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Win 11 disappointing so far. Where is 'play all' feature for music..?

r_europe

Member
I installed Windows 11 a few weeks ago. So far it's been pretty disappointing. My SP6 is noticably slower on most tasks that before . To cap it all - when trying to play music from File Explorer (....call me old-fashioned!), I no longer get the 'play all' option. Why on earth have they decided to delete this? Is there any way I can retrieve this function..?

How can I get back generally to the kind of speed I'm used to with Win 10..?
 

sharpuser

Administrator
Staff member
At the bottom of that menu, do you see "More Options"? Choose that, if you do.

You may be confusing a Windows menu item with a plug-in for Firefox called "Play All". You can still add this plug-in for Firefox Windows 11.
Or, you may be confusing a Windows menu item with the menu item in Windows Media Player 10 called "Play All". You can still add Windows Media Player to Windows 11.

Windows 11 should not be slower than Windows 10 on your SP6. Since you are experiencing slower speeds, I am guessing that OneDrive is updating your files on its cloud. To test this, see if OneDrive is running, and is syncing files. If it is, close it, and check your speed.

Also, if you are using the option on OneDrive to save storage, your OneDrive files are synced and only stored in the cloud until you need them. Then, there is a delay while the files are retrieved. Windows tries to do all the bookwork to keep this process seamless (no intervention from you), but it does take time.

I hope your speed is improving.
 
OP
R

r_europe

Member
Thanks Sharp!

For 'play all', though, I was meaning a Widows menu item. In Win 10 File Manager, when selecting the first music track in a folder, 'Music Tools' would pop up in the top left of the screen. From there, you could select 'Play All'. For me, this has completely disappeared with Win 11. There seems to be no suitable option available - it's exasperating...

General slowness after Win 11 installation seems to still be there. I didn't think OneDrive needed to re-sync after the changeover from Win 10. Does it..? I use OneDrive in full monty with files available all the time. I didn't see it working, but there was frequent fan noise, which has gone now. Maybe it's slightly improved...
 

sharpuser

Administrator
Staff member
Hello there, @r_europe

I just now right-clicked on a folder containing .mp3 and .wav files and chose option "Play with Windows Media Player". My Windows 11 computer then played all the tracks (I cycled through them with >>| "Next Track" button to verify they all are sent.

Perhaps the functionality of "Play All" is now "Play with Windows Media Player"?
 
OP
R

r_europe

Member
Hi Sharp

I just got somewhere close to 'Play All' by using Windows Media Player, but physically having to select all music files in the folder first. For me, right-clicking at folder level did not work.

Anyway - big thanks! Still seems like the opposite of progress to me, though, with one further conscious step needed. If you come across a better 'Play All' workaround, please let me know.

As for general speed drop on Win 11 - am monitoring...
 

sharpuser

Administrator
Staff member
I never gave up trying to find out why I can play all the contents in a folder, and you cannot. I think I've discovered why.

On November 16, 2021, a new Windows Media Player for Windows 11 was made available to Windows Insiders. There is no cost to becoming an Insider, however you may encounter some small bugs week-to-week as you are using versions of Windows still being developed.

Anyway, here is a screenshot of my WMP11, showing the option!

WindowsMediaPlayer11.png


And here is the announcement by Microsoft.

I recommend joining the Insider program. You are obviously interested in getting everything you can out of Windows. I use the DEV option, myself.
 
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