How to disable Windows system sounds - permanently - but not application sound

Question

I prefer the sound scheme of Windows 7 HP to be set to "No Sounds" ALL the time. The problem is, when I switch themes, the themes switch sound schemes also. I know I can go in and disable/change to "No Sounds" every time by hand, but is there a way to turn it off and keep it off, regardless of the theme?

EDIT I want to disable Windows sounds, not application sound.

Solution 1

OK, I went to the folder where all system sounds were stored, and moved the entire folder elsewhere, so if it does change system sound schemes, it won't have a source to play the sounds...

On Windows 7 and Windows 10, the folder is: C:\Windows\Media

---

The other option is Sound Sentry...In the accessibility control panel, you can choose to have all sound disabled and, optionally enable visual cues instead.

From TenForums:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/71209-turn-off-sound-sentry-visual-notifications-windows-10-a.html

Solution 2

In Windows Vista and later, you can control per-application sounds, including system sounds. Click the volume icon in the taskbar, then click on "mixer".

Click the mute button under "System sounds". Applications' sounds will still play, but system sounds will not.

Solution 3

I had the same issue and tried using the "prevent changing sounds" Group policy setting, but whenever you change the theme it would change the sound scheme so that didn't really work.

Deleting or renaming the folder sounds like one way to fix it, but I found that updating the registry to removing the sounds from all of the themes also works. This Powershell script will remove all of the sounds assigned to each sound scheme so that they all are equivalent to the No Sound scheme. (NOTE: you may want to backup the hkcu:\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps registry key first in case you want to recover the sounds later.

$ThemeSounds = Get-ChildItem hkcu:\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps -Recurse | Get-ItemProperty
foreach ($regkey in $ThemeSounds){
    $strVal = [string]$regkey.'(default)'
    if($strVal.EndsWith(".wav")){
        Set-ItemProperty -Path $regkey.PSPath -name "(default)" -Value ""
    }
}

If you change hkcu:\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps to hkcu:\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default it should only remove sounds for the Windows group listed in the sound settings and not any of the other apps.

Solution 4

1. Go to:

   C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\
   

2. Open up the specific theme file (e.g. newtheme.theme) in Notepad

3. Update and save SchemeName to No Sounds:

   [Sounds]
   ; IDS_SCHEME_DEFAULT
   SchemeName=No Sounds
   

Solution 5

Been messing around with this myself, simply deleting all the audio-files in the Windows dir of the clients is both the least elegant and most surefire way of accomplishing this. I find it rather perplexing this can't be controlled in a more elegant manner, catering to a silent sound scheme is not exactly filling a niche.

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Comments

[studiohack]

ah! very true! I had forgotten about that! +1!

[nhinkle]

I didn't see this question when it first came up, but since you edited, it got bumped to the top again. See the answer I just posted; I think it may do what you're trying to get at, without having to delete/move the system sound files.

[nhinkle]

Thanks! Happy to help. Sometimes the easiest solutions aren't readily apparent... your solution was certainly creative, but this would probably be more straightforward for future searchers who find this question.

[studiohack]

yah, very true...Somehow, recently, the system sounds came back...so I was frustrated, but putting up with it, and found the Sound Sentry option while cleaning out my RSS feeds, so that is my current solution...But yours is even quicker to access and turn on and off... cheers! :)

[nhinkle]

Sounds good. Odd that the sounds came back... perhaps system file checker or a windows update replaced them?

[donturner]

That doesn't work because when you change theme the sound scheme is changed.

[JJ_Australia]

@donturner: You change themes often enough that this is an issue?

[donturner]

Yes, the same as OP

[DavidPostill]

Welcome to Super User! This duplicates another answer and adds no new content. Please don't post an answer unless you actually have something new to contribute.

[user276648]

This did not work for me on Win10.

[user276648]

The "Sounds" tab unfortunately doesn't appear for me...

[Ralph Bolton]

On a Lenovo Thinkpad (Win7 pro, default install), there's already a file in this location (and in the default user profile) called "oem" (with a sound scheme set in it). No amount of registry hacking or other steps override it, so this appears to be the only way to set the default for all future users.

[MagTun]

Doesn't work on Win10, but renaming the folder C:\Windows\Media does.

[Gabriel Fair]

FYI: The Personalization folder no longer exists in that registry location for windows-10

[metamorphosis]

Answer appears not to be referring to the question