parameters first starts Media Center if it is not already running.

Playback Execute Parameters

mc12.exe [item]|[item]... If playback is currently stopped, Playing Now is replaced with the item(s) and playback starts, otherwise the item(s) are appended to Playing Now and playback jumps to the first specified item.

mc12.exe /Append [item]|[item]... Appends item(s) to Playing Now without changing the current playback state.

mc12.exe /AudioCD

mc12.exe /Clear

mc12.exe /Connect

mc12.exe /DVDVideo

mc12.exe /ExportToXML

mc12.exe /Import

mc12.exe /ImportAndPlay

mc12.exe /Library

mc12.exe /Mime

mc12.exe /Play [item]|[item]... If playback is currently stopped, Playing Now is replaced with the item(s) and playback starts, otherwise the item(s) are appended to Playing Now and playback jumps to the first specified item.

mc12.exe /PlayReplace [item]|[item]... Playing Now is replaced with the item(s) and playback starts.

Each [item] can be one of the following:

• A filename: C:\song1.mp3
• A URL: http:\\www.somewebsite.com\station.pls
• A location within the Organization Tree: TREEPATH=Playlists\Playlist1
• A device under CD & DVD and Handhelds: DEVICE=G:

Note: The TREEPATH=Location\Item specification is case-sensitive for Location and Item and the hierarchy separator is \.

Note: For Media Center 10 or greater, the Playback Execute Parameters can be issued to a specific Zone by adding Zone=x as one of the items in the | delimited list. e.g. "mc12.exe /Append C:\1.mp3|C:\2.mp3|Zone=3".

mc12.exe /Protocol

mc12.exe /Replace

mc12.exe /SilentImport

mc12.exe /Subscribe subscribe to a podcast.

Media Center Core Command Execute Parameters

mc12.exe /MCC [command],[param] Sends the specified Media Center Core Command to Media Center.

[command] is one of the Media Center Core Commands.

[param] is optional, and defaults to 0.

Note: These are only available in Media Center.

Other Execute Parameters

mc12.exe /Clear [mode] Removes all files from Playing Now and stops playback.

The only available [mode] is:

• DontRemoveCurrent Does not remove the currently playing file and does not stop playback.

mc12.exe /Close Closes Media Center.

mc12.exe /Connect m01p://[ip address or host name] Establishes a connection to the specified remote Media Server.

mc12.exe /Import [filename] Imports the specified file into the Media Center library and launches Media Center.

mc12.exe /Library [Library Name] Changes to the library specified by [Library Name] (Media Center 12.0.384 and later).

mc12.exe /LibraryReadOnly Starts Media Center with the library read only (Party Mode).

mc12.exe /MediaServer Starts Media Center in Media Server mode (without a UI).

mc12.exe /Mode [modename] If Media Center is not currently running, this starts Media Center in the specified mode, otherwise this switches Media Center to the specified mode.

[modename] can be one of the following:

• Standard, Megame, or Windowed Standard View
• Minime Mini View
• Fullscreen Display View
• Theater Theater View

Note: An empty [modename] is the same as the user's chosen startup mode if Media Center is not running, or Standard if it is already running.

mc12.exe /Power Starts Media Center if it's not running, or closes it if it is.

mc12.exe /SilentImport [filename] Imports the specified file into Media Center library but does not launch Media Center.

mc12.exe /Start Starts Media Center or brings it to top.

Command Parameters

Executing mc12.exe with one of the following command line parameters will only control an already running instance of Media Center. If Media Center is not already running, the following commands are ignored.

mc12.exe /Command Play Starts playback of the selected track(s).

mc12.exe /Command Pause Toggles between play and pause states.

mc12.exe /Command Stop Stops playback.

mc12.exe /Command Next Skips to the next track.

mc12.exe /Command Previous Skips to the previous track.

mc12.exe /Command FastForward Jumps 5 seconds forward.

mc12.exe /Command Rewind Jumps 5 seconds backward.

mc12.exe /Command Mute Mutes the sound.

mc12.exe /Command VolumeUp [value] Increases the sound volume by [value].

Note: [value] defaults to 5%.

mc12.exe /Command VolumeDown [value] Decreases the sound volume by [value].

Note: [value] defaults to 5%.

mc12.exe /Command VolumeSet [value] Sets the sound volume directly to [value].

Note: [value] defaults to 50%.

mc12.exe /Command ToggleShuffle Toggles shuffle mode

mc12.exe /Command ToggleContinuous Toggles continuous mode