Speaker Icon at the taskbar does not list output devices

Question

While using Windows 11 I notice that occasionally my speaker icon at the taskbar will not list the available audio output devices.

Here's the situation:

Meanwhile if I click on "More volume settings" I see this:

Which is my current workaround.

Another lead to this issue is that this seems to happen after a Remote Desktop Connection is made to this machine.

Answer 1

Hi there! My name is, Zadee. I'm an Independent Advisor and a Microsoft user like you. Sorry to hear about your experience. I'll try my best to help you today.

Can you share your system info, please? Thanks.

-On your keyboard, press Win + R

-Type: msinfo32, press enter

-Take a screenshot of the System Information, make sure to get the System Model, Baseboard Manufacturer, and Product

-Then upload it here

Answer 2

Sure, here:

Answer 3

Thank you, try this method in its exact order.

1. Win + R to open the run box
2. Type: devmgmt.msc <Enter>
3. Look for "Sound, video, and game controllers" and then expand it by clicking the ">" on the left
4. Right-click each driver and select "Uninstall". Do it to all drivers you see under it
5. Download and install this audio driver.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/01AUDIO/D...

Download file source:

https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-strix/rog...

6. Restart the computer.

Are you getting the same results?

Answer 4

Thanks for your reply.

But I think we might be heading in the wrong direction here.

This does not seem to be a driver issue.

All devices are working fine.

As matter of fact, from my original post, the 3rd print shows that they are working, but for whatever reason, I have to click on "More volume settings" to select which output device the audio signal will be sent to, and also to set the volume level.

This seems to be more of a Windows bug, than anything else, since for whatever reason Windows gets lost while listing the devices from the 'speaker icon'.

But it fetches the correct list when accessed through: Settings -> System -> Sound.

Also, after restarting my computer the speaker icon is working properly again.

And while restarting seems to 'reset' everything back to normal, it's not always convenient to restart your computer in the middle of your day while at work.

I am looking for a solution that would either avoid this problem entirely; or provide a local fix where I could restart a service or execute a command to get things back to normal.

Answer 5

Sure, however, there's also a great chance that the sound driver isn't loading properly at the start and somehow not properly working with the OS when you turn the device on hence the issue.

You could also be right, might just be Windows, the good thing is that there are some commands you can run to make sure there is no system corruption going on. You can run SFC, DISM, and chckdsk for that.

1. Press Win + Q
2. Type: command prompt > Right-click and Run as admin
3. Copy, paste, and enter this command:

sfc /scannow <Press Enter>

(Wait for SFC to finish then proceed with the commands below)

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth <Press Enter>

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth <Press Enter>

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Startcomponentcleanup <Press Enter>

(Wait for DISM to finish then proceed with the command below)

chkdsk /f /r <Press Enter>

4. Restart the device

I hope that helps.

Kind Regards,