How to Quickly Fix 'No Sound' in Windows

All told, Windows 7 has been pretty good to me. So much so that I've been reluctant to move to a later version.

But there is one issue that still plagues me. Every so often after booting up, the speaker icon in the lower right hand corner of my desktop will have a little red x next to it. This indicates there is no sound available.
It looks like this:

image of speaker icon in windows with a red X next to it indicating 'no sound'

This really drove me crazy in the early days. What I used to do was simply reboot. But reboots are annoying. They take time. And they only correct this particular problem about 75% of the time. Worse still, sometimes rebooting won't work even after a string of reboots.

But no more! I've discovered a fix that I assure you, once you learn, is much quicker than a reboot.
Here's what to do:

[note: These steps are specific for a Windows 7 PC, but with tweeks they work for other systems as well]

Go into your Control Panel. (After clicking the Start button, type "Control Panel" in the search text box.)

image of Windows 7 Control Panel

Click the "Hardware and Sound" category.

image of "Hardware and Sound" panel of Windows 7 Control Panel

Click "Device Manager" under the "Devices and Printers" category.

image of Windows 7 Device Manager panel with "Sound, video and game controllers" category expanded.

image of Windows 7 Device Manager panel with "Sound, video and game controllers" category expanded.

Expand the "Sound, video and game controllers" category and identify the device from the list that is causing the 'no sound' issue. This might take some trial and error, but in all likelihood it is the same one that causes me the issue: Realtek High Definition Audio.

Click Realtek High Definition Audio (or whatever your device is specifically named).

Driver tab of Realtek High Definition Audio Properties panel in Windows 7, showing the driver is enabled.

Driver tab of Realtek High Definition Audio Properties panel in Windows 7, showing the driver is enabled.

Under the "Driver" tab, you see that the driver is enabled because the button says "Disable." You are going to click on this "Disable" button to temporarily disable the audio driver – temporarily, because you are going to immediately enable it again.

By clicking on the "Disable" button, you get a pop-up warning message.

pop-up warning for disabling a device in Windows 7 that reads: "Disabling this device will cause it to stop functioning. Do you really want to disable it?"

Click "Yes."

The "Driver" tab now shows that the driver is disabled because the button says "Enable."

Driver tab of Realtek High Definition Audio Properties panel in Windows 7, showing the driver is disabled.

Driver tab of Realtek High Definition Audio Properties panel in Windows 7, showing the driver is disabled.

By clicking the "Enable" button, the little red x next to your speaker icon should instantly vanish and you are ready to rock n' roll again!

Last modified: January 15, 2017