What is sndvol32.exe?

The sndvol32.exe process is the Windows Volume Control program.

The sndvol32.exe program is the native audio volume and mixer control included in Windows Operating System. Sndvol32.exe is part of Microsoft® Windows® Operating System and is not available for download from Microsoft. It’s a system and hidden file. Sndvol32.exe is usually located in the %SYSTEM% folder and its usual size is 138,752 bytes.

The sndvol32.exe program controls the volume settings on your computer. You can display the volume control panel by simple double-clicking on the speaker icon in the system tray. Otherwise go to the Control Panel and open Sounds and Audio Devices. Then go to Device volume and click Advanced.

If you want to locate the sndvol32.exe file on your system, open Windows Explorer, click on the Search button, and select All files and folders. Then type sndvol32.exe into the first line and click on the Search button.

The SndVol32 program (sndvol32.exe) controls the master volume settings and the volume settings for various sound sources (wave, CD, and synthesizer). The SndVol32 program displays a speaker icon in the system tray from where you can access volume and speaker settings.

Sometimes the sndvol32.exe icon disappears from the system tray. You can re-enable it by doing the following:

1. Click on Start and go to the Control Panel
2. Open Sounds and Audio Devices
3. Go to the Volume tab and select the Place volume icon in the taskbar checkbox

If your sound card supports changing the volume level with sndvol32.exe, a speaker icon will appear in the system tray. Keep in mind that the volume tray icon will not appear if the

MIXERLINE_COMPONENTTYPE_DST_SPEAKERS (speaker destination) or MIXERLINE_COMPONENTTYPE_DST_HEADPHONES (headphone destination) components are missing or cannot be found.

The SndVol32 program is also responsible for providing a user interface for accessing all volume controls. These options become available when a user double-clicks on the speaker icon in the system tray.

When sndvol32.exe runs, it requests a set of controls from the mixer-line driver. The SOURCE line should have at least one of the following controls to display a slider panel:

• Volume control
• Mute control
• Advanced control (AGC, bass, or treble)

If none of these controls are present, sndvol32.exe doesn’t display the panel.