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Tip: Discover Helpful Keyboard Shortcuts Designed for Windows Media Center

Although the Media Center interface was designed for use with a remote control, it also supports full access to Media Center functions using a keyboard.

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Some keyboard commands are obvious: the Up Arrow, Down Arrow, Left Arrow, and Right Arrow keys work just like the navigation controls on the remote, and pressing Enter or Spacebar is the same as pushing OK. Page Up and Page Down map to the Channel Up/Down buttons. In search boxes, you can type search terms directly and use the Backspace key to clear the most recently typed character.

Some other key combinations are useful but a bit less obvious. In particular, the numeric keypad on a full-size keyboard can fill in for a lot of tasks during Live TV and while viewing the guide.

Here are some handy keyboard shortcuts designed for Media Center:

  • Media Center Start page (start Media Center, if necessary): Windows logo key+Alt+Enter
  • Recorded TV: Ctrl+O or Ctrl+Shift+T
  • Guide: Ctrl+G
  • Music Library: Ctrl+M
  • Video Library: Ctrl+E
  • Picture Library: Ctrl+I
  • Movie Library: Ctrl+Shift+M
  • Radio: Ctrl+A
  • Go back to previous screen: Backspace
  • Toggle full screen/window: Alt+Enter
  • Go to channel number (Live TV or Guide): Enter number using the 0–9 keys
  • Up one channel (while playing TV): Plus (+) or Equal (=)
  • Down one channel (while playing TV): Minus (–)
  • Record: Ctrl+R
  • More Info/Display shortcut menu: Ctrl+D
  • Play: Ctrl+Shift+P
  • Pause/Play (toggle): Ctrl+P
  • Stop: Ctrl+Shift+S
  • Replay (Back): Ctrl+B
  • Skip (Forward): Ctrl+F
  • Rewind: Ctrl+Shift+B
  • Fast Forward: Ctrl+Shift+F
  • Mute: F8
  • Volume up: F9
  • Volume down: F10
  • Audio language options (TV or DVD): Ctrl+Shift+A
  • Subtitles/Closed Captions: Ctrl+U

From the Microsoft Press book Windows 7 Inside Out by Ed Bott, Carl Siechert, and Craig Stinson.

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