Do you often modify the output volume until it reaches a sweet acoustic point? If yes, then the speaker or volume control icon on the far right of the taskbar must be a real blessing. But sometimes, there may be a problem with the Windows 10 desktop/laptop volume control icon. The volume control icon may be completely grayed out or missing. Clicking on it may not do anything at all. In addition, the volume slider may not move or automatically adjust/lock to an undesirable value. In this article, we’ll explain potential fixes for the annoying Windows 10 issue where volume control isn’t working. So, keep reading!
Content Catalog
- Fix Windows 10 volume control not working
- Pro tip: How to enable the volume system icon
- Why is volume control not working in Windows 10 PC?
- Preliminary troubleshooting
- Method 1: Run the Audio troubleshooter
- Method 2: Restart Windows Explorer
- Method 3: Restart the Windows Audio Service
- Method 4: Update the audio driver
- Method 5: Reinstall the audio driver
- Method 6: Run SFC and DISM scans
How to Fix Windows 10 Volume Control Not Working
The volume system icon is used to navigate through various audio settings, such as:
- Clicking on the icon brings up the volume slider for quick adjustments
- Right-click on the icon to display options to open sound settings, mixer, and more.
It is also possible to adjust the output volume using the Fn key or the dedicated multimedia key on some keyboards. However, some users have reported that both methods of adjusting the volume have stopped working on their computers. This problem is problematic because you can’t adjust the system volume on Windows 10.
Pro tip: How to enable the volume system icon
Windows 10 Volume Control Not Working Fix Tutorial: If the volume slider icon is missing from the taskbar, follow these steps to enable it:
1. Press the Windows + I keys at the same time to open Settings.
2. Click Personalization, as shown in the image.
3. From the left pane, go to the taskbar menu.
4. Scroll down to the notification area and click on the System Icon option to turn on or off, highlighted.
5. Now, turn on the switch of the volume system icon as shown in the image.
Why is volume control not working in Windows 10 PC?
- If the audio service fails, the volume control won’t work for you.
- If you’re having trouble with your explorer.exe app.
- The audio driver is corrupted or outdated.
- There are bugs or bugs in the operating system files.
Preliminary troubleshooting
1. First, restart your PC and check if the Windows 10 issue of volume control not working is fixed.
2. Also, try unplugging the external speakers/headphones and reconnecting them after the system restarts.
Method 1: Run the Audio troubleshooter
Workarounds for Windows 10 Volume Control Not Working: Before we get our hands on it and do all the troubleshooting ourselves, let’s use the built-in audio troubleshooting tool in Windows 10. The tool runs a series of predefined checks on audio device drivers, audio services and settings, hardware changes, and more, and automatically resolves some frequently encountered issues.
1. Press the Windows key, type Control Panel, and click Open.
2. Set the viewing by > large icon and click on the troubleshooting option.
3. Click the View All option in the left pane.
4. Click on the Play Audio Troubleshooter option.
5. Click on the advanced options in the Play Audio troubleshooter as shown in the image.
6. Then, check the Apply repairs automatically option and click on Next as highlighted.
7. The troubleshooter will begin to detect the problem, and you should follow the on-screen instructions to resolve the issue.
Method 2: Restart Windows Explorer
Windows 10 Volume Control Not Working Fix Tutorial :explorer.exe The process is responsible for displaying all desktop elements, taskbars, and other user interface features. If it has been corrupted or damaged, it will cause the taskbar and desktop to become unresponsive. To resolve this issue and restore volume control, you can manually restart the explorer.exe process from Task Manager as follows:
1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys at the same time to open the Task Manager.
2. Here, the task manager displays all the active processes running in the foreground or background.
Note: Click More Details in the bottom left corner to see the same.
3. In the Processes tab, right-click on the Windows Explorer process and select the Restart option as shown below.
Note: The entire user interface disappears for a second, i.e. the screen goes black before reappearing. The volume control should be back now. If not, try the next solution.
Method 3: Restart the Windows Audio Service
How to Fix Windows 10 Volume Control Not Working? Similar to the explorer.exe process, a failed instance of the Windows Audio service can be the culprit of your volume control issues. The above services manage the audio for all Windows-based programs and should remain active in the background at all times. Otherwise, you will encounter some audio-related issues, such as volume control not working in Windows 10.
1. Press the Windows + R keys at the same time to open the run dialog box.
2. Type services.msc and click OK to launch the Services Manager app.
3. Click on the name, as shown in the image, to sort the services alphabetically.
4. Locate and select Windows Audio Services and click on the Restart Service option that appears in the left pane.
This should solve the problem, and now the Red Cross is gone. In order to prevent the above error from happening again on the next startup, follow the given steps:
5. Right-click the Windows Audio Service and select Properties.
6. In the General tab, select the startup type as Automatic.
7. Also, check the status of the service. If the display is stopped, click the Start button to change the service status to Running.
Note: If the status shows Running, go to the next step.
8. Click Apply to save the changes, and then click the OK button to exit.
9. Now, right-click on Windows Audio again and select Restart to restart the process.
10. Right-click on Windows Audio Endpoint Builder and select Properties. Make sure that the startup type of this service is also set to Automatic.
Method 4: Update the audio driver
Workaround for Windows 10 volume control not working: Device driver files should always be up-to-date to keep the hardware components working perfectly. If you start having a Windows 10 issue where volume control doesn’t work after installing a new Windows update, there may be some inherent bugs in that version that are causing the issue. It could also be because the audio drivers are not compatible. If the latter is the case, manually update the driver file as follows:
1. Click Start and type Device Manager, then press Enter.
2. Double-click the sound, video, and game controllers to expand.
3. Right-click on your audio driver (e.g. Realtek High Definition Audio) and select Properties.
4. Go to the Drivers tab and click Update Driver
5. Select Search for drivers automatically
6. Windows will automatically search for the driver your PC needs and install it. Restart your PC to do the same.
7A。 If you see the message that the best driver for your device is installed, click Close.
7B。 Alternatively, click Search for updated drivers on Windows Update, which will take you to Settings to search for any recent optional driver updates.
Method 5: Reinstall the audio driver
How to Fix Windows 10 Volume Control Not Working? If the problem persists due to incompatible audio drivers, even after the update, uninstall the current settings and perform a clean install, as described below:
1. Navigate to Device Manager > Sound, Video, and Game Controllers as described earlier.
2. Right-click your audio driver, and then click Uninstall Device, as shown below.
3. Once the sound driver is uninstalled, right-click on the group and select Scan for hardware changes as shown in the image below.
4. Wait for Windows to automatically scan and install the default audio driver on your system.
5. Finally, restart your PC and check if you were able to fix the volume control not working issue on Windows 10.
Method 6: Run SFC and DISM scans
Workaround for Windows 10 volume control not working: Finally, you can try running a repair scan to fix corrupted system files or replace any missing files to restore volume control until Microsoft releases a new update with permanent fixes for the issue.
1. Press the Windows key, type Command Prompt and click Run as Administrator.
2. Click Yes in the User Account Control prompt.
3. Type sfc /scannow and press Enter to run the System File Checker tool.
Note: The process will take a few minutes to complete. Be careful not to close the command prompt window.
4. Once the system file scan is complete, restart your computer.
5. Start the elevated Command Prompt again and execute the given commands one after the other.
- dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth
- dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
- dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup
Note: You must have an active Internet connection to execute DISM commands.
Hopefully, the above list of solutions will help fix the Windows 10 volume control not working issue on your computer. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comments section below.
