Adjust button messed up

Question

Can't adjust volume using keyboard, it was working before. This is so annoying! I wanna go back to Mac!

Answer 1

Greetings!

This is Tin, have you tried to press FN key before pressing the key to adjust the volume already? If not yet, please do. And also try to restart your device and check if the issue persists. Please let me know how it goes.

If the issue persists, please try to reinstall the Keyboard driver:

Right click on Start Menu and choose Device Manager

Expand the Keyboard option and uninstall the drivers restart your device and check if the issue will still happen.

Thanks,

Tin

Answer 2

Follow these steps to restore volume control from the keyboard on Windows 11:

1. Verify overall volume is not forced to zero
   Adjust volume in all places Windows uses, to rule out a system or app override:
   • Use the hardware volume button on the device (if present) to raise volume.
   • Use the taskbar: select the Speakers icon and move the slider up.
   • If using external speakers/headset, turn their physical volume knob/buttons up.
   • In the app currently playing sound (browser, media player, game), check its in‑app volume.
2. Check that the issue is only the keyboard keys
   • If sound plays and can be changed from the taskbar or device buttons, but not from the keyboard, the problem is likely keyboard/driver related rather than audio output.
3. Reinstall the audio driver (fixes “volume jumps back to zero” and control issues)
   If volume keeps snapping back or keyboard changes don’t “stick,” reinstall the audio driver:
   1. Press Win + X → Device Manager.
   2. Expand Sound, video and game controllers.
   3. Right‑click Realtek High Definition Audio or Surface Audio (or similar).
   4. Select Uninstall device.
   5. Check Delete the driver software if available, then confirm.
   6. Restart Windows.
   7. After restart, go to Settings → Windows Update → Check for updates and install everything, including Optional updates.
4. Restart Windows audio services
   1. Press Win + R, type services.msc, press Enter.
   2. Find Windows Audio and Windows Audio Endpoint Builder.
   3. For each service: right‑click → Restart.
   4. Ensure Startup type is set to Automatic.
5. Turn off audio enhancements
   1. Right‑click the speaker icon in the taskbar → Sound settings.
   2. Select the active Speakers/output device.
   3. Scroll to Audio Enhancements and set it to Off.
6. Test again with the keyboard
   Use the keyboard volume‑up/volume‑down/mute keys and confirm the taskbar volume slider moves and sound level changes.

If the keyboard volume keys still do nothing but other keys work, test with an external keyboard. If an external keyboard works, the built‑in keyboard volume keys are likely a hardware issue.

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References:

• Troubleshoot Surface sound and audio accessories
• cannot increase volume even if trouble shooter updates it - Microsoft Q&A
• My audio inputs and outputs suddenly disappeared, how do i fix this? - Microsoft Q&A