Disappearing Volume Mixer
- The volume mixer symbol has mysteriously disappeared from the bottom right of my screen, where I would normally find it. How do I get it back there?
I know that it still exists on the computer, since when I search through "help" about the volume mixer and follow the link there, voila! the volume mixer appears on my screen.
Any ideas?1 person got this answerI do too
Answers
Hi Taikod,
Thanks for utilizing answers.microsoft.com for your Windows Vista questions.
Let's try to assist you with this issue.
- Right Click on an empty spot on the taskbar or Click the Start ORB - in the search line type Taskbar.
- From the right click of the taskbar select PROPERTIES or from the programs list right click Taskbar and Startmenu.
- From the list that appears select the Notification Area tab
- Under the System Icons place a check mark in the box to the left of VOLUME
- Click Apply
- Click OK
The volume icon should be listed in the taskbar at this time. If it is not then verify the login that is being used has Administrative privileges.
Please let us know if we may assist you further involving this issue or if the issue has been resolved.
Once again, thanks for using the answers.microsoft.com forums.
Regards,
Debbie Microsoft Answers Support Engineer Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.- Marked As Answer byBrent-Support EngineerMSFT, ModeratorSaturday, April 18, 2009 2:25 AM
All Replies
Hi Taikod,
Thanks for utilizing answers.microsoft.com for your Windows Vista questions.
Let's try to assist you with this issue.
- Right Click on an empty spot on the taskbar or Click the Start ORB - in the search line type Taskbar.
- From the right click of the taskbar select PROPERTIES or from the programs list right click Taskbar and Startmenu.
- From the list that appears select the Notification Area tab
- Under the System Icons place a check mark in the box to the left of VOLUME
- Click Apply
- Click OK
The volume icon should be listed in the taskbar at this time. If it is not then verify the login that is being used has Administrative privileges.
Please let us know if we may assist you further involving this issue or if the issue has been resolved.
Once again, thanks for using the answers.microsoft.com forums.
Regards,
Debbie Microsoft Answers Support Engineer Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.- Marked As Answer byBrent-Support EngineerMSFT, ModeratorSaturday, April 18, 2009 2:25 AM
- In my systems icon list the Volume icon is greyed out and not selectable, I can only select the other 3 i.e. power, network and clock. I used to have the volume icon on the taskbar but it just suddenly disappeared in the last few days. Help please.
Judi - Hi,
Reboot 1st
How to Enable or Disable the Notification Area System Icons in Vista
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/106787-notification-area-system-icons.html
That should help fix it.
Rob - Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.- Proposed As Answer bySpiritX Monday, August 24, 2009 8:32 AM
- Thank you so much - worked perfectly
Judi - Oh dear I spoke too soon - it has disappeared again. When I look in the notification area it is not available to select (greyed out) so I followed the instructions above again and it still shows that the removal of the volume icon is disabled which is what I did that worked so well before. Is this going to keep happening?
Help please
Judi - Hi,
Did you reboot 1st? Are you still hearing sound even though the Speaker is not there? If not do the below
after trying the this :
Did you try the link I posted?
Reboot 1st
How to Enable or Disable the Notification Area System Icons in Vista
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/106787-notification-area-system-icons.html
-----------------------------------------------------------
Control Panel - Device Manager - SOUNDS - look for HD Audio Mine says RealTek High Definition Audio
Write down description make and model - double click on it - drivers tab - write down version. Now
Click UPdate Drivers which may not do anything as MS is far behind certifying drivers. Then RIGHT
CLICK on it and UNINSTALL - REBOOT - this will rebuild the driver stack.
1st go to system maker's site and look for latest driver Download - SAVE - go to right click on and RUN AS ADMIN
(This is your fallback.) REBOOT after each driver installation.
NOTE : Sound driver often rollback so check the version after installation and the reboot to see if the version you
installed is there, if not repeat - reboot until it is. It can take several tries depending on how many rollbacks it
does.
Then do same for Device Maker's site.
Manually look at manufacturer's sites for drivers - and Device Maker's sites.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/driverssupport/ht/driverdlmfgr.htm
How to Install a Device Driver in Vista Device Manager
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/193584-device-manager-install-driver.html
-----------------------------------------------------
Error “the Audio Service Is Not Running” When Opening the Volume Mixer in Vista
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/error-the-audio-service-is-not-running-when-opening-the-volume-mixer-in-vista/
Also Right Click Speaker near clock - Playback Devices - right click in the box area - check
Show disable and disconnected devices. Highlight speaker and the on lower Right click Properties
check settings for Device Usage enabled and so on. Also do same for Configure on Lower Left of
that box.
In Control Panel you can also look for an Audio Manager along with the Sound Settings.
Problems with sound and audio or no sound - a Mr Fixit
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/no_sound
Tips for fixing common sound problems
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/1e87a3e8-c0e8-49af-980f-9eb6686f42d21033.mspx
Speakers and other audio output devices
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/a43f3a31-6d9f-49d1-be22-e2f47b8b1f2c1033.mspx
How to Enable Hidden Audio Devices in Vista
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/143447-audio-device-enable-hidden-devices.html
How to troubleshoot sound problems that you experience after you install a Windows Vista Service Pack
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948481
Hope this helps.
Rob - Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right. - Hi Rob
Yes I did reboot 1st and yes I did follow your link which did enable me to get the volume icon back on the bar. It only stayed there for a few days before disappearing again. At the moment it is still there! I do have sound, but can only adjust the level via the control panel path when the icon is missing.
I will explore your suggested actions above and let you know how I go.
Many thanks again.
Judi - Thanks Debbie at least some one at Microsoft cares, and now that I got My volume control back on the taskbar how do I get My internet connection Icon back on the taskbar?
- Hi,
This works for Clock, Volume, Network and Power.
How to Enable or Disable the Notification Area System Icons in Vista
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/106787-notification-area-system-icons.html
Good luck.
Rob - Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right. I just had exactly the same problem as Judi49. The following is what I did to correct the problem.
Open up the Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), go to the "Processes" tab, select "explorer.exe" and click "End Process"
Then select the users tab in the task manager select youself and click on logoff tab at the bottom. Login again and everything should be back.
Please post back if it worked so that it can help others.
YTS.- Proposed As Answer byAceMace Saturday, October 10, 2009 5:39 AM
- Hi AceMace,
That is why I suggested a reboot before the fix. Often a reboot (or reloading Explorer) stops whatever is
causing the issue at least temporarily if not completely. Next time it happens try the reboot and if not
cleared the fix is needed. By restarting explorer it might only be solved until next restart.
Several possible patterns are always good though.
Rob - Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right. - Hi SpiritX,
Rebooting worked initially for a few days. Initially, I only had the disappearing volume mixer icon which came back after a restart. Then after a few days,I started seeing a red cross on my network icon indicating no internet connection even though I had connection. Then both the power icon and the network icons disappeared and now all 3 are grayed out in the notification area of the task bar and the start menu. At this point rebooting did not show any of the 3 (including the volume mixer) again.
I thought about trying to check the registery key but tried deleting the explorer first and that worked. So far it has not come back after switching my computer on and off a few times already. I have always suspected the problem is related to a few freezes/crashes that I experienced with internet explorer.
For anybody experiencing a similar problem to try what I suggested in my earlier post repeated below:-
Open up the Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), go to the "Processes" tab, select "explorer.exe" and click "End Process"
Then select the users tab in the task manager select youself and click on logoff tab at the bottom. Login again and everything should be back.
YTS. - Hi AceMace
I have tried your suggested fix and so far working ok. Thanks very much.
Judi49 - Hi,
You can band-aid it or fix it.
How to Enable or Disable the Notification Area System Icons in Vista
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/106787-notification-area-system-icons.html
Good luck.
Rob - Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right. - Hi Rob
I'll go with the band aid for now because it works and is fast to do. Your link also works, temporarily, I know i have tried it many times, but it is not permanent and I still lose the volume mixer icon.
I suspect Windows 7 will be the fix in the end.
Judi - Hi Judi49,
You are welcome. SpiritX's solution did not work for me, so I had to use the fix I described earlier. Since then I have had explorer crash a couple of times but the problem did not re-appear. So far so good.
SpiritX,
I think it depends on what caused the disappearance of the icons in the first place. I believe mine was as a result of the combination of explorer as well as windows crashing ( a few times in the case of IE). See description in my earlier post.
For everyone else, just start with the easiest suggestion, if it does not work try the next one until it is fixed. Only try any suggestion that involves the registry
as a last resort and only if you know what you are doing so that you do not mess up your computer.
YTS. - Hi,
AceMace if you repeatedly do not have the Icon in Systray then you need to enable it and troubleshoot
the reason. It just about has to be a startup program though it is possible its a service or driver issue.
Also think antivirus/antispyware/security products.
==================================
How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135
How to troubleshoot performance issues in Windows Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950685
Optimizing Microsoft Windows Vista Performance
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/959062
To see all that is loading bootup - wait a few minutes without doing anything - then Right Click TaskBar -
Task Manager - take a look at Appplications - Processes - Services - this is a quick reference (if you have
a little box on Lower Left - Show for All Users then check that).
How to Check and Change the Startup Programs in Vista
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/79612-startup-programs-enable-disable.html
A quick check to see which are loading is Method 2 there - using MSCONFIG then post a list of those here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Tools that should help :
Process Explorer - Free - Find out what files, registry keys and other objects processes have open, which DLLs
they have loaded, and more. This uniquely powerful utility will even show you who owns each process.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
Autoruns - Free - See what programs are configured to startup automatically when your system boots and you
login. Autoruns also shows you the full list of Registry and file locations where applications can configure auto-
start settings.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx
Process Monitor - Free - Monitor file system, Registry, process, thread and DLL activity in real-time.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx
There are many excellent free tools at Sysinternals
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx
WhatsInStartUP - Free - This utility displays the list of all applications that are loaded automatically when Windows
starts up. For each application, the following information is displayed: Startup Type (Registry/Startup Folder),
Command -Line String, Product Name, File Version, Company Name, Location in the Registry or file system,
and more. It allows you to easily disable or delete unwanted programs that runs in your Windows startup.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/what_run_in_startup.htmlThere are many excellent free tools at NirSoft
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/index.html
Window Watcher - Free - Do you know what's running on your computer? Maybe not. The Window Watcher tells all, reporting every window created by every running program, whether the window is visible or not.
http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptwinwatch.asp
Many excellent free tools and an excellent newsletter at Karenware
http://www.karenware.com/
Hope these help.
Rob - Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right. - hi!
please help me!
i had done to step 3, but i can't check mark in the box to the left of VOLUME. Please tell me why?
thanks! - Hi tan_truong,
1st Please Reboot so nothing is interferring with this process.
How to Enable or Disable the Notification Area System Icons in Vista
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/106787-notification-area-system-icons.html
Hope this helps.
Rob - Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.- Proposed As Answer bytan_truong Tuesday, November 17, 2009 3:17 PM
- hi SpiritX !
I had done suscessful, thanks for your help. - Glad to have helped.
Rob - Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.
