Audio services not responding is one of the most canning errors that you can encounter while using your PC. This error message is usually generated through Windows sound troubleshooter. The sound troubleshooting is usually run when your computer is heavily experiencing problems with the sound devices.
When you run into this error, it simply means that your sound device is in an unresponsive state. This also means that it is a state where it is not n a position to respond to your computer’s commands or messages.
The audio services not responding error is a very common error and usually occurs when one decides to upgrade their version of windows using the famous Windows Update. There are a few workarounds that you can implement which include making sure that all the audio services are running as expected and that all the device drivers are updated to the latest versions.
We will try all the solutions in this article but if none works which I don’t think will happen, we have to resort to a system restore.
The core cause of the error
Well, as it has been our trend, it is vital to know what could be causing the error before you attempt to solve it. From our findings, this annoying error occurs simply because the audio driver is outdated and is not functioning properly. Also, we found out that during Windows 10 update the audio driver is prone to damage or corruption.
Therefore, whichever the cause and without wasting any time, let us see How to Fix Audio services not responding in Windows 10.
Simply follow the help of the below-listed troubleshooting steps. And before you get rolling, make sure that you backup your data and also create a restore point just in case anything goes wrong during the fixes. This is important so that you can roll back your PC to its initial state before you applied the fixes.
Solutions for audio services not responding in Windows 10
The Audio Service is not running or in other words as it could be displayed; Windows audio service stopping is an error that indicates you have unresponsive sound devices. This problem has been reported by several Windows 10 users and the following steps will focus on how to fix audio services not responding in Windows 10.
Method 1: Start Windows Audio services
Before we embark on more complex and more in-depth solutions, it is advisable that you try restarting the audio service. Alongside your sound hardware and drivers, there is an audio service present which is usually purposed to manage the audio on your computer.
In many occasions, a simple restart has worked since it might restart its configurations and solve the issue in question
Please follow the below guidelines in order to restart the audio service.
- First of all, hit the Windows key + R key on the keyboard to open the run dialog box.
- Next, type services.msc and then press in order to open the Windows services list.
- Next, locate the following services:
- Windows Audio
- Windows Audio Endpoint Builder
- Plug and Play
- Find out if their Startup Type is set to Automatic, if not make sure that you set it to automatic. Also, make sure that the services are Running, either way, restart all of them once again.
- If Startup Type is not automatic simply double click on the services and then inside the property window set them to Automatic.
- Make sure the above services are checked in msconfig.exe
- Finally, restart your PC in order to apply the changes you just made.
Test and check if you were able to resolve the issue after your computer boots up. If the problem persists, please proceed to the next solution below.
Method 2: Start Windows Audio components
Starting windows audio components is also another less technical fix that we have to make sure that it is running. Therefore, before we move on to more technical fixes, we will confirm if all the audio components are running. If at all any of them is not, then that could be the main cause as to why you have been running into the error message.
Also, it is recommended that you disable your antivirus temporarily when performing these actions because sometimes third party antivirus programs may block some services and maybe the reason which makes you face such difficulties.
Windows audio components are important services and exclusion of any of them can cause unexpected system misbehavior.
Without dwelling much on it, let us head right to how we can start the audio components.
- Hit Windows key + R on the keyboard and then type services.msc in the run box that appears.
- Browse through the list of services and then locate the Windows Audio service.
- Now double click on it in order to open properties.
- Next, go over to the Dependencies tab and expand the components listed in “This service depends on the following system components.”
- Now make sure that all the components listed above are Started and Running in the services.msc
- Lastly, restart the Windows Audio services and Reboot your computer to apply changes.
Alternatively
- Press Windows + R to fire up the Run dialog box and then type “services.msc” and press Enter.
- Now make sure that the following services are in the running state. If they are not, right-click on them and then click “Start”.
RPC Endpoint Mapper
Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
DCOM Server Process Launcher
- Also, it is important to make sure that each and every service above is set to start as “Automatic”.
- After starting the processes (if they were off), check if the problem at hand got solved. If it didn’t, consider restarting your PC and check again.
See if you’re able to Fix Audio services not responding in Windows 10, if not then continue with the next method.
Method 3: Uninstall Sound drivers
Also, sometimes if you uninstall the sound drivers you might get the problem fixed. It has worked with several PCs and hopefully, this will also work with your brand.
- To do this, first, download and install CCleaner from here.
- Navigate to Registry window on the left
- Now scan for all the problems and let it fix them.
- Afterward, press Windows Key + R then type devmgmt.msc in the Run box and then hit enter to open Device Manager.
- Next, expand the Sound, video, and game controllers then click on the sound device and select Uninstall.
- Now confirm that you really want to uninstall the device driver by clicking OK when prompted to.
- Lastly, in the Device Manager window, go to Action and click on Scan for hardware changes.
- Restart your computer to apply changes and then check if the error audio services not responding in Windows 10 were successfully fixed. If not, proceed with method 4.
Method 4: Restore registry key from Antivirus
To restore the registry key from antivirus simply;
- Open your anti-virus and then go to the virus vault.
- Right-lick on Norton Security from the system tray and then select “View Recent History.”
- Now select “Quarantine” from the Show drop-down.
- Now search for the Audio device or services that are quarantined inside Quarantine or virus vault.
- Look for registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROL and if the registry key ends in:
AUDIOSRV.DLL
AUDIOENDPOINTBUILDER.DLL - Restore them and Restart your computer in order to apply changes.
- See if you’re able to “Fix Audio services not responding in Windows 10″ otherwise move on to the next steps.
Method 5: Modify Registry key
Modifying the registry key is usually a sensitive move and therefore make sure that you back up each individual key we are going to modify before you do a thing with them.
After you have made a backup,
- Press Windows Key + R and then in the Run dialog box, type regedit and hit enter. This will open the Registry Editor.
- While still inside the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AudioEndPointBuilder\Parameters
- Locate ServicDll and if the value is %SystemRoot%\System32\Audiosrv.dll, then it is the cause of the problem.
- Replace the above value with this: %SystemRoot%\System32\AudioEndPointBuilder.dll
- Restart your PC to apply changes and see if you were able to solve the problem at hand.
Method 6: Use Windows troubleshooter
Windows troubleshooter has turned out to be one of Microsoft or Windows tools that most users don’t make use of. Even though it might feel so generic and old school, it is still one of the best tools that are packed with Windows.
This tool can make diagnostics, solve, and also suggest fixes to most of the common errors we encounter when using our PCs.
To use the Windows troubleshooter in fixing the audio services not responding on Windows 10, simply follow the following actionable steps.
- Hit the windows button on the keyboard and the search for Control Panel.
- Now open the control panel (the first option from the search result) and then in the search box type “troubleshooting.”
- From the list of search results that are generated, click on “Troubleshooting” and then select Hardware and Sound.
- Now in the next window click on “Playing Audio” inside the Sound sub-category.
- Finally, click on Advanced Options in the Playing Audio window and then check “Apply repairs automatically” checkbox and click Next.
- The troubleshooter will automatically diagnose the issue and ask you if you want to apply the fix or not.
- Click Apply this fix and then restart your PC to apply changes. Check to see if the problem is fixed. If the problem persists, try executing some command prompt instructions as discussed in method 7.
Method 7: Executing some Command Prompt Instructions
If both the above solutions did not make any difference or the checks were already correct on your machine, we can try executing some elevated command prompt instructions on your command prompt.
Please keep in mind that you will need an administrator account to carry out this operation.
- Press Windows + S and then type “command prompt”
- Right-click on the application result and select “Run as administrator”.
- Once you are in the elevated command prompt, type the following command, and then press Enter.
net localgroup Administrators /add networkservice
- Now type the following command and again press Enter.
net localgroup Administrators /add localservice
- After both the instructions are executed, type “exit” and then hit Enter.
- Restart your computer and check if the problem in question got solved.
Method 8: Installing Default Sound Drivers
As your operating system keeps upgrading over time, the sound drivers are also included in most of the package and they also get updated periodically.
Your computer has a basic default driver already saved so whenever you uninstall your current drivers, your computer recognizes the hardware connected and installs the driver accordingly.
That said let us try installing the default drivers on your system.
- Press Windows + S to launch the search menu of your start bar.
- Type “system” in the dialogue box and select the first item which returns in the result.
- Once you are in the system window, click on “Advanced system settings” that are on the left side of the screen.
- Navigate to the Hardware tab and click on “Device Installation Settings”.
- Select the “No (your device might not work as expected)” option.
- Press Save changes and exit. This will disable the Windows update from updating your audio drivers automatically.
Please note that if this solution doesn’t work, make sure to change the option back to “Yes” because there will be no use of leaving it set to No.
- Now press Windows + X to launch the quick start menu
- Select “Device Manager” from the list of options available.
- Once in the Device Manager, expand the “Sound, video and game controllers” category.
- Right-click on your sound device and select “Uninstall device”.
- Check the uninstall driver checkbox to uninstall the driver as well and proceed with the uninstallation.
- Once the device is uninstalled, right-click on any empty space on the Device Manager and select “Scan for hardware changes”.
- Your PC will now detect the audio hardware on your computer and then automatically install the default drivers present on your computer.
- Now check if this brings any difference. Also, restart your computer after the installation of default drivers.
Method 9: Installing Realtek or High Definition Audio Device
Many users reported that installing High Definition Audio Device driver instead of IDT High Definition Audio CODEC etc. solved the problem for them.
We can try this solution before we resort to a system restore or doing a clean installation.
- Press Windows + X to launch the quick start menu
- Select “Device Manager” from the list of options available.
- Once in the Device Manager, expand the “Sound, video and game controllers” category.
- Right-click on your sound device and then select “Update Driver”.
- Now an option will come forth whether to install the drivers automatically or manually. Select “Browse my computer for driver software”.
- Now select “Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer”.
- Uncheck the option “show compatible hardware” to ensure that all the results are listed in your drivers’ list.
- Navigate through all the drivers until you find “High Definition Audio Device”.
- Select it and press Next.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
- Restart your computer and check if the problem is solved.
Note: If this doesn’t work, try downloading the drivers from your manufacturer’s website and install them using the method listed above. In most cases, this also solved the problem.
Alternatively
If you feel that you don’t have enough time and patience to update drivers manually, you can do it automatically using the most common driver update tool called Driver Easy.
This software tool will automatically recognize your system and find the correct drivers for your exact video card and monitor, and your variant of Windows 10, and it will download and install them correctly:
- First of all Download and install Driver Easy.
- Run Driver Easy as an administrator and then click Scan Now.
- This tool will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers. Your audio driver is no exception.
- Click Update next to a flagged sound driver to automatically download the correct version of this driver, then you can manually install it on your computer. (You can do this with the free version.)
- Or you can also click Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system. (this requires the Pro version – you’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All).
- Restart your computer and try to play an audio file or video file to check if you can hear any sound.
Solution 10: Restoring from last Restore Point/ Doing a Clean Install
If it happens that all of the above methods were not of help to you, we are left with no choice but to restore Windows to the last restore point.
However, if you don’t have any restore points created on your machine, don’t worry, you can still get through this. Simply install a clean version of Windows.
You can use the utility “Belarc” to get all your licenses saved, backup your data using external storage, and then perform a clean install.
Here is the method on how to restore Windows from the last restore point.
- Press Windows + S to launch the start menu’s search bar.
- Type “restore” in the dialogue box and select the first option which comes in the result.
- When you are in the restore settings window, press System Restore present at the beginning of the window under the tab of System Protection.
- An instruction wizard will open that will help you to navigate through all the steps to restore your system.
- Press Next and proceed with all the further instructions.
- Afterward, select the restore point from the list of options available. If you have more than one system restore points, they will be listed here.
- Now windows will confirm your actions for the last time before it starts the system restore process.
- Save all your work and backup important files just in case and proceed with the process.
- Once you have restored successfully, log into the system and check if the error at hand got fixed.
If you don’t have any restore points, you can do a clean install of Windows using bootable media. You check our article on how to create a bootable media. There are two ways: by using a media creation tool by Microsoft and by using Rufus.
Wrapping Up
The audio services are usually available for a large variety of electronic audio equipment in reality. However, Windows audio services could fail sometimes.
If you see the audio services not responding error, it means that your sound device is not responsive. Therefore, at this time, you will have to troubleshoot the audio services problems so as to use the sound devices.
If you have followed each and every step according to this guide then you just fixed the issue “Audio services not responding”.
If you still have any queries regarding this post feel free to ask them in the comment section.