Many Windows users have experienced and continue to be affected by a certain issue where the Sound icon in their taskbar – the one that opens a little volume slider when clicked on – gets a little red X on its bottom-right side. When a Windows user affected by this issue places their mouse pointer over the Sound icon (which is basically just an icon depicting a speaker) in their taskbar, they see a message that states: This issue is most common in Windows 7, one of the most successful iterations of the Windows Operating System to have ever been created, but there is nothing standing in the way of this problem occasionally affecting other versions of the Windows OS. Almost all of the Windows users who are affected by this issue are able to successfully play audio on their computer through any and all connected speakers/headphones even though there is a red X on the Sound icon in their taskbar and their computer’s audio service – known as the Windows Audio service – is not running. The root of this problem, in almost all cases, is the Windows Audio service – or one or more of its dependencies (services that need to be running in order for it to run) – either stopping spontaneously for some reason or failing to start automatically when you initially boot your computer up and this has also been known to trigger the Audio Services not responding Error. Many users affected by this problem are able to alleviate it by simply restarting their computer. However, that isn’t a concrete solution to this problem and having to restart your computer every time you encounter this issue on your computer is inconvenient, to say the least. Thankfully, though, there exist more permanent ways to fix this problem and get rid of the “The Audio Service is not running” message, and the following are two of the most effective ones:
Solution 1: Simply increase or decrease your computer’s volume
For a problem that stumps even the most avid users of Windows computers, hordes of Windows users who have been affected by this issue have been able to resolve it by applying an ironically simple fix – adjusting their computer’s volume by even the slightest of margins. Many, many people who have been affected by this problem in the past have had success in fixing it by simply increasing or decreasing their computer’s volume. In order to use this solution to fix this issue, you need to:
Solution 2: Restart the Windows Audio service and all of its dependencies
Another highly effective solution to this problem is restarting the Windows Audio service and two of its three dependencies, and making sure that all three of these services are set to automatically start when your computer boots up. In order to do so, you need to: As soon as all three of the services listed above have been restarted, the red X on the Sound icon in your taskbar should disappear, your computer’s Windows Audio service should be running and you should no longer see the “The Audio Service is not running” message.
Solution 3: Changing Log-On Settings
In some cases, the services might be allowed to log on to a particular account on the computer but they might not be configured to log on for your particular user account. Therefore, in this step, we will be changing the log-on settings. For that:
Solution 4: Scanning for Changes
In certain cases, the sound drivers might have acquired some corrupt configurations or files due to which it is causing this glitch and preventing effective communication between the driver and the hardware. Therefore, in this step, we will be first uninstalling the driver and then reinstall it from the device manager. In order to do so:
Solution 5: Troubleshooting Audio
It is possible that the audio configurations on the computer have been messed up either by manual or automatic changes. In certain cases, this can also occur after the installation of an application. Therefore in this step, we will be troubleshooting the audio. For that:
Solution 6: Running Some Commands
In some cases, the issue might be triggered if you have messed up with some local account configurations therefore, in this step, we will be executing some commands in the elevated command prompt to get rid of this issue. For that: Note: Also make sure to check if the sound works fine in safe mode to rule out any third party interference in the audio services. In addition to that, try to reinstall the sound drivers.
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