Play/Pause keyboard button doesn't work on Spotify

[Venatic]

I have been using the play/pause button of my keyboard for Spotify, but a few days ago it just stopped working for Spotify but it works in other platforms like YouTube or any video or song, it only works for Spotify when there are no other active video platform but it is a problem because I use that button to control Spotify songs when I watch Netflix or YouTube but now it only stops or plays the video instead of the song on Spotify. Does anyone knows how to use that button only for Spotify?

[frankank97 · Accepted solution]

Found the answer somewhere else but it worked for me.  I don't know the fix for other browsers.

Type chrome://flags/#hardware-media-key-handling in your address bar and set Hardware Media Key Handling to disabled and restart chrome.

[Venatic]

Thank you, I didn't realize that the problem was the browser. 

[dennis4000]

Thank you so much.

[tsmith613]

Thank you!!! 

[Archon810]

The solution in this thread didn't work for me but this one did: https://community.spotify.com/t5/Desktop-Windows/Media-keys-no-longer-work/td-p/807591.

Turns out it was Google Play Music hijacking the buttons.

[arachnidiac_]

Thank you!

[pkg_inc · Accepted solution]

For posterity; this is what worked for me:

1. Open the Spotify app
2. Click Options (or Settings)
   
3. Uncheck the option Desktop overlay when using media keys

[larghold]

thank you!!!!!

[CvG99]

That did it for me too, thanks! You're a real lifesaver.

[TacticalTrumpet]

This worked for me, thank you!

[toxicpete]

WOW, that actually worked!! Thank you so much! For ages I have had to use a backup-solution where the Play-button starts and stops Spotify and all(!) youtube-movies, facebook-clips etc that might be paused in some tabs. Highly annoying! Well, not anymore! 😄 Thank you, thank you!

[lolaintheblack]

I don't even have such an option in my Spotify settings 😮
I used to have this problem and then the other solution, with blocking keys, worked but this time I have them disabled, I don't even have the mentioned option, I don't have the Google Play extension at all, and my Spotify just stops responding to play/pause.
I'm guessing it has something to do with Chrome but I have no idea what and how to fix it. When I close Spotify when it happens I can't reopen it because I keep getting notification that it's not responding so I have to restart laptop.
Please, somebody, help! Any other ideas what could it be?

[Novy]

Hey there @lolaintheblack, 

Thanks for reaching out here in the Community. 

Would you mind letting us know if this was the Solution you've already tried in order to prevent Chrome from responding to the media keys? 

Keep us posted.

[lolaintheblack]

Hello!
Thank you for a quick reply!
I tried every solution I found under this message because when it happened in the past the solutions from the post helped. But this time nothing works until I restart my laptop and it happens every single day so I hope you can understand it can be pretty inconvenient.
The scenario each day is the same - I open laptop, I play Spotify, all works great, I start using Chrome and after a short moment my play/pause key stops working for Spotify. And when I close Spotify to refresh it the program won't open, I get a notification that it's not responding. I checked with manager and it's not open so I can't force closing it.
The only solution I haven't tried yet is opening Chrome first and then Spotify and closing Spotify through File>Close inside the app (because I thought about the former in the meantime and the latter because I read about it today).
I will let you know how it goes.

[Novy]

Hey @lolaintheblack, 

Thanks for getting back to us. We totally understand where you're coming from, but we're here to help! 

If you've downloaded the app directly from our website, could you give it a try downloading the Microsoft Store version and vice versa? 

We'll also be on the lookout to see what happens when you try the solution you mentioned.

[lolaintheblack]

Hello!
I checked, nothing works, only restarting my laptop and even after that it works only for a while and stops again even though I don't open anything with sound in Chrome.

[lolaintheblack]

And even worse: this is what happens now if I don't restart laptop and after I close it and try to reopen I get notification that Spotify is not responding.
I'm getting really tired of restarting my laptop every 5-10 minutes, especially since I'm working on it all the time.

[Ver]

Hey @lolaintheblack,

Thanks for the info.

Could you try installing the app in Safe mode to see if anything changes?

It's also a good idea to give these steps a go and check the hosts file.

Keep us posted.

[jaaeeger]

Is there a solution to this in 2022? The option "Desktop overlay when using media keys" no longer shows up in settings.