No system sound

Hello, everyone. I'm new to the forum, but I'm having exactly the same problem.

The problem occurred for the first time last Friday (Jun 07th), and I reinstalled Windows completely after numerous attempts. (Windows 11 Enterprise - 24H2 - 26100.4061). Fully updated, all drivers in place.
But today, to my surprise, the problem reoccurred after a focus session (25 min). In other words, everything suggests that the problem occurred after that session, perhaps some strange bug is happening with the clock/focus app.

My theory (so far): The focus session deactivated all notifications as it should, but at the end of the session, it didn't restore the system sounds, leaving them muted. I'm sure there's an option in the registry that I haven't been able to find yet.

Just to reinforce this, I've reviewed all the recommendations in all the posts here: Settings -> Notifications, Settings -> Sounds, Control Panel -> Sound Scheme.

That's because there is mirroring device involved what I call an Audio Overlay App.
If I enable that on my Laptop moving the vol slider does not make a sound.

These overlaying Apps contribute to complications with various audio devices.

Nahimic overlay on mine can selectively alter audio, can be very irritating if used, which is why keep it's use to an absolute minimum.
In this image below it rather overstates what may happen. I still have audio when pressing "Don't allow" it is then "Realtek(R) Audio default device" and indeed the sound when moving the slider returns.

It is down to you to try stuff, and try to understand, bearing in mind your particular sound devices, that is not easy in Windows.

Would apply to hijacker Signalrain as well.

Hi everyone,

I don't usually post in forums, but I found this thread through a search because I'm having the exact same issue and wanted to share.

I can also confirm that I recently interacted with the Clock app within my widgets, and I believe this is the cause of the problem.

I have submitted a report on the official Feedback Hub here:

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For everyone else experiencing this, I encourage you to upvote the feedback and add a comment with your own experience. The more people who report it, the more likely it is to get noticed and fixed.

Thanks!

I had the same problem,
Found the answer on Reddit.
Fixed it by deleting a registry key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER contains a value named "(default)". the data inside MUST say "(value not set)", otherwise system sounds wont work
Credit to Reddit User pablo5426

I am also having this issue, the reddit fix didn't work for me, although I did have the error log in registry editor "CrashedSessionId:,HandlerType:UnHandledExceptionHandler,CrashedAppVersion:,ExceptionCode:0xc0000005"

MikeKul said:

I had the same problem,
Found the answer on Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsHelp/comments/1l814rz/system_sounds_suddenly_are_not_playing

Fixed it by deleting a registry key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER contains a value named "(default)". the data inside MUST say "(value not set)", otherwise system sounds wont work
Credit to Reddit User pablo5426

Click to expand...

I also found this solution but haven't had the chance to test it. I ended up recreating my profile from scratch.
But I have a backup of my previous HKCU regedit, and indeed contains the CrashedSessionId thing.

I confess I'm not going to touch the clock app any time soon, I'm using pomofocus for my focus sessions now. The biggest advantage was that the Windows 11 focus enable the do not disturb and hides the notification badges.

But I really found it incredible how such a simple clock application could cause such "damage" to a important OS functionally and frustration. I hope they fix it.

Helmut said:

That's because there is mirroring device involved what I call an Audio Overlay App.
If I enable that on my Laptop moving the vol slider does not make a sound.

These overlaying Apps contribute to complications with various audio devices.

Nahimic overlay on mine can selectively alter audio, can be very irritating if used, which is why keep it's use to an absolute minimum.
In this image below it rather overstates what may happen. I still have audio when pressing "Don't allow" it is then "Realtek(R) Audio default device" and indeed the sound when moving the slider returns.

It is down to you to try stuff, and try to understand, bearing in mind your particular sound devices, that is not easy in Windows.

Would apply to hijacker Signalrain as well.

View attachment 136467

Click to expand...

Helmut, thanks for your reply. I deeply reviewed all my sound devices, sadly I don't have any overlaying apps. Like I mentioned some moments ago, after many hours of frustration and reboots I've ended recreating my profile. Thanks again for your help!

I just wanted to let you know that I have exactly the same problem.

Tested everything, tried suggestions here in the forum (but the settings were all correct).

Sound works perfectly as long as it comes from an application (whether Spotify, browser with Youtube, etc...), only the system sounds are not played. In the advanced sound control, I can play the system sounds individually cleanly like OP, but they are not played by the system when events occur.

Joe Dingo said:

I just wanted to let you know that I have exactly the same problem.

Tested everything, tried suggestions here in the forum (but the settings were all correct).

Sound works perfectly as long as it comes from an application (whether Spotify, browser with Youtube, etc...), only the system sounds are not played. In the advanced sound control, I can play the system sounds individually cleanly like OP, but they are not played by the system when events occur.

Click to expand...

Hello Joe!

Have you tried this regedit solution?


It seems that erasing this key fix the issue. Please perform a HKCU backup before this move. And don't forget to reboot afterwards.

signalrain said:

Hello Joe!

Have you tried this regedit solution?

https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsHelp/comments/1l814rz/system_sounds_suddenly_are_not_playing

It seems that erasing this key fix the issue. Please perform a HKCU backup before this move. And don't forget to reboot afterwards.

Click to expand...

So I have now tried this suggested solution pro forma, because afterwards I could have said: ´Yes, but it didn't help´.

But it did work!

I'm speechless about this, because I can't for the life of me make the connection between this entry (it contained an error message from a BlueScreen at some point) and the system sound. But anyway: it worked.

Thanks again for pointing this out so forcefully