Volume is the most important and widely used feature on a Windows PC for video calls and entertainment. But what if your Windows PC stops outputting sound and the Volume Mixer fails to open from the taskbar? You can fix the Volume Mixer not opening in Windows 10 with the solutions we'll discuss in this post.
Not every issue is new, but some of them, including the volume mixer not opening issue, can ruin your Windows 10 user experience.
We'll list some effective solutions you can apply to fix the issue. However, let's check out the fixes.
1. Update your audio driver to fix the audio mixer not opening in Windows 10.
You may have missed a software update. Audio playback In Windows Update on your computer. An outdated or outdated driver may be causing the audio mixer to not work properly on Windows 10. Here are the steps to update your audio driver.
Step 1: Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager from the menu that opens.
Alternatively, you can press the Windows key + R shortcut to open the Run box. Enter the command below and press Enter.
devmgmt.msc
Step 2: In the Device Manager window, you need to expand the “Sound, video and game controller” options.
Step 3: Locate the audio driver installed on your computer, right-click it, and select Update Driver from the menu that appears.
Step 4: Click the Search automatically for drivers button. Windows will now search for a new update for the installed audio driver. If a new one is available, it will be installed.
Step 5: Exit Device Manager and restart your computer. Finally, check if the audio mixer not working issue has been resolved.
2. Reinstall the audio driver to fix the audio mixer not opening in Windows 10.
Reinstalling the audio driver, or any other driver for that matter, will remove any files that may have been corrupted due to the problematic installation. Here are the steps to reinstall your audio driver.
Step 1: Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager from the list of options that appears.
Step 2: Now, expand the Sound, video and game controllers section.
Step 3: Right-click on the audio driver name and select the Uninstall device option.
Step 4: After the uninstallation is complete, click the “Scan for hardware changes” option below the “Help” button.
Step 5: Windows will search for your audio device and install the audio driver. Once this is complete, check to see if your audio mixer is working properly.
3. Run an SFC scan to fix the volume mixer not opening in Windows 10.
If you think corrupt files might be causing this issue, you can use the SFC Scan (System File Checker) tool to fix it. It's a tool built into Windows 10 that helps you check for and repair corrupted system files.
Here are the steps to use it.
Step 1: Click the Start button, type Command Prompt and select Run as administrator to open it with administrative privileges.
Step 2: In the CMD window, enter the command below and press Enter to start the system file scanning process.
sfc / scannow
Step 3: System File Checker will search for any corrupted files, possibly related to the audio driver, and attempt to repair them. Once the process is complete, restart your computer and see if this resolves the issue.
4. Run the troubleshooter
Another powerful tool that comes preloaded with Windows 10 is the Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter. It helps you troubleshoot and fix problems with connected devices on your laptop.
Step 1: Press Windows Key + I to open the Windows Settings page. Click Update & Security.
Step 2: From the left pane, select the Troubleshooting option. Now, go to the right pane and select the Additional Troubleshooting Tools button.
Step 3: A new additional troubleshooting window will open. You need to click the Play Sound option and then press the Run Troubleshooter button.
The troubleshooter will automatically scan for audio-related hardware issues on your computer, and if it detects one, it will fix it in the process.
5. Restart the SNDVOL.EXE process to fix the volume mixer not opening in Windows 10.
There's sndvol.exe, the executable file for Volume Mixer. If this process has stopped and isn't responding, you can restart it. Windows 10 users won't see the sndvol.exe process in Task Manager, as it's an old audio/volume mixing program that still runs if you manually open it from the C:\Windows\System32 folder and launch it.
If it is triggered by a program, it might be causing the audio mixer to not work on Windows 10. It is best to check if sndvol.exe is open via Task Manager and terminate the process.
Follow the steps below to complete the process and check if the issue is fixed or not.
Step 1: Press Ctrl + Alt + Del shortcut to open Task Manager.
Step 2: From the Task Manager window, locate the sndvol.exe process under the Processes tab. Right-click it and select End Task.
Step 3: Exit the Task Manager app and try opening the storage to see if it is working properly or not.
6. Check if the Windows Audio service is running or not.
It's important to have audio services running during a Windows session for the audio mixer to function properly. Disabling it can cause a variety of audio-related issues. Here are the steps you can take to check if the Windows Audio Service is running.
Step 1: Press Windows Key + R shortcut to open the Run box.
Step 2: Type the text below and press Enter.
services.msc
Step 3: In the right pane, locate the Windows Audio service. Right-click it and select Properties.
Step 4: In the Windows Audio Properties window, you should select the Stop button under the Services Status section.
Step 5: Once the service is stopped, select the Start option to start the audio service again. Click the Apply button to save the changes and check if the issue has been resolved.
7. Restart the Windows Explorer process.
Many users reported that restarting the process Windows Explorer This may have helped them solve this volume problem. So, let's go through the steps and try to solve the problem.
Step 1: Open Task Manager using Ctrl+Alt+Del shortcut.
Step 2: Right-click on the Windows Explorer process from the Processes tab and select the Restart option.
Step 3: After restarting the process, try opening the volume mixer and see if it works or not.
8. Allow exclusive control for speakers
Another fix you can try is to allow exclusive control of the virtual speakers so the audio mixer can work properly. Unfortunately, many third-party applications, especially those related to audio, can override exclusive rights to audio playback, which can eventually lead to various problems.
Step 1: Press Windows Key + I to open the System Settings menu. Select the System option.
Step 2: From the right pane, select the Sound option. Scroll down and click the Sound Control Panel button.
Step 3: Select the device you want to grant exclusive control to. Right-click it and select Properties.
Step 4: Go to the Advanced tab and under the Exclusive mode section, make sure to check Allow apps to take exclusive control of this device.
Step 5: Finally, click OK to save the settings and see if this fixes the volume mixer not opening in Windows 10.
9. Enable the LEGACY volume control slider.
You can modify the recording setting and possibly fix the issue of the audio mixer not working by enabling the old volume control slider.
Step 1: Press Windows Key + R shortcut to open Run box, type regedit and press Enter.
Step 2: Go to the path below:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion
Step 3: Here, you need to create a new subkey and name it MTCUVC.
Now, with MTCUVC selected, create a DWORD (32-bit) value and name it EnableMtcUvc.
10. Check audio from a different user account
If none of these solutions work for you, you can try creating a new user account and seeing if the audio mixer works properly. To create a new user account and add a user, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Press Win + I shortcut to open System Settings.
Step 2: Select the Accounts option from the populated options.
Step 3: Now, from the left menu, select the Family & other users button. On the right side, select Add someone else to this PC and follow the on-screen instructions.
Step 4: To check if the audio mixer is working properly, log out of the current user and log in to the newly created user account.
11. Reset volume settings
If you think some software on your Windows 10 computer has messed up your audio settings, you can always go ahead and reset the volume settings. There's a built-in volume reset button, which will restore everything to normal.
Step 1: Press Win + I keys together and select System.
Step 2: From the right pane, select Sound. You now need to click on App volume and device preferences under Advanced sound options.
Step 3: Under App Volume and Device Preferences, click the Reset button. You can now check whether the volume mixer is working properly.
Get the volume level by fixing the volume mixer not opening in Windows 10.
The above methods should help you fix the volume mixer not opening in Windows 10 and enable it on your computer to control the volume of specific applications differently. After following these solutions, you should update Windows 10 and restart your computer to apply all the changes properly.
