Making VLC the default player.

[optimize me]

I'm trying to make VLC my default media player for videos. When I go into a folder and double click a video file, it launches in MPlayer.

I have to right-click the file and manually select VLC under the 'open with..' option every time. I've entered VLC as the custom command for the default media player under the multimedia tab in Preferences>Preferred Applications (VLC doesn't appear in the drop-down list). When right-clicking, I've tried using the Custom Command option to enter VLC as the default player to open certain types of files, but as far as I can tell, all video file types still open in MPlayer when I double click them. I've edited /etc/gnome/defaults.list to the point of completely removing and replacing every single instance of "totem.desktop" with "vlc.desktop", yet MPlayer still plays all my video files when double clicked.

The only way that has worked to make VLC play my videos by default, was first to completely remove totem and all it's associated packages inside synaptic, which caused GnomeMplayer to become my default. After removing all traces of that as well, finally VLC would play any double-clicked media file.

I'd like to keep MPlayer around for certain things - most notably for the fact that Nautilus doesn't seem able to generate video thumbnails without it being installed.

How can I make VLC my default video player without removing the other two programs?

[proxima_centauri]

Hi,

I kinda skimmed through your post quite fast, sorry if you mentioned this:

You can right-click on your .avi file, go to preferences, and in one of the tabs you can choose to associate .avi's with a particualr program - choose VLC. This will change the defualt open behavior for all other .avi files.

[optimize me]

Hi,

I kinda skimmed through your post quite fast, sorry if you mentioned this:

You can right-click on your .avi file, go to preferences, and in one of the tabs you can choose to associate .avi's with a particualr program - choose VLC. This will change the defualt open behavior for all other .avi files.

I have to right-click the file and manually select VLC under the 'open with..' option every time. I've entered VLC as the custom command for the default media player under the multimedia tab in Preferences>Preferred Applications (VLC doesn't appear in the drop-down list). When right-clicking, I've tried using the Custom Command option to enter VLC as the default player to open certain types of files, but as far as I can tell, all video file types still open in MPlayer when I double click them. I've edited /etc/gnome/defaults.list to the point of completely removing and replacing every single instance of "totem.desktop" with "vlc.desktop", yet MPlayer still plays all my video files when double clicked.

Doesn't work for me for some reason. I'm three or four steps beyond that. Thanks anyways.

Anyone else?

[optimize me]

Bump?

[HeLikesMint]

i know this issue, kinda annoyed me a lot of times too. right-click association doesn't work for me either. maybe you'd have to do it in admin mode? worth a try.

[optimize me]

I'll give that a shot and see if it works.

It's strange, though - if I uninstall totem and gnome-mplayer, VLC goes right to the top of the list of preferred apps to play the file. As soon as one of the other media players gets re-installed, it bumps VLC out of the way and takes over. That's why I thought editing defaults.list would take care of it.

[optimize me]

Instant update: Oddly enough, in a root Nautilus window, the association is already made. When I right click, the default option is to play the file and all .avi files with VLC.

I tried it, and the player wouldn't launch. The association is there, but the player won't launch from a root window. I guess that's an issue all unto itself.

Any other ideas? Is there some other defaults.list file somewhere else that's keeping me from setting VLC as my default player?

[HeLikesMint]

maybe it's a candidate for a bug report?

[David2009]

Hi. I installed Mint 7 today. I thought I would use VLC. It is installed, but when I insert a DVD into the player I get a dialogue box that tells me to open another player. So, I went directly to VLC and double-clicked it. I went to the DVD, and it may not recognise my player. Hummmm.... Suggestions? Thank you.

[optimize me]

Hi. I installed Mint 7 today. I thought I would use VLC. It is installed, but when I insert a DVD into the player I get a dialogue box that tells me to open another player. So, I went directly to VLC and double-clicked it. I went to the DVD, and it may not recognise my player. Hummmm.... Suggestions? Thank you.

Hi David2009 - welcome to Mint.

This thread is about the fact that no matter what I do, I can't get an .avi file to open in VLC when I double-click it from a Nautilus window. I'm not really clear on what problem you're having, but it doesn't sound like it's quite the same problem. You might want to make your own post so you get better advice that's specific to the problem you're having.

[wekya]

I have the exact same problem, any fixes yet? I'd have to agree this is a bug in 7 (gloria) as resetting a default worked for me fine in 5 (elyssa).

[optimize me]

I'm not sure which of these is what changes the default player, or if it's not a combinations of all three:

• Select the program you want to use to open the file in the Right-Click>Open With dialog
  Edit the entry for the file extension in /etc/gnome/defaults.list
  Right-click the file in question, select Properties, go to the Open With tab, and make the change there as well.

I used all three of those, in that order, and it never worked until I did the last one. I'm not sure if reboots had anything to do with it or not. I just know that it works now..

[wekya]

Your fix worked fine for me, thanks. But I do want to say again that this may not be a full on bug, but this shouldn't be a forumable offense.

[optimize me]

Your fix worked fine for me, thanks. But I do want to say again that this may not be a full on bug, but this shouldn't be a forumable offense.

I'm not sure I understand.

[wekya]

I just found it offensive to have to go poking around in forums to get a fix for this. Let alone it being 3 separate steps (one of which, editing code, is always potentially disastrous) where it was only one step in Elyssa. Rereading it my syntax was a bit taxed, sorry.

[optimize me]

Ah, yes, I see..

Yeah, it is a bit of a CF to have to go through for something as trivial as picking a default media player.

But, I'm no developer and I've never written a line of code in my life, so I won't complain. Whatever the guys at Gnome are smoking, I sure wish they'd tell me where to get some, though.