How to Adjust the Audio Level in Windows 10 With Hotkeys

There are many things to love about the Windows 10 desktop, but there is one area of life where Windows users seemingly must gaze in envy upon their Mac brothers and sisters, and that is the use of hotkeys for controlling the volume level on the machine. But don’t despair! It’s possible to get that same functionality on a Windows 10 computer.

In this article, we’ll show you three ways to add volume-control hotkeys to your Windows 10 PC, if it doesn’t have them already.

Adjusting Windows 10 Audio Level using Hotkeys

Before talking about adding audio hotkeys to Windows 10, ensure that your keyboard or laptop doesn’t already include this feature. For instance, hotkeys for volume control may be Fn + F5 for volume down and Fn + F6 for up.

There are a few ways to add audio hotkeys to Windows 10 if your device doesn’t already have them. We’ll cover them separately.

Windows 10 Audio Hotkeys using 3RVX

In addition to letting you assign whatever hotkeys you wish to control your system audio, 3RVX features an on-screen display (OSD) that you can customize. You can even fine-tune precisely how the volume responds to your commands. You can’t do that on macOS!

1. To start, download and install the latest version of 3RVX from the developer’s website and then launch the application from the Windows Start Menu. This will pull up the 3RVX settings.
2. Click on the Hotkeys tab to customize the hotkeys for volume adjustment. There aren’t any default hotkeys; you’ll have to add some manually.
3. Click on the + button to add a new hotkey, then click on the grey bar by Keys in the Hotkey Editor.
4. A dialog box will appear, asking you to type a hotkey. Try to use something that is not already assigned to another system function. I recommend using the Windows key with a Mouse Wheel action.
5. Once you’ve selected a hotkey, assign it to an action. Click the Action menu in the Hotkey Editor and choose whether you want the hotkey you typed to increase, decrease, or mute the audio. You’ll notice you can also assign actions to increase or decrease the screen brightness, open the CD tray, and more.
6. Try adding hotkeys for increasing, decreasing, and muting the audio, and then click the Apply button.
7. To test it out, close the 3RVX settings. Whenever you type your hotkey, you should see an audio icon overlay appear on your screen, almost identical to the macOS.
8. To run this program at startup, select the General tab, check the Run on Windows startup option, and click Save to apply the settings.

Adjusting Windows 10 Audio using AutoHotKey

Sometimes you don’t want to add another single-purpose application to your system, or perhaps you already use AutoHotKey for other tasks and want to expand your AHK script library to include one to give you volume control hotkeys. AutoHotKey is a tremendously powerful scripting and automation system for Windows. It’s completely free, and you can download it here.

It’s beyond the scope of this article to explain how to program in AutoHotKey, so instead, we’ll provide you with two basic scripts. The first script is the most basic of all. If you put this text in a. AHK file and then double-click on the AHK file, it will give you a simple hotkey control over the volume setting. Hitting the Alt and the left-arrow key will lower the volume by one step, while the Alt-right arrow will raise it by one. Here is the script:

+Left::SoundSet, -5
+Right::SoundSet, +5
Return

However, the simple script above doesn’t provide where the volume level is! Fortunately, the one below contains the helpful details you need to understand the script. It was written by Joe Winograd—an awesome AutoHotKey coder and guru.

Joe’s script provides changing volume visual representation and plays a sound that demonstrates the volume level as you move it up or down with the Alt-left and Alt-right keys. Joe’s script also places a headphone icon in the tool tray so that you can control its execution.

Here’s Joe’s script:

#Warn,UseUnsetLocal
#NoEnv
#SingleInstance force
SetBatchLines,-1

SoundGet,Volume
Volume:=Round(Volume)
TrayTip:="Alt+LeftArrow or Alt+RightArrow to adjust volume" . "`nCurrent Volume=" . Volume
TrayIconFile:=A_WinDir . "\System32\DDORes.dll" ; get tray icon from DDORes.dll
TrayIconNum:="-2032" ; use headphones as tray icon (icon 2032 in DDORes)
Menu,Tray,Tip,%TrayTip%
Menu,Tray,Icon,%TrayIconFile%,%TrayIconNum%
Return

!Left::
SetTimer,SliderOff,3000
SoundSet,-1
Gosub,DisplaySlider
Return

!Right::
SetTimer,SliderOff,3000
SoundSet,+1
Gosub,DisplaySlider
Return

SliderOff:
Progress,Off
Return

DisplaySlider:
SoundGet,Volume
Volume:=Round(Volume)
Progress,%Volume%,%Volume%,Volume,HorizontalVolumeSliderW10
TrayTip:="Alt+LeftArrow or Alt+RightArrow to adjust volume" . "`nCurrent Volume=" . Volume
Menu,Tray,Tip,%TrayTip%
Return

Now you can quickly adjust the volume on Windows with your choice of hotkey! 

Windows 10 Audio Hotkeys using Shortcuts

This one comes straight from Melchizedek Qui, a moderator on the Microsoft Answers forum, and it’s a clever and straightforward approach.

1. Right-click on an empty area of your desktop and select New > Shortcut.
2. In the text box, type or cut and paste “C:\Windows\System32\SndVol.exe -T 76611119 0” (no quotes) and hit Next.

   

3. Enter a name for the shortcut – for example, “Sound Control,” and click on Finish.
4. Right-click on the new shortcut and select Properties.
5. In the Shortcut key textbox, type whatever shortcut key you want and click OK.

Now, whenever you want to adjust your volume from the keyboard, just hit your hotkey, and the volume mixer will load. You can then use the up and down arrow keys to adjust your volume control. Simple!

Windows 10 Audio Adjustment Made Easy

Although many keyboards and laptops now have built-in hotkeys for adjusting the volume, not all do. So, if you find yourself having this issue, you can quickly remedy the situation. Whichever option you choose, volume control can be made simpler in Windows 10.