Zune software command-line switches, URIs revealed +

For most of you, the headline to this post will cause you to say, “hmmm… I wonder if I have any new mail!” so, if that’s the case, just move on. No worries.

But for those of you out there who perked up a little at this post’s headline, well. You’ve got issues.

Just kidding. Check these out, undocumented command-line switches and URI’s to control the Zune software, thanks to Within Windows. (image courtesy of Within Windows).

-gdi
Forces the software to render the UI using older GDI technologies, vice DirectX.

-switchtogdi
Forces the software to render the UI using older GDI technologies, vice DirectX, permanently. This has the same effect as setting the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Zune\GeneralSettings\RenderingType DWORD to 0.

-dx9
Forces the software to render the UI using newer DirectX technologies, vice GDI. This is the default behavior but can be useful if the default rendering method was changed (e.g. -switchtogdi was used earlier).

-size:<width>,<height>
Forces the software to resize the window to specified size. Width and height values can be in several numerical formats (e.g. hexadecimal, decimal). The default window size is 1012×693 (0×3f4, 0×2b5).

-minimized
Forces the software to start minimized.

-direction:<direction>
Forces the software to render the text direction in specified direction. Valid directions are right-to-left and left-to-right, rtl and ltr respectfully.

-nativeframe
Forces the software to render the UI keeping the native Windows frame intact.

-animations:<bool>
Forces the software to enable or disable animations, driven by the value specified.

-link:”<zune uri>”
Forces the software to process a specified Zune URI. Valid URIs:

zune://refreshAccount/ - Refreshes the account state (e.g. logged in status).

zune://subscribe/?[title]=[uri] - Sign up for specified podcast. The title variable indicates the name of the podcast and the uri points to a podcast RSS feed.

zune://navigate/?[typeid]=[value] - Instruct the client to navigate to a particular area (e.g. specific album in Marketplace).

Marketplace Links

TypeID
Value

trackID
Track unique identifier

albumID
Album unique identifier

videoID
Video unique identifier

artistID
Artist unique identifier

playlistID
Playlist unique identifier

hubID
“Flexhub” unique identifier

podcastID
Podcast unique identifier

tvSeriesID
TV Series unique identifier

tvEpisodeID
TV Episode unique identifier

tvSpecialID
TV Special (i.e. short) unique identifier

cartItemID
Cart Item unique identifier

Social Links

TypeID
Value

messageID
Message unique identifier

profile
Zune Tag

BUGNOTE: The Zune application does not properly un-escape the Zune Tag parameter for display (cosmetic).

myProfile
(omit)

NOTE: The Zune software registers and handles the zune:// protocol, enabling users to create “external hyperlinks”. For example, click here to view my profile within the Zune application.

-ripcd:<drive letter>:
Forces the software to initiate audio disc ripping functionality. Characters proceeding the colon are ignored/stripped.

-playcd:<drive letter>:
Forces the software to initiate audio disc playing functionality. Characters proceeding the colon are ignored/stripped.

-playmedia:”<media full path>”
Forces the software to initiate the embedded media player for the specified media (e.g. wmv file on disk).

-dataobject:<dataobject> -event:<event> -shellhlp_v2:<task>
Forces the software to execute a task manually, residing in a data object, triggering the specified event.
(this advanced functionality has not yet been explored in-depth, nor tested)

-update
Forces the software to install all pending updates. Can be combined with other switches.

Related Posts

• Zune 2.5 includes song notifier (sort of)