Windows 10 Version 2004 (19041.508) and Previous - How to Disable Front Panel Jack Detection - Realtek Audio
How do you disable front panel jack detection in Windows 10 if the Realtek Audio Control application won't install from the Microsoft Store? I want my speakers and my headset to simultaneously output the same audio stream no matter which is plugged in.
I don't want my headphones being plugged into the front panel audio port to mute my speakers. I want both my headset and my speakers to work at the same time outputting the same audio.
How can I accomplish this?
After numerous searches online, I initially could not find a way to have both my speakers (plugged into the back audio port of my motherboard) and my headset (plugged into the front panel audio port of my case) output the same sound stream simultaneously. Plugging in my headset would mute my speakers. However, I wanted my speakers and my headphones to work at the same time.
This StackExchange post talked about changing the EnableDynamicDevices
registry key to disable front panel jack detection, but that didn't work for me, and it's completely wrong.
Since I have a dual-boot setup for Windows 7 and Windows 10, I booted into Windows 7 and used Process Monitor to capture the actual registry key change that occurs when you disable front panel jack detection using the Realtek HD Audio Manager
application that is included with the drivers in Windows 7.
Unfortunately, in Windows 10, Microsoft decided that drivers should be slimmed down, so Realtek's drivers were changed to not include the Realtek HD Audio Manager
software. Instead, you're supposed to download and install the Realtek Audio Control application from the Microsoft Store to get the functionality that was once included by default in the driver package (known as Realtek HD Audio Manager
in previous versions of Windows). But, no matter what I tried, I could not get Realtek Audio Control
to install in Windows 10 Version 2004.
So, how did I get this to work?
- Install (the installer will uninstall any currently installed Realtek audio driver versions, which is what you want) Realtek HD Audio Driver version R2.82 from https://www.realtek.com/en/component/zoo/category/pc-audio-codecs-high-definition-audio-codecs-software. The benefit to using these drivers is that additional settings will show up in the enhancements for your playback device (such as the Equalizer and Loudness Equalization options) as shown in the below screenshot:
- The next step is to find out the key number for your Realtek Audio device specific settings. To do this, launch Registry Editor (Click on start and type "regedit"), and then go to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e96c-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
- Expand all of the
000*
folders, look for aSettings
folder that contains aDrv8186_DevType
entry like so:
- For each one of these folders, you'll need to create a new REG_BINARY entry in the
Settings
folder calledJackCtrl
like so:
The contents of the JackCtrl
key should be set to ff 82 40 00
-
Make sure to do this for each
000*
folder that has aDrv8186_DevType
sub folder within itsSettings
folder. -
Restart your computer. Audio should now play through your speakers and headset at the same time!
Here is a registry key export file you can import (but it may not work for you unless you adjust the 000*
entries to match where your Drv8186_DevType
sub folder entries are in the Settings
folder for each 000*
entry):
http://dinofly.com/files/windows/reg_disable_front_panel_jack_detection_windows_10_realtek_modified.zip
This is a disaster, and I hope Microsoft and Realtek will get their stuff together. The fact I had to do all of this work to change one simple setting is ridiculous. Realtek HD Audio Manager
should be packaged with the driver like it used to be in Windows 7. Then, things are as easy as this:
I was able to get some helpful information from this Reddit Thread as well. I hope this helps someone. What a miserable experience this was!