Windows 10 volume mixer not working

Yes, such a phenomenon as the loss of the volume control happens on Windows 10. And there are several reasons for this, from a banal “glitch”, it is currently not established what causes it, to problems with the drivers installed for the sound device. As well as the reasons, there are several solutions. Try it, one of the options should help you - and the question of how to return the volume control to Windows 10 will no longer bother you.

How to return the volume control to Windows 10 yourself

Let's start with simple options and then look at more complex ones.

Let's check ourselves

First, let's make sure that the volume control is enabled in the system settings, maybe someone has disabled it. To do this, go to “Start” - “Settings” - “System” - “Display”. Next: “Notifications and actions” - “Turn system icons on or off” or “Choose the icons that appear in the taskbar.”

In the window that opens, make sure the Volume icon is activated in both links.

If it is turned off, turn it on - the icon should appear. If enabled, disable it, apply changes and re-enable. He has not appeared? Let's try another way.

Fixing a "glitch"

Click on the desktop (in free space) right click mouse and go to “Display Settings”. Resize text, apps, and other elements by 125%. Exit and go back to “Display Settings” - return the scale back to 100%. Restart your computer.

Editing the registry

Right-click the Start menu and select Run, then type REGEDIT. In the Registry Editor window, navigate to the following path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/ Software / Classes/ Local Settings/ Software/ Microsoft/ Windows/ CurrentVersion/ TrayNotify. Remove two values from the TrayNotify folder: constreams and PastIconStream. Restart your computer.

System rollback

Remember what preceded the disappearance of the icon: installing a new driver for sound card or installation software related to sound. In any case, try rolling back the driver, uninstalling the program, or using a system restore point to return it to an earlier state.

Windows volume control, so familiar. It would seem - what could be interesting in it? Increased the volume of computer sounds, decreased the volume of computer sounds... Still, let's look at the possibilities Windows volume icon a little wider.

Beginning with Windows Vista and further (Windows 7, 8, 10) the system began to allow you to change the volume individual applications taking advantage of opportunities mixer. After all, it often happens when some application makes sounds that are clearly louder and more persistent than others. Or vice versa, the volume is turned up, and the application barely meows something. And, although Windows provides several ways to fine-tune sound settings and normalize volume, we will not go too deep, but will use the quick and visual capabilities of the mixer.

Right-click on the speaker icon and select " Open Volume Mixer».

While your active applications are silent, only the master volume control and system volume control.

As soon as the application starts making sounds, it will be displayed in the mixer, and you can immediately adjust its volume simply by dragging the slider. Web browsers such as Google Chrome , for each new tab a separate one is used system process, so if you play music in multiple tabs, each tab will appear separately in the mixer.

Unfortunately, the volume settings for each application are not saved and will need to be adjusted again the next time you launch the application. The system only remembers general volume level(first slider).

More efficient control over Windows sounds can be obtained using third party programs. For example, for Windows 10 there is a small one free program With open source entitled EarTrumpet(which translated means “auditory trumpet”). Not only does it make sound adjustments more visual, it also remembers all the sound levels that you have set for each application. And even after rebooting the computer all settings are saved.

Volume²- an alternative volume control that can completely replace standard regulator Windows volume. Volume² provides easy setup hotkeys and mouse events to control volume. It also has a simple task scheduler that lets you launch apps or control the volume. U this application quite a lot of fans and grateful reviews.

If you have any questions about computer settings, ask them in the comments and I will definitely answer!

When, at the dawn of the evolution of Windows systems, it became possible to install special sound devices, called sound cards, the developers introduced one of the fundamental elements of sound control into the system in the form of a kind of mixing console, on which it is still possible to regulate not only the overall output level sound signal, but also adjust the volume of system notifications (if they are enabled) or any individual active application, V this moment addressing opportunities sound system. Next, we will briefly look at some issues related to how to open the volume mixer in Windows 10 and what actions can be taken if problems are observed with it (the tray icon disappears, the mixer does not open or does not work, etc.). And first, let's stop at the very simple version access to the component described below operating system.

How to open the mixer using the standard method?

Apparently, there is no need to say that even after the first installation of the operating system itself and if there is a correctly installed sound card with working drivers on the computer or laptop, the sound icon in the form of a speaker can be seen in the system area on the “Taskbar” (in the system tray, to the left of the clock and tongue). Calling the context menu on the icon itself via RMB provides access to several settings items, including the Windows 10 volume mixer.

Please immediately pay attention to the fact that initially, in the absence of running active programs using a computer sound system, the mixer itself will only have adjustments for the general level and volume of system notification sounds. If another application is launched in parallel, the user starts listening to music or watching a movie on the Internet using a browser, a separate fader will appear in the mixer to change the sound level of the content played through the browser.

What to do if Windows 10 Volume Mixer won't open?

Now let's dwell a little on possible problems. Most often they are associated with the disappearance of the sound level adjustment icon from the system tray. Situations when the Windows 10 volume mixer does not work at all (the sound is not adjusted or the applet does not start) are usually caused by incorrect work sound card drivers, but we won’t consider them now. We think the icon just disappeared.

First of all, you need to go to the settings, select the personalization section and go to the “Taskbar” settings item.

On the right side of the window there is a line to turn on and off system icons displayed on the panel, among which you need to find the volume and activate the display of the icon by moving the slider to the right.

Manipulating screen settings

You can also assume that the icon seems to be active, but it is still not in the tray, as a result of which the Windows 10 volume mixer is inaccessible. Very often, this problem can be related to screen settings.

In order to fix the problem, you need to use RMB on the “Desktop” to go to the screen settings item, set the scale of text and application elements to 125%, close the settings window, enter the same section again, set original meaning for a scale of 100%, exit the settings and perform full reboot computer or laptop.

Windows 10 Volume Mixer Not Working: System Registry Actions

Finally, let's see what can be done if the above suggested methods do not work. You can return the icon, and at the same time resume access to the Windows 10 volume mixer, through the registry (regedit), using two methods for this.

In the first case, in the HKCU branch you need to find the TrayNotify section, as shown above, and delete the IconStream and PastIconStream keys on the right side of the window. If any of them are not there, no big deal.

In the second case, in the same branch you need to go to the Desktop section, and in the right window create two string parameters, one of which will be named WaitToKillAppTimeout, and the second - HungAppTimeout. Double click You should go into modifying each of the keys and set both to 20000.

Note: When using both methods just described, after all operations in mandatory A system reboot will be required. If you have any doubts about applying these settings, first make backup copy registry using the export function in the file menu.

Question from user #1

Good afternoon.

The volume icon on my laptop has disappeared and now I can't turn the volume up or down. It’s very inconvenient, tell me what can be done?

Question from user #2

Hello. An unpleasant thing happened in my Windows 10 - I click on the volume icon in the tray, but it does not respond (that is, the volume slider itself does not appear). What could it be?

Good day.

Today I decided to combine several questions into one article (especially since the solution to both problems will be the same).

As a rule, when the volume icon disappears (and indeed when different problems with it) it is enough to follow a number of simple steps to restore operation. I will list them below in order.

Solving problems with the volume icon

STEP 1 - checking hidden icons

Windows hides little-used icons by default (though the speaker icon usually doesn't qualify for this). But nevertheless, now there are so many different Windows builds, various tweaks, etc., which wouldn’t hurt to check.

To do this, click on the arrow in the tray and see if this sign is there (see an illustrative example below).

The sound icon appears to have been hidden by Windows as unused

STEP 2 - restart explorer

If there are problems with Explorer (and this includes everything you see: the desktop, taskbar, icons, etc.), problems also appear with the visibility of some elements, or their response to mouse clicks. Restarting Explorer helps solve this problem.

How to restart Explorer: Open task manager (key combination Ctrl+Shift+Esc), in processes find "conductor" (or explorer) right-click on it and select “Restart” from the menu (see screenshot below).

An alternative option for restarting Explorer: restart your computer.

STEP 3 - Checking the display of icons in the Windows Control Panel

Many icons (such as sound, power, network, clock, etc.) can be configured through . This is done in the “Design and Personalization” section, in the “Taskbar and Navigation” subsection (see screenshot below).

If you have Windows 7, then you can immediately start setting up what to display and what not.

If you have Windows 10, then another window will appear in which you need to open one of two links (see below), for example, “Turn system icons on and off.”

Next, you can manually set what you want to see in the taskbar and what not. Regarding the volume icon - turn it on and off. Often such a restart helps solve the problem of its invisibility or inactivity.

Turn Windows 10 system icons on or off

STEP 4 - Are the icons hidden in the editor? group policies

To open the Group Policy Editor, press the button combination Win+R, enter the command gpedit.msc and press Enter .

Note: Group Policy Editor does not open in Windows 10 Home.

Then look for the option (this is for Windows 10), or "Hide volume control icon" (this is for Windows 7).

Once you open the parameter, see if it is enabled! If enabled, change the value to “Not specified” (or “disabled”).

STEP 5 - editing the system registry

Due to "stuck" parameters in system registry, it may well be that the icon the volume will disappear(or will not respond adequately to your clicks on it). To return everything to its original state, you can try deleting a couple of parameters that are responsible for it and rebooting the PC. Let's show with an example...

First, open the registry editor:

click Win+R ;
enter the command in the execute window regedit
press Enter.

In principle, working with the registry is not much different from a regular Explorer.

You need to find two parameters: PastIconsStream And IconStreams, and delete both!

Don't forget to restart your computer after the operation!

STEP 6 - checking and setting up the audio driver

When installing drivers for sound, they often come with a special driver. audio control center. Thanks to it, you can fine-tune the sound, select tone, echo, adjust bass, etc. What I mean is that you can work with sound parameters without system icon(and in most cases, it’s even more convenient)!

Volume2 or .

Thanks to similar programs you can move the sound settings to the place you need (for example, on the desktop or replace them in the tray standard icon) and not have any problems with volume control (do everything in 1-2 mouse clicks).

Not to mention that you can bind the sound settings to the keys you need. Appearance similar icons are also very attractive and will satisfy any esthete (see example below).