You are on Windows, you like iTunes but your “Play / Pause”, “Next” and “Previous” multimedia keys are not working for it?

Try to install mmkeys.dll.

If the mmkeys.dll trick does not work for you, as it didn’t for me, you may try iTunesControl:

1. If your laptop is not an Asus (specifically a G73J), go directly to the step 6.
2. Install Asus notebook keys v1.3 to enable your multimedia keys.
   By default they only work with Windows Media Center / Player (for this point, Asus really sucks…).
3. If you are running Windows 7, do this step to fix the “Can’t synchronize with existing ATK0100 event!”.
4. Launch AsusNbKeys.exe. It won’t display anything and it’s normal.
5. Launch AsusNbKeysCtrl.exe and customize your multimedia keys. You must specify a keystroke (e.g.: Ctrl+Alt+Shift + down arrow = play) for each event.
6. Install and launch iTunesControl. With some configuration, here the kind of interface you can have:
7. [Optionnal]
   1. You may disable some Windows features like the Magnifier to set the “Win+-” or “Win++” shortcuts to Volume Up or Volume Down for example. To do so, use a autohotkey script:

      #NoEnv  ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
      SendMode Input  ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
      SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%  ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.
      
      ; Disable Magnifier.
      #NumpadAdd::return	; Magnifier zoom.
      #NumpadSub::return	; Magnifier dezoom.

   2. Create a shortcut to your autohotkey script, then cut and paste it to your startup directory (on Windows 7: C:/programdata/microsoft/windows/start menu/programs/startup).

Note: the iTunes style I’m using is Silent Night by Davi-1.

ISSUE:

• Jump list entries does not work.
• It quickly open and close a process in the task bar.

CONDITIONS TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM:

• OS: Windows 7 64 bits (may apply to other versions of Windows 7).
• Launch any program.
• Right click on the application in the task bar.
• Select any entry in the jump list.

FIX:

• Uninstall WinRAR and try to reinstall the latest / a more recent version of WinRAR.

OTHER FIXES:

• Erase the content of those folders (but you will lose your history!).
  • %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations
  • %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations
• Disable / uninstall applications like:
  • a-squared
  • ATItray tools
• Perform a clean boot by enabling the startup services one after the others.

Some comments

I spent a whole morning to fix this bug. I crawled over the net but the provided solutions (those in “OTHER FIXES”) did not work for me.

I could notice that every program were launching a “mysterious program” when I was left clicking any jump list entry. So I installed system explorer, a task manager alternative, to sort the processes by “Start Time” and then to deduce what was this program. Then I could found out it was “RarExtLoader.exe”, that is to say WinRAR. I uninstalled it and I was done!