How to recover the volume or sound icon to your Windows taskbar
Posted on August 24, 2007 at 9:55 am
Make sure to read other posts from the Audio Tutorials series!
- How to capture, save, record or download streaming audio for free
- How to extract audio from AVI, WMV, MPEG, FLV, MOV video files for free
- How to rip an audio cd and convert WMA files to MP3 for free
- How to recover the volume or sound icon to your Windows taskbar
- How to record cassette tapes to PC/Computer
Don’t you hate it when need to adjust the volume on your computer only to find that the icon is missing from your taskbar? Here’s a quick tip that I thought I would write since it happens to me all the time! The process for getting back your volume icon is not very complicated, so here it goes!
First, click on Start and then Control Panel to get to the computer settings:
Next, click on the Sounds and Audio Devices icon in the Control Panel. If you don’t see the icon, you may be in Category View. Switch to Classic View by clicking the first option at the top left.
Personally, I like Classic View better since it’s easier to get to what you want quickly. Once you open the dialog, you should already be on the Volume tab.
You’ll notice the “Place volume icon in the taskbar” option is either checked or unchecked. If it’s already checked and the icon is not showing up, you need to uncheck the box, and then click Apply. Re-check the box and then click Apply again. Now your icon should appear in the taskbar.
That’s it! Sometimes this happens a lot, especially after you restart your computer or log off. If It it keeps disappearing over and over again, you need to update the driver for your sound card. You can do this by going to the computer manufacturer’s web site and downloading it from there, i.e. Dell support, etc.
Any questions, post a comment!
[tags]how to recover sound icon, how to recover volume icon, windows xp sound icon[/tags]
» Filed Under Computer Tips
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Comments
48 Responses to “How to recover the volume or sound icon to your Windows taskbar”
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Control speaker volume on your PC by scrolling mouse wheel Says:
[...] built onto the chassis near the keyboard so you don’t have to click on the sound icon in Windows (sound icon missing from TaskBar?). However, it’s still a button and it would be much nicer if you could control the sound volume [...]
September 27th, 2008 at 5:22 am
you need to copy the sndvol32.exe image from your commercial XP installation media (not a vendor-supplied “recovery” CD-ROM) to the system32 folder by performing the following steps:
put winxp cd in the cd rom
Start a command session. click start- run
type command
Navigate to the CD-ROM drive by typing
:
Navigate to the i386 folder by typing
cd i386
Expand the sndvol32.ex_ file by typing
expand -r sndvol32.ex_ %systemroot%\system32
if u done successfully… say thkx to glrajesh@yahoo.com
Thanks for the tip on restoring the volume icon to the taskbar. I am remarkably computer illiterate and was hugely relieved that your simple solution worked. Thanks again.
My volume icon was missing (among other things), and this actually brought all the missing icons back. Thanks!
Glrajesh,
I have done as you suggested however I get an error message
Can’t open input file: sndvol32.ex_C:\windows\system32.
How can I resolve this please.
Thank you! Your solution of unchecking the “show sound” icon, clicking apply, then going back and checking the box again and clicking O.K. worked perfectly, after I’d looked at half a dozen other suggestions on other sites and tried the Microsoft help with no success. Not having the sound icon in the task bar has been driving me nuts for months!
I too am missing the sound icon on my taskbar, but as I purchased my computer used online, I do not have a CD.
Any other solutions?
The audio icon is missing from my taskbar and I have no sound. Plz help
I went through the steps from Control Panel to Sounds and Audio Devices. The same screen comes up that you show in the instructions , however, it is grayed out and I can’t check or uncheck anything.
Thanks.
Tim
Thank you sooooo much. I obviously unticked that when muting at some point. It has been annoying me for ages and people posted some ridiculous answers, when you have clearly shown all it takes is a tick in the box to get the volume icon back!
Hi,
I have a DELL latitude 520 model laptop loaded with Windows XP (SP3). My sound is working perfectly but the icon is not displaying on the task bar. also when the windows starts up i couldn’t hear the defualt start-up sound.the play button for the default sound in Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices Properties > Sounds is greyed out. Please suggest how i will fix this. I have already tried to fix this problem by re-installing the driver but its not working…
wow. I was going crazy looking for the fix to my volume and network connection status icon for the longest time. I thought i had deleted it or something, but your tip on just going to control panel, sound and audio devices and checking the toolbar, man do i feel stupid! thanks bro, once I did that they both appeared. good tip!
OK I did know how to do that, but I can’t click the boxes! Any help with that? I’m so frustrated! I need my volume icon back!
Running XP Home (SP3)
Problem :
Lost Sound Icon in System Tray
Played Some sounds and Not Others
Some sound in WMP, no sound on UTube or other apps.
No Start Up/Log Off Default Sound
No Alert Sounds
For the last 2 days I have searched the web trying to find a solution to this problem. I have updated drivers, ripped the soundvol.exe file out of the XP Disc, tried numerous other tweaks and finally I have found a solution that actually worked.
When I opened the Drivers32 Regestry Key in regedit, I noticed there was only 1 value and I could not alter or open it. This Registry entry should have a good number of driver value entries in it such as midimapper, wavemapper etc but they were not there. Therefore I realised I needed to alter the permissions to this key and try to reconfigure what I thought were my lost drivers.
However I realised they were not lost but instead a malicious script had altered the permissions making the registry entry look empty. I simply removed the permissions the malware added and the drivers all re-appeared as soon as I closed the permissions box.
Solution:
Open the Registry : Start, Run, enter “regedit”, click ok.
In Registry – Navigate to Drivers32 key.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Drivers32
Right click on the Drivers32 Registry Folder, then click on “Permissions”.
Remove all the permissions for Drivers32 for ALL users and then press “Apply”. You will see that all the drivers, codecs etc for Drivers32 will re-appear.
Reboot and your system will have all its sounds back. I was so relieved when I turned the system off to hear the defeault log off sound nice and loud. As the system started again I was more relieved to hear the start up sound also. Now all my sound programs are working again and all the sounds that were lost are now back.
I am sure this will help all those out there who were as frustrated with this as I was.
Lithers
Hi, I have recovered my sound icon, but I am having problems. I can listen to some stuff directly from my PC speakers, such as YouTube. But if I play sounds through Windows or a program, I can only listen to it from my externally attached loudspeakers. Why is that?
The sound icon does not appear on my computer. I did everything you said to do and it does not appear! This happened after I reformatted the PC with Windows XP service pack 3. Now what?
hey…it worked..i got my volume icon back in the taskbar…thnx a lot..but plz tell me why it dissappears when i restart..do i need to reinstall the driver??
I will be thank ful if u could mail me the answer.
thnx again
Awesome!!! Thanks!!! Recovered my sound icon!
I have Vista and my control panel (even classic view) does not give me the option with the box to click. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Hi, I deleted the sound icon on my PC and now I can’t get it back! What to do!?
Thanks so much for such clear,and concise instruction on this most aggravating problem.I’m gratefull.
I figured it out! I too kept getting the error message because I did not have the sndvol32.exe file at all. I downloaded it from one of the web sites, saved it to desktop or even c drive (as long as you can find it later). find it – minimized screen then went to start, run, typed in ‘system 32′ and hit okay. then cut and pasted or drag the sndvol32.exe into the system 32. when thats done, you can now do the normal thing. Just go to control panel, sounds, and tick ‘place in task bar’ – you should no longer get that annoying error message.
Above fix is a bit different for Windows 7 users. So
1) go to Control Panel area
2) Open Notification Area Icons applet
3) Locate and click on “Turn system icons on or off”
4) Change your settings as desired
I had no sound icon and when i went into the control panel, the sound section wasnt giving me any options for the icon. How i fixed it was: go into control panel, select the “taskbar and menu” icon, then “notifications area” then just add the sound icon.
@Peter
I am on Win7. This doesn’t work in all cases. I had the problem that the sound icon was GREYED OUT and thus could neither activate nor deactivate this system icon.
A solution which has worked many times (also in Vista) is to KILL explorer.exe in Task Manager and then to re-run it.
This is the best solution yet. Bravo.
thanks a lot. followed your advise and got my sound icon back. thanks
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! You’d think after writing my entire autobiography (TOP ROCK GIRLY JOCK) that I’d be a little more computer savvy — but not! These steps worked just perfectly. I’m happy to see that cute little sound icon down there again!
um i’ve tried that…. but when i go to tick the volume box, it’s indented so it’s one of the buttons i can’t click on no matter how much i tried…. do you have a solution?
i tryed all these solutions and not 1 helped…my sound icon is still missing…if someone can really help me please. Franklyn_redwood_32@hotmail.com
Thank you very much…Now i have recovered my power, network and volume icons..
This is a totally stupid thread.
After you try and fail about 100 suggested methods that rarely works for someone, you either give up putting the icon in the bottom right side… or do the thing that is even better than putting it in the bottom right.
Put it in the bottom left in “Quick Start” (look it up). I like it better there and it always is there for me to click on.
*****End of thread*****
Just click below on Properties, “Show Quick Launch” and drag a copy of your sndvol32.exe to the little bottom left space of the Taskbar.
****Final End of Thread****
i have a big problem. i did the control panel process. but when i try to check “place volume icon in taskbar” it says “error: Windows cannot display the volume control on the taskbar because the Volume Control program has not been installed(i guess somehow it got deleted). to install, use Add/Remove programs in control pannel.” well i tried that and sure enough found nothing. so im looking for a download for it on the internet. any suggestions? please comment back.
Just brilliant. Simple to follow and fast!
Thank you very much.
I tried this, but when I try to check the ‘volume’ option so that it appears on my Taskbar, it doesn’t let me. It’s blocked.
@ andy
Thank you for the tip about terminating Explorer.exe to get Sound icon working again under Windows 7.
On my Control Panel there is nothing about sound and audio devices. All I have is sound and it does nothing.
Please help.
Nothing of the above posts is working for me. Every time I restore the volume icon using the control panel, and then every time the computer reboots, the icon is missing again.
i have a big problem. i did the control panel process. but when i try to check “place volume icon in taskbar” it says “error: Windows cannot display the volume control on the taskbar because the Volume Control program has not been installed(i guess somehow it got deleted). to install, use Add/Remove programs in control pannel.” well i tried that and sure enough found nothing. so im looking for a download for it on the internet. any suggestions? please comment back.
Excellent instructions. Worked great! I had to download the proper drivers first.
I tried 100 suggestions too, but they couldn’t fix my problem. I couldn’t get volume icon back. I have window xp and computer desktop hp pavilion which is 5 yr old. I can play some of the music but some could not at all, like yutube.
Any body know any other tip? I will be appreciate and will to try more. pan9942@yahoo.com
These instructions don’t work for Windows 7. I have the Sound menu open, but there is no option to display the Volume Control icon. I have done this before in XP and Vista, but it’s missing in 7. ???
Wow !! unbelievable !! I have been trying to retrive my sound device for almost 1 year….. I can not believe how easy it was to recover my sound icon…. it took me a matter of seconds to resolve a problem that nearly drove me crazy!! it was such an inconvience to lose my sound device icon and it made my computer experience a living hell !!! lets face it real Diva’s don’t have a lot of patience Thank you so much for your suggestion it works !!!
Later, Diva4real
Lithers… You are the BEST. So Glad I stumbled on your post to adjust permissions on Drivers32 key – I had been hunting for several days and this fixed my issue.
Big hugs! I think this fix should be more widely available
The “kill explorer.exe” tip worked for my computer. You do have to rerun it. Use Task Manager, run new task, type: explorer.exe
My control panel does not look like that. And it doesn’t have a “classic view” option. There is no “Sounds and Audio Devices”, only “Sounds” and when you click on it, it does not look like that nor does it have a volume control option or an option to add the icon to the task bar.
I AM USING WINDOWS XP BIRACY EDITION AND MY VOLUME ICON TOO MISSING FROM TASK BAR. WHILE SEARCH CONTROLPANEL-SOUNDS AND AUDIO DEVISES-ITS SHOWN NO AUDIO DEVICES, I’M HAVING sndvol32 PROGRAMME FILE IN C DRIVE. BUT I CANT RUN THE SAME. PLEASE HELP ME TO REINSTALL MY AUDIO DEVICE BY STEP BY STEP.