System Turn On or Off Notification Sounds in Windows 11

Brink · Dec 22, 2021

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off notification sounds from all or specific senders for your account in Windows 11.

Notifications are alerts from apps, system, and other senders.

Windows 11 shows notifications on the lock screen (Win+L), Notification Center (Win+N), and notification banners at the lower-right corner of the screen above the taskbar on the main display.

A sound will play by default when a notification arrives.

Contents

Option One: Turn On or Off Notification Sounds for All Senders in Settings
Option Two: Turn On or Off Notification Sounds for Specific Senders in Settings
Option Three: Turn On or Off Notification Sounds for All Senders using REG file
Option Four: Turn On or Off Notification Sounds for Specific Senders in Registry Editor

Option One

Turn On or Off Notification Sounds for All Senders in Settings

1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on System on the left side, and click/tap on Notifications on the right side. (see screenshot below)

Open Notifications settings

3 Click/tap on Notifications on the right side to expand it open. (see screenshot below step 4)

4 Turn On (default) or Off Allow notifications to play sounds for what you want. (see screenshot below)

5 You can now close Settings if you like.

Option Two

Turn On or Off Notification Sounds for Specific Senders in Settings

1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on System on the left side, and click/tap on Notifications on the right side. (see screenshot below)

Open Notifications settings

3 Click/tap on the app or sender (ex: "Mail") you want on the right side. (see screenshot below)

4 Turn On (default) or Off Play a sound when a notification arrives for what you want. (see screenshot below)

The Play a sound when a notification arrives setting will be grayed out if notifications have been turned off.

5 You can now close Settings if you like.

Option Three

Turn On or Off Notification Sounds for All Senders using REG file

1 Do step 2 (off) or step 3 (on) below for what you want.

2 Turn Off Notification Sounds for All Senders

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the REG file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_OFF_notification_sounds_for_current_user.reg

Download

(Contents of REG file for reference)

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Notifications\Settings]
"NOC_GLOBAL_SETTING_ALLOW_NOTIFICATION_SOUND"=dword:00000000

3 Turn On Notification Sounds for All Senders

This is the default setting.

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the REG file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_ON_notification_sounds_for_current_user.reg

Download

(Contents of REG file for reference)

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Notifications\Settings]
"NOC_GLOBAL_SETTING_ALLOW_NOTIFICATION_SOUND"=-

4 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

Option Four

Turn On or Off Notification Sounds for Specific Senders in Registry Editor

1 Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe).

2 Navigate to the key location below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshot below)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Notifications\Settings

3 Under the Settings key in the left pane, click/tap on the app (ex: "Microsoft.YourPhone_8wekyb3d8bbwe!YourPhoneMessages") you want. (see screenshot above)

4 Go to step 5 (on) or step 6 (off) for what you want for this app.

5 Turn On Play Sound for Notification from App

This is the default setting.

A) In the right pane of the app's key (ex: "Microsoft.YourPhone_8wekyb3d8bbwe!YourPhoneMessages"), right click or press and hold on the SoundFile string (REG_SZ) value, and click/tap on Delete. (see screenshot below step 2)

If you do not have a SoundFile string (REG_SZ) value, then this app is already set to play a notification sound. Go to step 7.

B) Click/tap Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)

C) Go to step 7 when finished.

6 Turn Off Play Sound for Notification from App

A) In the right pane of the app's key (ex: "Microsoft.YourPhone_8wekyb3d8bbwe!YourPhoneMessages"), double click/tap on the SoundFile string (REG_SZ) value to modify it. (see screenshot below step 2)

If you do not have a SoundFile string (REG_SZ) value, then right click or press and hold on an empty area in the right pane, click/tap on New, click/tap on String Value, type SoundFile for the name, and press Enter.

B) Leave the Value data empty (blank), and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)