This page covers information about a Windows MIDI Services feature and application that will be released to consumers in November 2026. It’s currently available for developers.
Windows MIDI Settings is the front door to MIDI on this PC. It shows every MIDI endpoint Windows knows about, lets you name them and give them a picture, and launches the rest of the MIDI tools.
Most of what you do day to day works as a standard user. Only the machine-wide settings behind the Global MIDI Settings button on the toolbar need administrator rights, and the app tells you when that is the case rather than demanding them up front.
The main window lists every MIDI endpoint on this PC, with the other MIDI apps across the top.
Across the top are the other Windows MIDI Services apps. Only the ones actually installed on this PC appear, so the toolbar reflects what you can really do:
Global MIDI Settings and Notifications sit at the right end of the toolbar and stay there. Global MIDI Settings opens the machine-wide settings described below, and Notifications chooses when Windows MIDI Services tells you something. Neither is a separate app; both open in this window.
If the window is too narrow for all of the tools, the ones that do not fit move into a … button at the end of the row. Click it to reach them. Right-click anywhere on the toolbar and turn off Show button labels to get a compact row of icons instead, which fits many more tools in the same space. Point at an icon to see its name. Your choice is remembered.
The main area lists every MIDI endpoint on the PC. Two views:
The drop-down on the left filters by transport, so you can look at just the Bluetooth devices, or just the loopbacks. Your choice of view and filter is remembered.
Each endpoint has two buttons:
If Windows MIDI Services has never been set up on this PC, a banner appears above the list inviting you to create a configuration file. Without one, anything you customize is lost when the service restarts.
The list keeps itself up to date as devices come and go, and it recovers on its own if the MIDI service is restarted underneath it.
Selecting an endpoint opens its details:
That last one matters more than it looks. A device that reports a serial number or a product instance ID can be recognized wherever you plug it in, so the name and picture you give it follow it around. A device that reports neither is matched by the port it is plugged into, and moving it may lose your customization.
Everything else Windows knows about an endpoint - function blocks, group terminal blocks, declared protocol, stream configuration - is available from the MIDI console. It is too much detail for this app.
Customize lets you set the name and description the endpoint shows everywhere in Windows, and attach a picture to it. Pictures are copied into a shared folder, so every MIDI app shows the same artwork for the same device.
The change is applied to the running service immediately and saved to the configuration file so it survives a restart.
A USB device attached through Kernel Streaming gets a MIDI 1.0 port for each of its groups, and those are what older applications see through WinMM and WinRT MIDI 1.0. Edit port names, in the customize dialog, is where you name them. It only appears for devices which have those ports.
Inputs and outputs are listed separately, in group order. For each port you see the name it has now, the two names Windows can generate for it, and a box for a name of your own.
Name style for this device overrides the machine-wide default for this one device:
Seeing both generated names side by side is the point of the grid: you can tell what switching style would do to each port before you commit to it.
A name of your own overrides whichever style is selected, and is capped at 31 characters because that is all WinMM stores. Leave the box empty to use the generated name.
Renaming takes effect when the MIDI service restarts, and applications which remember ports by name will need to be pointed at them again. There is a button to restart the service in Global MIDI settings.
These are shared by everyone who uses the PC, so they need administrator rights. If the app is not running elevated it says so and offers to restart itself with the rights it needs.
Configuration file - your endpoint names, pictures and transport setup are stored in a configuration file under %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\MIDI. Only one is active at a time. You can switch between files, create a new one, and save a copy somewhere else for backup or to move to another PC.
Default MIDI 1.0 port naming - how ports are named for older applications which use WinMM or WinRT MIDI 1.0. Compatible with older Windows keeps the names those applications have always seen. New style names ports from the endpoint and block names, which is clearer but will make applications that remember port names by string ask you to pick the device again.
MIDI service - changing the configuration file or the port naming takes effect when the service restarts, and there’s a button here to do that.
The palette button in the title bar sets the theme, the window material and a custom window color, and the pin next to it keeps the window on top. These are the same settings every Windows MIDI Services tool has, and they are remembered per app.
Windows MIDI Services is an open source project with all source available on GitHub. We have a great community on Discord as well. Between GitHub and Discord, you should find the information you are looking for.
