Ncmpcpp on Windows

1. MPD
2. ncmpcpp

Setting up MPD

1. Install Chocolatey

2. Open a terminal and run: choco install mpd

3. Create a folder called mpd. I used C:/mpd as my directory. Remember to replace all occurrences of my directory with your own.

4. Create a folder inside mpd called playlists.

5. Create a file called mpd.conf and open it.

6. Copy the contents inside

   bind_to_address "your_ip_adress"
   port "6600"
   
   music_directory "C:/replace_with_my_music_directory"
   log_file "C:/mpd/mpd.log"
   db_file "C:/mpd/mpd.db"
   playlist_directory "C:/mpd/playlists"
   state_file "C:/mpd/mpdstate"
   pid_file "C:/mpd/mpd.pid"
   
   audio_output {
       type "winmm"
       name "replace_with_any_name"
       mixer_type "software"
       device "replace_with_device_name"
   }
   

   Replace all directories with your own.

   Edit bind_to_address to your local ip eg. "192.168.0.123". Don't use 127.0.0.1!

   Edit name to anything your want.

   Edit device name with one of these two ways:

   1. In the windows 10 sound settings. Under Output - Choose your output device. Copy the text circled in red to device.

      

   2. Press Win+R. Type dxdiag. Click the sound tab and copy the device name into device.

7. In terminal run cd C:\mpd.

8. Then run MPD with: mpd mpd.conf

9. MPD is now running. You'll get a couple of errors; ignore these.

10. Your folder structure should look like this:

    mpd
    ├── mpd.conf
    ├── mpd.db
    ├── mpd.log
    ├── mpdstate
    │
    └───playlists
    

11. To automatically run mpd at boot, first:

    Download the latest release. This will allow us to run mpd without a window.

    Then copy it to C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin and rename it to mpdw.exe

    Then run this command:

    reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run /v mpd /t REG_SZ /d "C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin\mpdw.exe C:\mpd\mpd.conf"
    

Setting up ncmpcpp

1. You cannot run ncmpcpp natively on windows so you'll need to use Windows Subsystem for Linux. You can install it here.

   I used Ubuntu for this example.

2. sudo apt install ncmpcpp

3. mkdir -p ~/.ncmpcpp/lyrics

4. nano ~/.ncmpcpp/config

5. Open CMD or PowerShell and type ipconfig. Note your IPv4 Address.

6. Paste the following config. Make sure to change mpd_host to your IP.

mpd_host = "LOCAL_IP_HERE"
mpd_port = 6600 
media_library_primary_tag = album_artist

7. Then type: ncmpcpp
8. Press u to update the music directory

Ncmpcpp should be working now; however it's quite ugly in it's default configuration. You can grab mine here.

If you want to learn the default shortcuts.

If you want to change how the players looks or works.

If you would like to change keyboard shortcuts.