This brief tutorial will show you how to disable (turn off) the system sounds in Windows XP. Because they’re annoying.
- Start by clicking Start and selecting the Control Panel
- If you’re using the Category view, you’ll be presented with a very similar screen as the one below. If you’re using the Classic view, please jump down to Step 4.
Select the Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices icon.
- Select Change the sound scheme and then skip down to Step 5
- If you’re using the Classic view of the Control Panel, double-click the Sounds and Audio Devices item
- Select the Sounds tab from the top (if it isn’t selected already) and then from the Sound scheme: drop down list, choose No Sounds
- If you’re prompted to save your previous sound scheme, click Yes
- Give it a name – it really doesn’t matter what. When you’re done, click OK, and then OK again. Ta-da! No more annoying Windows XP sounds!
I tried turning the sounds off with the above message, but now I get an annoying loud beep if I adjust the volume (rather than the “Windows XP Ding” that I was getting.) Is there a way to make that go away?
I echo Adam’s situation, with the addition that every time an email comes in, I get that loud beep as well.
If you go into the registry …
1.) Go to “Start–>Run” and type “Regedit” in the command prompt. Then hit OK.
2.) Navigate to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Sound”
3.) Right click on “Beep” on the right side of the screen and select “Modify”
4.) Change the value in the box to “No”
5.) Exit and reboot the computer.
This should fix that problem. email me at “ericbel_2@hotmail.com” and let me know if it works please.
Nice tut..
Worked for me..
Thanks a lot Eric.
Also, Eric, the registry tweak was sweet..
Now Only mp3 sounds emanate from my comp..
No more irritating windows critical stop and other damn noises..
Thanks again!!
Great tip! Noticed how the PC boots up, shuts down and generally does tasks faster without sounds.
By the way, does anyone know how to terminate unresponsive apps faster?
hi.. i tried doing the above.. but all in vain.. please suggest some other way to disable system sound
Thx for the tut on “No Sounds”. Eliminated irritating beep that you get even though you’ve saved “no sounds” as a custom.
i try all the method above and it still cannot solve my problem, any suggestion please.
hi….there is not voice recording in my windows xp pc…
someone plz tell me how to enable it.
i hav check all the settings are allright
Thanks Eric Belec
That has worked perfectly for me, and stopped the annoyance of beeping computers all around us at work.
Thanks for solving our problem, and taking away the headache.
EASIET WAY..
simply mute the PC Speaker (Volume–>Advanced)(5th screen shot of this article)
After some updates system sounds are enabled
again. I am sick! How to disable system sounds definitely? Remove speaker?
Try this…
Device manager –> View, check “show hidden devices”—> non-plug and play Drivers; right click “beep” and disable.. i think this may be little safer the messing with registry and is more permanent….hopefully.
Some other annoying Windows stuff in there to disable also…enjoy..and hope this works for ya.
I did the “no sound”; applied; and saved twice; however, the sound continues. Perhaps I have to restart the computer and will do that. Thanks…PatC
Eric,
I have no speaker icon on the tray, how do I get it back, and how do I turn the sound on? Thank you.
Originally, the “regedit” method didn’t work after simply changing the “beep” setting to “no”. I actually have no sound drivers on my comp, so that might have been the problem. That being said, I just went back and changed the other two settings under Sound to “no” as well. That solved the problem for me! Thanks to Eric for pointing me in the right direction!
hey thanks,
the device manager -> non p&p -> beep -> stop driver
did it !!
Yes! Device Mgr solution worked – hope it stays that way!
Thanks Thai!
thank u
Thanks worked great
heya!
I keep getting this very annoying CLICKING sound when I am refreshing, reloading webpages in IE8, Windows Vista 32-bit and would like to know if any would know how to turn that off without having to turning off new email, new contact notification?