Sep 17 2012

Muting Windows 8 Metro Apps

Sometimes, my desktop computer needs to do a few things at the same time and most commonly this takes the form of playing a video on the television (connected by HDMI to my computer) and playing a game be it Team Fortress 2 or even a quick game of Minesweeper on my desktop monitor.

One thing that is annoying in Windows 8 is the apparent lack of integrated volume controls for Metro apps. For standard applications you can set volume by application and audio output device (even muting specific applications and leaving others unmuted) however Metro apps are all bundled in under “System Sounds” in Volume Mixer.

As a workaround, you should be able to turn off the sounds for your desired Metro apps if they include their own volume settings by doing the following:

  1. Open the Metro app,
  2. Press Window + C on the keyboard,
  3. Select Settings in the charms bar,
  4. Rummage around the menu options until you find the volume controls,
  5. Turn down the volume or toggle the mute option to suit.

This is a gap that perhaps Microsoft can address for desktop and laptop users given that there is now two different places to look for volume controls

Boydo

My name is Boyd and I’m a Service Management Specialist with a knack for operational data gathering, transformation, analysis and reporting.

In 2012, I obtained my Masters of Science in Information Technology through the University of New South Wales @ The Australia Defence Force Academy (UNSW@ADFA).

I was also part of an online community known as the Panasonic Insider Crew in the capacity of “Insider Guru” for Panasonic Australia where I interacted with other tech enthusiasts and find out more about Panasonic's latest gadgets.

I love technology, gadgets, and the Internet and maintain a keen interest in these areas locally, nationally, and globally. I hope by sharing my views on these topics that people will receive an honest point of view from someone with a genuine interest in these topics.

I have also written and edited articles for Neowin - you can check out my articles over @ https://www.neowin.net/news/poster/boyd_chan

I hope you enjoy reading my blog!

5 comments

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    • Kevin on February 10, 2013 at 07:39
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    • Reply

    Thanks a lot Boyd! You have solved a really irritating problem! I feel like an old fart saying “why can’t it be like it used to be with file, edit etc along the top” Oh well, thanks to you I have fixed it! I had no idea the settings in the charms bar is contextual!
    Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh Boooooooooooooooooyyyyyyyyyyyyyddddd!!!

    1. Indeed, people may not realise that the charms bar is contextual – it does add to the learning curve for Windows 8 and Windows RT as a result. Very glad that you were able to solve your problem though! 🙂

  2. Very nice Boyd! I like playing with my Apps (muted) and listen to iTunes.

    1. Glad you found the tip handy and thanks for tweeting this article as well! 🙂

    • Girish on September 3, 2014 at 15:18
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    This will still be a problem for apps that do not include volume control in their settings. The contextual volume should be included by Microsoft in every app’s settings menu.

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