As most of you have noticed, when you press the wrong key, when an error dialog pops up or when you use volume control, you hear a beep. After doing this a couple of times, that beep can get quite annoying. Therefore, in this tutorial, I will show you how to disable it in Windows 7, to make sure it remains silent and it doesn't bother you anymore. As you will see, there are two ways you can do this, both methods being relatively simple.
Method 1: Disable the System Beep from Computer Management (Windows 7 Only)
The first method is to use the Computer Management tool. If you want to learn more about this tool and how to open it, read this detailed guide: Reasons Why Computer Management Is My Favorite Administrative Tool.
In the Computer Management window, use the left-side panel and go to "System tools -> Device Manager".
In the View menu, select "Show hidden devices". If this setting is not enabled, you will not be able to view the Beep as a device and disable it.
In the list of devices, search for the "Non-Plug and Play Drivers" category.
Expand it and find the Beep. Double click on it or right click and select Properties.
In the Beep Properties window, go to the Driver tab.
In the Startup section, click and then scroll down the Type list. Select Disable and click OK.
After a Windows restart, the system beep is disabled. If you want to stop it right away, click the Stop button in the Current status section, before closing the Beep Properties window.
In Windows 8, the Beep is no longer listed as a device in Computer Management. Therefore, you can use only the second method described below.
Method 2: Disable the System Beep from the Control Panel (Windows 7 & Windows 8)
Open the Control Panel and go to Hardware and Sound.
In the Sound category, click or tap "Change system sounds".
The Sound window is opened. In the Sound tab, look for the Program Events section. Scroll until you find Default Beep and click or tap on it.
With the Default Beep selected, click or tap the Sounds section below. A list with sounds is shown.
Scroll up that list and select "(None)". It is the first option in that long list.
Click or tap OK and the beep is disabled for the active sound scheme. If you want to change other elements of the active sound scheme, read this guide: How To Customize the Sound Scheme Used on Your Windows Computer.
If you will change the sound scheme with a new one, the system beep may be enabled again. The same happens when you install new Windows themes. Some of them might have sound schemes that enable the system beep.
Conclusion
I hope you found this guide useful. If you want to read other tips and tricks about customizing the sound in Windows, don't hesitate to check the articles recommended below.
Comments
Its worked for most things, but when I turn the volume up manually I can still hear the beep.
I followed the instructions up to the "Non Plug And Play Drivers" select "Beep". In my desperation to get rid of the volume control beep, I chose "Uninstall" instead of "Properties". Now the "Beep" driver is gone and I can not start over again and follow the instructions carefully this time.
Is there a way to re-install the "Beep" driver so that I can get into the "Beep Properties" window?
Thank you.
I tried both methods for disabling that annoying beep and neither worked. What's worse, this was an issue when I first got my computer a month ago and these instructions worked. SOMEthing happened to make the beep start up again today and I'm desperate to make it stop. Any other suggestions? I don't think uninstalling is what I want. (?) Thanks
It wasn't the system start-up sound, but a little beep everytime I opened a new IE window. I finally gave up and did a system restore 3 days back and now it's gone. No idea what happened, but some changes had automatically happened with the opening of an un-solicited email from "groupons" and when I tried to block their address...what a hassle!
Same problem here, I knew how to disable it this way, but with instealling new framework, the beep came back, and now even if i disable it, it keeps working :s
Great!! Its worked for my WINDOWS 7 Ultimate...
Didn't work for me - there's no Beep device, hidden or otherwise, and the default beep in the control panel isn't the annoying system beep. My laptop still beeps loudly upon startup, shutdown, plugging in, unplugging, and when the battery is about to die (all before the regular Windows sound effect plays)
Thanks a lot man, it worked.
Thanks a lot for posting this. It helped me.
I am getting very annoying device connect/disconnect beeps. I don't want to disable beeps. I wan't to identify where it is coming from. Is there some place in events manager or elsewhere to identify where beeps are coming from. I think virtualbox and/or my virtual cd/iso drive is involved, but not sure.
awesome thx