How to enable generic audio driver

Followup --

Recall that this problem began with the update to Windows version 1709..  Earlier I had concluded that the SoundMax driver installed on my Lenovo desktop was incompatible with version 1709, so I wasted a lot of time trying the enable the generic driver, installing sound cards, etc.  Now I have re-installed the SoundMax driver and the audio system works perfectly.

So it appears that at least the latest version of the SoundMax driver (for Windows 7) is NOT incompatible with Windows 10, version 1709.

Also, because of the vigorous troubleshooting in recent weeks, I wondered if I had inadvertently caused the change in the registry that proved to be the problem.  Fortunately, I had made a backup of the registry early in this process.  I just looked at that and see that the "LocalSystem" entry was already there.  This suggests that it was inserted by the Windows update.

Just FYI.

Hi John,

A recent change in the configuration of your device can be one of the factors why this issue occurs. Since you mentioned that you have another computer which has the same sound driver that works with version 1709. We recommend that you follow these steps as a workaround to manually copy those files needed which is related to your SoundMax driver to the affected device. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Press Windows key + E to open File Explorer.
2. On the left-pane, click This PC.
3. Navigate to this folder: *C:\Windows\System32*
4. Look for the folder DriverStore and copy this to a USB flash drive.
5. Once done, you may insert the USB into the affected device.
6. In the Search box, type Device Manager and press Enter.
7. Expand the Sound, video and game controllers tree by clicking on the adjacent arrow.
8. Look for the generic audio driver, right-click then select Properties.
9. Click on the Driver tab, then choose Update Driver button.
10. It will prompt you to search the driver and make sure to locate the files directly to your USB drive.
11. If there are missing files during the driver update, the system will prompt you this information.
12. Unplug the USB drive and leave the current window.
13. Copy the said file from the working device.
14. Once done, insert the USB drive and select continue to copy the missing file.
15. Every missing file, you need to repeat the process.
16. Once completed, restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Give us an update with the outcome.

Darwin, an afterthought ---

After mentioning the registry in my previous response, I took a quick look.  The old audio drivers (SoundMAX) are still mentioned in several places.  (See attached)  I am not sure  whether this could  be blocking the generic driver's access to devices.

I ran two different registry cleaning programs (SlimWare and CClean) -- no change in the above.

Sorry, Darwin, still no luck.

With the SoundMAX driver installed, I uninstalled the driver, deleted driver software, and scanned for hardware changes.  This resulted in the generic driver appearing in Device Manager.  However, after reboot, Playback Devices still reports "No audio devices are installed."

Next, I uninstalled the generic driver and again scanned for hardware changes.  Note that no option to delete driver software appears in this case.  Once again, after reboot, "No audio devices are installed."

I repeated the latter sequence several more times.  No change.

FYI, I checked my Lenovo laptop, which is about the same age as the desktop and has the same history of XP to Win 7 to Win 10 and recently to Version 1709.  I note that it is running the generic audio driver with no difficulty.  Although it is a mystery to me how that happened, since I never had any reason to change drivers.

I am still puzzled as to why the desktop will not accept the generic driver.  Is this a registry problem?

Thanks, again.

Sher, thanks very much for following up on this still serious problem.  However, before starting on your solution, I need to clarify something.  I believe that your proposal is intended to restore the SoundMax driver to the affected computer, using drivers from the computer than has working audio.  (Please correct me if I have misunderstood this.)

But the computer with working audio on Version 1709 does NOT use the SoundMax driver, although it did prior to the Version 1709 update.  Somehow, in the course of the automatic updating, and unknown to me until now, the SoundMax driver was uninstalled and the MS "High Definition Audio Device" driver was enabled.  I believe that the SoundMax driver was removed because it is incompatible with Version 1709. 

The registry of the working computer contains NO reference to SoundMax, Analog Devices Inc., or any other sound driver except the generic HDAUDIO driver.   In contrast, the registries on the two computers that have lost their sound have 20+ references to SoundMax, some of them describing it as the default driver.

My conclusion is that the problem for the two affected computers is an incomplete uninstall of SoundMax by the WIndows updating program.  Unfortunately, the uninstall utilities cannot see SoundMax, and the uninstall script is gone.  I am looking for a utility that can find the remaining fragments of the old driver and remove them, but haven't found it yet.

If this description suggests anything else to you, or if I have misunderstood your solution, please let me know.  Otherwise, thanks for continuing to follow this issue.