How to Restart a Sound Driver

By Heather Bliss

Updated September 28, 2017

Computer sound is an important part of any computer setup, especially those used for music or movies. When sound goes out, the problem can often have a simple solution, such as restarting the sound driver. Restarting a sound driver is easy to do, whether you just need to reboot the sound card driver, or whether your sound problem requires a full driver reinstall.

Restart the computer, which will automatically restart the sound driver if it is loading without any errors.

Restart the sound driver manually by disabling and re-enabling the sound card driver. Access your Windows control panel from the Start menu. Double-click the System icon.

From the System Properties window, click the Hardware tab. Select the Device Manager button. Press the plus (+) button next to the Sound, video and game controllers menu, right-click the driver you wish to restart and uninstall the driver.

Reinstall the driver using the driver disc from your sound card.

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