# Failure of Play .FLAC
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [October 20, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618 "2007-10-20T13:53:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@chrisjj](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/chrisjj)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/1 "2007-10-20T13:53:23Z")
Every attempt to play a FLAC fails with e.g.
. Cannot open file "G:\file.flac" for playing!
even though play works fine when that filepath is pasted into Windows Run.
I'm sure not everyone can be finding this! So, can anyone suggest what's up here? Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2007, 10:55am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/2 "2007-10-21T10:55:13Z")
Mp3tag reads HKEY\_CLASSES\_ROOT.FLAC for a reference to a file type that contains the default program to open the file.
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### Author:  [@chrisjj](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/chrisjj)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2007, 2:56pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/3 "2007-10-21T14:56:49Z")
Explorer File Types shows FLAC open uses Winamp. Isn't that all the info mp3tag needs? Or does mp3tag need me to create a registery key manually?
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/4 "2007-10-21T15:39:37Z")
Which value has the entry at HKEY\_CLASSES\_ROOT.FLAC?
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### Author:  [@chrisjj](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/chrisjj)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/5 "2007-10-21T17:04:39Z")
HKEY\_CLASSES\_ROOT.flac has the value flac\_auto\_file .
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2007, 7:27am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/6 "2007-10-22T07:27:53Z")
And what do you find at
HKEY\_CLASSES\_ROOT\flac\_auto\_file\shell\open\command ?
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### Author:  [@chrisjj](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/chrisjj)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2007, 7:44am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/7 "2007-10-22T07:44:17Z")
HKEY\_CLASSES\_ROOT\flc\_auto\_file\shell\open\command has
Name Type Data
(Default) REG\_SZ "C:\Program Files\Winamp\winamp.exe" "%1"
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2007, 9:35am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/8 "2007-10-22T09:35:14Z")
Do you have Winamp installed in this location?
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### Author:  [@chrisjj](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/chrisjj)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2007, 9:50am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/9 "2007-10-22T09:50:48Z")
Yes.
If I paste C:\Program Files\Winamp\winamp.exe into Start | Run..., Winamp launches.
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2007, 9:52am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/10 "2007-10-22T09:52:34Z")
Do you have specified a tool for the default double-click action at Options \> Tools?
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### Author:  [@chrisjj](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/chrisjj)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2007, 10:19am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/11 "2007-10-22T10:19:27Z")
No.
'Use special program at double clicks' is unchecked.
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/12 "2007-10-22T19:24:58Z")
Can you please follow these steps:
1. open Mp3tag
2. select one FLAC file in the file list
3. press Ctrl+Shift+F5
4. double-click on the file to reproduce the behaviour
5. press Ctrl+Shift+F8
6. close Mp3tag
After that, please send me the file %APPDATA%\Mp3tag\Mp3tagLog.zip via email.
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@chrisjj](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/chrisjj)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2007, 12:54am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/13 "2007-10-23T00:54:35Z")
Impressive - esp. the sound effects! 😉
You have mail.
PS FWIW the (only, so far) other mp3tag user I've asked to try this reports the same failure, also on WinXP SP2.
Edit: removed email address to prevent spam
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2007, 4:17am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/14 "2007-10-23T04:17:06Z")
According to the log it's not
C:\Program Files\Winamp\winamp.exe
but
C:\Program Files\GoldWave\GoldWave.exe
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### Author:  [@chrisjj](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/chrisjj)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2007, 9:23am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/15 "2007-10-23T09:23:51Z")
Oops, sorry my mistake - you asked for
> [@](#):
>
> HKEY\_CLASSES\_ROOT\flac\_auto\_file\shell\open\command
but my \<{POST\_SNAPBACK}\> gave you
> [@](#):
>
> HKEY\_CLASSES\_ROOT\flc\_auto\_file\shell\open\command has
.
There's no C:\Program Files\GoldWave\GoldWave.exe so since mp3tag is looking for specifically it, that explains the failure.
Leavng the question: how come this installation of mp3tag fails to launch FLAC whereas whereas other programs e.g. Explorer succeed?
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2007, 5:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/16 "2007-10-23T17:10:35Z")
I'll try to make that more reliable to the next version.
Kind regards,
Florian
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### Author:  [@chrisjj](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/chrisjj)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/17 "2007-10-23T18:50:56Z")
Perhaps ShellExecute ([http://support.microsoft.com/kb/238245](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/238245)) is a better way to go, giving the the job of app-finding to Windows. This might be good for [/t/5529/1](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/5529/1) a) too.
Thanks again Florian.
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/18 "2007-10-23T18:52:19Z")
Yes, I think ShellExecute is the way to go.
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2007, 9:09am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/19 "2007-10-31T09:09:02Z")
I've changed the behaviour with the current [Development Build](http://developer.mp3tag.de).
Does this resolve the issue for you?
Kind regards,
Florian
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2025, 3:00pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/failure-of-play-flac/5618/20 "2025-11-12T15:00:19Z")
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