Windows 10: Notification sounds: a mess?

This post has to do with both "system sounds" and "notification sounds".


I am on Windows 10. Up until a few days ago, I had Windows 10 version 2004. A few days ago, I updated to Windows 10 version 2009. I updated to this version because I was having a problem with the sound driver with recording, and the official person at the "Get Help" app in Windows for Microsoft recommended I should update from 2004 to 2009 in order to fix a sound driver issue that was known in the 2004 version. The update did not fix the problem. After the update didn't fix the problem, an associate connected remotely and changed some little sound settings here and there and fixed my audio/recording problem. That was a few days ago. So that's the background of what operating system I have right now and why.

When the laptop had Windows 10 Version 2004 on it in the past, I manually adjusted the volume so that the system sounds were always muted. I went into the Volume Mixer, went to system sounds, and dragged the volume bar all the way to 0, while the main volume was at 100. And I also clicked the "mute" button for system sounds. And system sounds stayed muted for months. It was great.

After I updated to Windows 10 version 2009, I used the same method to turn system sounds off. But that method seemed to be ineffective.

But here's what I realized. After I turned "System Sounds" all the way down in the new version of Windows 10, there was still noise which I thought was coming from "system sounds", but it wasn't. It turned out it was a "Notification" from another app. For example, the "app" called "Autoplay", as one example which was present in this situation. As well as the app I use for email, called Mozilla Thunderbird. Those apps were giving me notifications. And those notifications were making noise. Here is where my issue lies:

I then went into the notification area and chose "Manage notifications". I went into that area and *de-selected* "Allow notifications to play sounds." I then tested the setting after exiting that area. I tested the setting. Based on my experience in this testing, I have concluded that this global setting does absolutely nothing. I'll explain.

As stated, I de-selected "Allow notifications to play sounds". That was yesterday. I couldn't remember all the details. So, because of that, I went and re-tested everything today. When I plugged in my external hard drive today, "Autoplay" gave me a notification, and was silent.

Then, after that, something else happened, which triggered my desire to do further testing. The thing that happened was: I got a notification from "Mozilla Thunderbird", and the notification made noise. I had already turned off *all* notification sounds. Mozilla Thunderbird was not supposed to give me a notification sound, because I chose the Windows 10 global setting for notifications, to turn off the setting of "
Allow notifications to play sounds".

Because of this inconsistency, I explored this and did further testing. My testing was as follows:

I re-enabled "Allow notifications to make sounds". I exited Settings, re-started the computer, and made sure the setting was still enabled, so, in my testing, notifications would make sounds.

I then plugged in an external hard drive, and Autoplay gave me a notification... and the notification was silent.

I even checked in the "Volume Mixer", and I had the volume mixer open before, during, and after the notification played. The "Autoplay" notification never made any noise, and "Autoplay" as an app didn't even appear in the Volume Mixer. I believe, even if the app's volume level has been manually lowered to zero, the app is still supposed to come up in the "Volume Mixer". I think that is true. I am not certain.

The problem is, I changed a global setting, and it didn't actually do anything. That is a problem. These are my proposed reasons as to what might be causing the problem:

1

In "Settings", in the area called "Notifications & Actions", there's a part below [the Area in which you are able to change the global setting of "Allow notifications to play sounds"]. The part below this area says, "Get notifications from these senders", and some other stuff that Microsoft doesn't allow me to copy and paste.

In that area, it shows multiple Microsoft apps, and has individual notification settings for them. For example, for the "Skype" app, it says, "On: Banners, Sounds".

Mozilla Thunderbird does not show up at all in this list. Perhaps this could have something to do with why Thunderbird wouldn't be affected by a global setting and would change anyway?

2

But as to why the Autoplay notification wouldn't make sound, right after the Thunderbird notification did make sound, and notification sounds were on *and*, yes, the individual settings for the "Autoplay" "app" said "On: Banners, Sounds", I cannot think of a reason why "Autoplay" wouldn't show up in the Volume Mixer *and* wouldn't make a sound, even when I had the setting on.

I spent probably an hour writing this post, and this next part, I wrote near the beginning, but I will keep it here:


I will check on this post and address this problem, but 3 days in a row with wild goose chases to do simple tasks is too much. I am going to try switching to Debian now. My hope is that Debian was programmed by people who program operating systems that *do not* act of their own accord and change settings that the user changed. Taking away the user's control over their own operating system does drive customers away. If I do stick with Debian, I will make sure that any time I buy a new computer, if I can, I will buy or build one that does *not* have Windows on it. Maybe I'll buy one with Linux or just build a PC. I'll probably submit this in the "Feedback Hub" since I don't think the programmers or decision-makers at Microsoft see these posts. But they probably get some of the feedback from the feedback hub. So they should know when their programming decisions drive customers away, so I will probably submit this paragraph in the feedback hub.

more tags: notification, notifications, sounds, sound, system sounds, notification sounds, noise, noises, alert, alerts, play, playing, plays, played, make sound, automatic, automatically, changing settings, change, changed, changes, setting

:)

 

(SOLVED/CLOSED)looking for help with Android phone CONSTANT wireless signal notification

Yeah, thats not a solution she is interested in......I've suggested that course of action. Thanks though.

Just to clarify, I feel that there MUST be a step, or series of steps to turn off JUST the wireless notification sound. Thats what Im driving @ here.

 

Notification sounds are missing!!!!

Hello Nyan,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

Please provide some additional information, so that we can assist you better.

1. What is the make and model number of your computer?
   
2. Have you made any changes on your computer?
   

However, I suggest you to follow the below mentioned step:

1. Go to “Control panel”.
   
2. Select ‘Sound’.
   
3. Under sounds tab select ‘Program event’.
   
4. Under program event, select ‘Notification’.
   
5. Make sure you select ‘Notification’ sound for startup application and system notification.
   

Hope it helps.

Let us know if you got the help you needed by clicking ‘Yes or No’.

Harish

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

notification sound

Hi,

Step 1: Click the lower-left Start button, input sound and select Sound from the results to open Sound settings

Step 2: In the Sound dialog, open Sounds and choose Notification in the program events.

Step 3: Tap the Sounds bar, select (None) in the list and click OK.

'

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-turn-sound-n...

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/turn-off-notific...

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