How to mute the sound output on Windows Start up?

Is there any way to mute the PC volume on Windows startup? Any GPEDIT tricks or suchlike? I am using Windows XP.

This question is not about simply blocking the “startup sound”. I want to mute the entire PC sound output. Instead of doing it manually by checking the “mute” check box in the volume options, I want to automate it.

Solution 1:

Apparently I misunderstood your question.

Edit: I found an even better way:

Auto Mute is a portable volume control software that provides access to several interesting features. It can for instance be used to automatically mute sound on logoff, suspend and shutdown so that the next system start is quiet.

A global shortcut is offered to turn sounds back on after the computer system has been started. The default shortcut is Ctrl F10 which can be changed in the program’s options if necessary.

The only other options provided by the volume control software are to run the program during startup and to play a computer beep sound whenever the state of the sound changes from mute to on and vice verse.

Auto Mute is a portable software program for the Windows operating system. The program is compatible with many Microsoft operating systems including Windows 7 and Windows Vista. It can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

Else you should have a look at a very old program called: SetVol

It might still work under Windows XP. The description reads:

If you have multiple users using the same computer, this application can be used to adjust the volume level automatically every time a user logs on. SetVol lets you make custom shortcuts for setting the volume of the sounds your computer makes.

If you use + or -, you can create shortcuts that increase or decrease volume in increments of 10%. For example, a shortcut that makes the volume 10 percent louder would use the command line Setvol.exe +10. On the other hand, you can also omit the + or - to set the volume at an absolute level. For example, the command line "Setvol.exe 100" would turn the volume up to the max.

You could then set up a startup script that will automatically runs "Setvol.exe 0" muting your system.

For everyone else: try turning off the Windows start up sound?

Go to Start --> Settings --> Control Panels then selecting the Control Panel "Sounds and Audio Devices".

Click on the "Sounds" tab and it'll look like this:

Scroll down just a bit and you'll find Start Windows and Windows Logon:

Those are the two you want to change or disable entirely. To change them, click on the pop-up menu that currently says "Windows XP Startup" on my screenshot above.

To disable them is a bit unintuitive: You need to also click on the pop-up menu, but this time you're interested in the top option:

Select (None), click on "Apply"

Solution 2:

By script:

Create a file *.vbs under "Start-up" folder:
(Actual path would be like: C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Start Menu\Programs\Startup)

And copy paste this code into the file:

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.SendKeys(chr(&hAD)) 

save the file.. you are done :)