volume control

I have a computer that was working fine but all of a sudden something happened. I am still able to play the DVDs and CDs and hear the sound but nothing happens when I am using the internet, that is, radio station live streaming or ecards. If I am trying to load up the laptop then I am getting a pop-up window that says "unable to connect to the volume control". I have checked all the methods but cannot solve this issue? Can anyone please help? Thanks

Check the article made on "Volume icon is not displayed in the notification area, and you may receive an error message when you try to add it" from the below link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319095

Thanks but after following the steps and after the final CMD "expand sndvol32 etc.." it tells me "no destination specified for sndvol32.exe". Any ideas what can be done now?

You can find the etc path in the System32 folde.r They have give an example, but you have to type in the path where its actually located on your system. There is one issue that would be the fact that there is a space after:

expand sndvol32.ex_

After that there wil be folder name "system_root\system32\sndvol32.exe" and then there is a folder name that would be like below:

C:\Windows\System32\sndvol32.exe

Thanks for that, I was indeed missing the space. So after typing in propely, "expand sndvol32.ex_ c:\windows\system32\sndvol32.exe" and then I again get this - open input file sndvol32.ex? Do you know what exactly it means? Thanks

You can try to follow the below steps and see if that works:

Usually, the volume icon does not appear in the notification area (system tray). After that Open Sound and Devices Properties. Now you have to click Start > Click Run > Type or paste: mmsys.cpl > click OK and then on the Volume Tab under Device Volume, put a check in the box that reads "Place volume icon in the taskbar." Now click Start > Click Run > Type or paste: regsvr32 stobject.dll and then click ok. A message will popup saying that the stobject.dll registered is fine. Now download the tweak for Restore Volume/Net Icon to Notification Area from this link. Simply right click on it and click Save Traget As. After that click on the Desktop icon on the left to save netvol.reg to your Desktop. Click on the Save button. Locate netvol.reg on your Desktop, double click netvol.reg and click Yes to the import prompt. netvol.reg can be deleted after everything is fixed.

Now ensure that always show is enabled for Volume in Taskbar Properties.
Right click the Taskbar > Properties > Taskbar tab > Customize button > Click on Volume > Click the V to display the choices > Click on Always show > Click OK > Click Apply > Click OK. In Sound and Audio Devices Properties, make sure "Place volume icon in the taskbar" is checked. If it still doesn't work, here are two workarounds:

Go to Start and then Log off (log off then log back on) and after that kill explorer and restart it. Now you have to open task manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Escape and then Click on the Processes tab > Click Yes to the Task Manager Warning that pops up > Click File on the Toolbar > Click New Task (Run...) Type in: explorer > Click OK. End Process on explorer.exe will make your Desktop, Taskbar and all programs disappear. This can be startling. Restarting explorer will bring everything back. This can fix/restore/reinitialize/refresh a lot of things.

I have been trying to solve the same problem for the missing Volume Control in my notification tray. I could not get it back by just simply checking the "Place volume icon in the taskbar".

This one helped me.

expand D:\I386\sndvol32.ex_ %windir%\system32\sndvol32.exe

Thanks! ^_^