Hacking Windows 7 Media Center

Adding Apps to Extras Library – Easy Way

by Michael Healy @ 6:47 am on January 18th, 2009 in windows 7 with 6 Comments

Adding applications or games to the Extras Library is probably one of the most desirable features of serious media center users.  Despite this Microsoft has neglected to add a simple and user friendly way to accomplish the task.  It should be a simple task, go through a gui wizard, choose your desired app, and hit finish. Maybe in the future but for now there is another way that’s almost as easy.

  1. Create a shortcut to your desired application/game and copy it to the clipboard (ctrl+c)
  2. Open Windows Explorer (Win+E)
  3. Navigate to C:\Users\YOUR USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Media Center Programs
  4. Paste (ctrl+v) your shortcut in this folder
  5. Restart Media Center

This method doesn’t support icons currently however, it displays a basic box with the shortcut name in text.  Perhaps Microsoft or some endevouring 3rd party will support this a little better after the official Windows 7 release.

6 Comments


L4ST
Comment #2237 from L4ST [Reply]

doenst work on RC here, maybe have to reboot

Comment left July 22, 2009 at 7:02 pm Permanent Link

mike
Comment #4859 from mike [Reply]

Anyone have any idea how to delete audio tracks from within media center(not player)? I will often listen to podcasts and after I finish I would like to be able to delete them from within media center…

Comment left November 16, 2009 at 1:24 am Permanent Link

angruss
Comment #6555 from angruss [Reply]

This may be old news, but if you have an MCL file, you can simply edit it in notepad to describe the new app and then use the directions above to have it in MCE with an icon and description.

Comment left January 12, 2010 at 12:50 am Permanent Link

rogue007
Comment #8904 from rogue007 [Reply]

You guys have probably figured this out… but here’s how I add icons and a description after using above mentioned in the article to add the shortcut. It involves editing the registry, so back it up first and be very careful.

Open up regedit (type regedit.exe) in start menu search or in Run. Don’t know if registries are universal, but somewhere in:

HKEY_USERS\[SOME LONG STRING OF NUMBERS AND CODE]*\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Media Center\Extensibility\Categories\More Programs

*mine is the second longest of the 6 folders there, the one without “_Classes” after it.

you will find folders with long codes, one for each of your personal shortcuts [note: the default ones are elsewhere in the registry, and if you can find them you can tweak some stuff (like the icon), but be careful)]. Find the one you wish to add a pic and description for (will have its name under title field) and in the right pane of regedit, right click, go to New, and select Expandable String Value. It will create a new icon (value) in the right pane and be ready for you to name it. Name it “Description”, then double click on it and in the box type the description you want. Make another new one and name it “ImageUrl”. Open it up and type the full path to your image (I store in the folder of the program the shortcut is to). Not sure image requirements, but based on what MS is using for the others, I wouldn’t be surprised if it had to be a PNG measuring 128×128.

It should show up now in the extras library with your picture. Not exactly simple, but only really two steps once you know where to go and have you image ready.

Comment left March 30, 2010 at 3:42 am Permanent Link

SansExtras
Comment #12862 from SansExtras [Reply]

OK – managed to get my extra.mcl to show up in the Extras in WMC when I’m logged into the PC but can’t see it when I’m on the Media Extender – HELP!! I also added the short cut to the “Default” profile as well – no luck.

Comment left June 13, 2010 at 2:55 pm Permanent Link

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