The VideoLAN Forums

Hi guys!

I have had problems with VLC on this computer for a while now, but this one is the biggest and most annoying. You know, I love VLC, it is just so simple and light, and that makes it the superior media player. However, my problem this time is every time I open up VLC, it will open up in a cmd window. So I have basically two windows open, the media player itself(the top bar calls it "VLC(Direct3D output)(has no controls or anything, the video itself runs fine)" and a command window, which is apparentally for controlling the player.

This is very annoying. I have tried reinstalling(the ordinary version and 64bit), but still the same problem! I tried googling but no luck...

So, how do I disable VLC for opening a cmd window? It's really strange, because I have reinstalled it so many times already...

Thanks in advance!

Reset the preferences.

Thanks, it worked
So simple...

resetting the preferences "works", but it's not really the best solution, is it? especially for those of us who use advanced settings and don't want to have to reconfigure little details because we couldn't be bothered to find the actual source of the problem...

you need to go into Preferences, show all settings, look for Interfaces -> Main Interface. uncheck "Lua interpreter".

resetting the preferences "works", but it's not really the best solution, is it? especially for those of us who use advanced settings and don't want to have to reconfigure little details because we couldn't be bothered to find the actual source of the problem...

you need to go into Preferences, show all settings, look for Interfaces -> Main Interface. uncheck "Lua interpreter".

Thank youuuuuu!!! I have been searching the solution for this problem. =D

Hello, my vlc player is also opening up with the Command Line Interface. I want to get it back to the normal interface, but I am not familiar with using the command line, and I do not want to have to reset the preferences and reinstall it. I would just like to know exactly what I should type into the command prompt to get it back to the normal interface where I do not have to use the command line, and I am not sure how I would get to the preferences to change the Main Interface and uncheck Lua interpreter using the command line. I have Windows 64 bit. Help would be much appreciated, I have been completely lost since my VLC started opening up as a command line interface.

I was hopeful reading Illuminoid's post, but alas, I went to the specified menu and found "Lua interpreter", but it was already unchecked. So back to the drawing board for me.

I was hopeful reading Illuminoid's post, but alas, I went to the specified menu and found "Lua interpreter", but it was already unchecked. So back to the drawing board for me.

Reset preferences.

I had “Qt interface” checked under
Tools ⇨ Preferences ⇨ Show settings ⇨ All ⇨ Interface ⇨ Main Interfaces.

I'm also unfavourable of resetting, just collect whatever possibilities on this thread.

I made an account just so I could reply to this so hopefully, it helps someone.

Going to Advanced Preferences & unchecking "Lua Interpreter" didn't work for me because it was already unchecked but I did notice that under Interface > Control Interfaces > "Windows Service interface" was checked, after I unchecked that & restarted VLC, the command prompt window was gone!

How do I get to the preferences reset option? I get only the command line interface when I start VLC. All previous replies imply they get access to the graphical interface.

From the GUI. You can reset preferences from the CLI with the --reset-config command line option.

The response I get is "reset is not a command".

If I enter the command "add C:\Slides.mp4" , the screen flashed several times, the CLI shows 14 error messages and the program opens a second instance displaying the slides. However, I canot open the GUI from that instance.

Works fine here.

I uninstalled and reinstalled. Works now. I will make a copy of the original configuration file to use if the original gets changed in the future.

Nice clear directions from TheWindowsClub to stop the Direct 3d Output window.

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/stop-vlc ... put-window

This is what worked for me:
2] Enable Integrate video in interface
There is a preference that integrates and plays the layers of a video file in a single window. It has to be enabled to stop Direct 3D output on the VLC media player. To enable it, go to Preferences using the Ctrl+P keyboard shortcut or using the menu bar. On the Simple Preferences window, check the box beside Integrate video in the interface in the Interface Settings.

Integrate Video files

This will stop Direct 3D output on VLC.

Okay, so I have to unclick the Lua Interpreter to get out of this CLI interface.

But then: How do I get to preferences when I only see this Command line?
There's no tools > preferences here, and all the search results for: "How to get VLC out of command line interface?" just return how to close it

Edit:
Did a full uninstall and reinstall and still it opens up in CLI.
Why is there no clear message: If you want to get out of this to the GUI type -> X?
The help menu only displays how I would do things with media, I just want to leave this ASAP

Reset the preferences and cache (the manual way) and try again:
https://wiki.videolan.org/VSG:ResetPrefs