How to enable sound in Safe mode?

PCHow to enable sound in Safe mode?

Safe mode starts Windows with a limited set of files and drivers. Startup programs don’t run in safe mode, and only the basic drivers needed to start Windows are installed or loaded. Safe mode is useful for troubleshooting problems with programs and drivers that might not start correctly or that might prevent Windows from starting correctly. If a problem doesn’t reappear when you start in safe mode, you can eliminate the default settings and basic device drivers as possible causes.

Objective:- the objective of writing this article is to tell you how to enable sound in safe mode which is not by default enabled in safe mode.Sometimes we need to enable sound in safe mode while doing troubleshooting as services of sound device either have a conflict with any other services in normal mode or any Malware or virus stop services for sound from loading or running properly.

After reading this article you would be able to enable sound in safe mode so in other words you would be able to play audio songs in safe mode.

How to enable sound in safe mode

When the computer is in safe mode, the Windows Audio service isn’t started so you would not be able to play any sound that might have been caused by any other driver or software which is conflicting with sound driver or the security software or may be any malware or viruses.So in this case you might want to check if the sound is coming in safe mode but you could not do that as the Audio service and drivers are not loaded.So that’s the time we are going to use this troubleshooting steps to start the windows Audio service in safe mode to enable sound in safe mode .

So to start any service in safe mode you have to first make it a safe service by adding the name of the service in safe mode services load list and then starting the service in safe mode using services.msc or net start command.
But if you want to start the service of any hardware device in safe mode whose drivers are not loaded in safe mode by default, It would not start and rather you will get an error, so in order to start the service of any hardware in safe mode you would also need to make the driver of that hardware load in safe mode by adding its drivers key in safe mode driver list.

To know the driver key of any hardware

Step 1. Open the device manager by typing Devmgmt.msc at run.
Step 2. Go to the Device type and expand it by clicking on the triangle or the plus sign and then right click on the device you want to load driver for in safe mode.As we have right clicked on the Realtech High Definition Audio in the picture below for the sound driver.

Enable sound in safe mode
Enable sound in safe mode

Step 3. Click on the properties and go to the details tab > select Driver Key under property drop down list and it will show you the value of Driver key. Make a note of the value with brackets ( {4d36e96c-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318} ) after removing 007 , by copying it to a notepad.

Enable sound in safe mode
Enable sound in safe mode

To Enable sound in Safe Mode

Step 1. Go to run and type Regedit to open registry editor.
Step 2. In Registry Editor Navigate to the following location.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot
start windows installer in safe mode
List of services in safe mode with networking
Step 3. Now if you expand SafeBoot key here you would find two sub keys named minimal and network so the minimal is for normal safe mode and network is for safe mode with networking.Here you have to expand the one according to your environment you are logged into if you have started the computer in safe mode with networking then expand Network otherwise minimal.
 
Step 4. Now here under Network / Minimal create a key to load the driver of sound by right clicking on it and selecting  –> New Key and copy the Driver Key after removing 007 and replacing all lower-case letters with capital letters and paste it into the key name as shown in the picture below.
Audio driver in safe mode
Audio driver in safe mode

Step 5. Now on the right side edit the ‘(Default)’ key and change the value data to device type name as for me it would be ‘Sound, video and game controllers’.

Enable device to load its driver in safe mode
Enable device to load its driver in safe mode

Step 7. Now to start the sound in safe mode you also need to enable all of its dependent services which are AudioEndpointBuilder, MMCSS and Audiosrv. So create a new key for each called ‘AudioEndpointBuilder‘, ‘MMCSS‘ and ‘Audiosrv‘ under the same location

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal.
Edit all their ‘(Default)’ keys on the right pane and type ‘Service’ under Value data.

enable sound in Safe mode
Start dependent services for Audio in safe mode

Step 8. Now restart the computer in safe mode and type the following command line on the command prompt run as administrator to finally start the Audio services in safe mode.
net start AudioEndpointBuilder
net start MMCSS
net start Audiosrv
And the sound is enabled in safe mode now.You can now go ahead and play a songs in safe mode.

Watch the below video on “How to enable sound in Safe mode on Windows 8?”

After I restarted the computer in safe mode and clicked on the audio icon, the sound started working in safe mode on Windows 8.

Sound enabled in safe mode on Windows 8
Enable sound in safe mode on Windows 8
Nasir Sohail
Nasir Sohail
Nasir is a software engineer with an M.Sc. degree in software engineering and various certifications related to computer hardware and networking, such as MCSE, CCNA, RHCE. He has more than 15 years of mixed industry experience mostly related to IT Support, Web development and Server administration. He also offers his freelancing gig for IT support and consultancy and has more than 400 combined five-star reviews across platforms like Fiverr, Google, TrustPilot, etc.
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47 COMMENTS

  1. Loved your instructions and followed them exactly UNTIL I tried to create a new key and a box popped up and said I did not have permission to do that. Dead end. Unfortunately your instructions I guess never envisioned such a roadblock. Now what??

  2. Well Mr./Ms. Anonymous, If you are getting the permission error while editing, then you must take the ownership of the parent key before you create a new sub key under it. So right click on safeboot key > Select Permissions > Click on Advanced button > Click the Owner tab and Select your username from the list > and check the box which says Replace owner and Click Apply. If you do not see your username under the list of users then add your user name in the list first then a new Permission Entry window would pop-up, here Check the Allow Full Control box and Click OK.

  3. I understand the instructions up until editing the (Default) key. Am I modifying that name? Because it wont be changed. Also, am I creating AudioEndpointBuilder, MMCSS, and Audiosrv under the same location?

  4. Thank for commenting Jason, I have just corrected the article also to make it more clear.And to answer your question- You are not modifying the name of (Default) key , you just need to set its value data to define its type for Driver key it would be 'Sound, video and game controllers' and for services it would be 'Service' as value data. And yes you are creating AudioEndpointBuilder, MMCSS, and Audiosrv under the same location.

  5. Error 1068 is dependency service stopped or failure indication.You must be starting Audiosrv first . Try to Start "AudioEndpointBuilder" and "MMCSS" first then run the command "net start Audiosrv" to start the windows audio service.

  6. after typing "net start AudioEndpointBuilder" in command prompt aS ADMINISTRATOR …ERROR MESSAGE "THIS SERVICE CANNOT BE STARTED IN SAFE MODE"

  7. You must not have added its driver in the same mode driver load list before running this command. in order to start the service of any hardware in safe mode you would also need to make the driver of that hardware load in safe mode by adding its drivers key in safe mode driver list.

    Please follow the steps all over from step 1 through 8 mentioned on this page.

  8. Did you run the command as administrator. open command prompt as administrator and then try those command otherwise just rename the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSafeBootMinimal to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSafeBootNetwork and Network to minimal as commented by Gurjas

  9. Me too! I am null at tech stuff and you explained it so well. Just had a hard timet o find "run" under W10 but right-click mouse and found it to type "regedit". Thanks so much!

  10. Still NOT clear "under the same location?" Is this under NETWORK LOCATION or THE NEW KEY LOCATION? Either way I tried them both to the letter and no sound at all. Lastest error is that MCCS could not be started on local computer or in safe mode. Plus at the end of your instructions there is nothing just reboot. Well when did that was asked about nothing? Another guy has exact instructions until the end when he says go into services and START EACH OF THOSE KEYS which was a bit of light but can not start them there when I opened new keys under THE ACTUAL KEY. When I sopened new keys from NETWORK (which was not clear) and followed the last bit of the other guys instructions keys started but still no sound.

  11. hi, this is awesome! Re the device names, is it necessary to use the exact same name as appears in Device Manager? Or can i just enter any arbitrary name, eg "My-SD". And then use the name i entered in the 'net start' command, eg 'net start My-SD'. Thx!

  12. Best instructions ever! Normally, when I follow others' for things looking 'complex' (such as this one), I hit a wall and being many times disappointed, I expected once again the same dead-end-not-solved-problem, but THANK YOU because this time it actually worked! Thank you with with a big grin!

  13. Thank you for the video. I am having difficulty replicating the desktop on both my Windows 7 desktop and a TV (using HDMI). If I expand it still only shows either on my desktop (with just the desktop image showing on the TV) or vice versa (which makes it difficult to navigate as they are in different rooms).
    If I duplicate displays they both go black.

    However if I start in safe mode with networking I can get both up.
    The issue with this was there was no sound, so I followed your instructions and now I have sound in safe mode.

    The issue I now have is that the sound comes out of the desktop speakers, but is not being switched over to the TV (and there is no control for this in the control panel in safe mode).

    Any ideas that you have to correct this would be amazing.
    OR if you have a fix for why the 'duplicate' is causing both to go black when not in safe mode.

    Thank you again for taking the time to share such valuable information.

  14. WE ALL THANK YOU A LOT, MANY THANKS! 🙂

    Now, we want to know how to disable the sound when the sound driver won't let Windows 10 start, nor in Safe Mode.
    Guess, it will be a good thing to do.

    What would be better to have more Windows Save Mode options, like Safe Boot with Sound, Safe Boot with Network & Sound, Safe Boot with HDMI Sound, Safe Boot with Network & HDMI Sound.

    And what the most users would like to have to, is the Safe Boot Key from computer startup.

    Somebody how wants to ad some?

    Any one knows the answers?

  15. man your the best my laptop will only start in safe mode and had no sound for few years i just kame akross your site and used your info on how to have sound in safemode now my laptop has sound WOW I OWE U A HUG MAN

  16. Just wanted to say a big thank you. This still works in 2018. I found it a bit confusing watching the video but your step by step approach on this site made it clear and now it works yay

  17. already running problem – was for me , not including { and } in reg key, seek above. Was not necessary to run anything on restart. Sound came in automatic.

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