Change audio level from powershell?

Question

How can I use powershell to set the speaker volume? Ive dug around on here and elsewhere online can cant really find an answer.

I think I will have to write something in C# that wraps a Win32 API and THEN call it from my powershell script. The Win32 API's would be one of these

[DllImport("winmm.dll")]
public static extern int waveOutGetVolume(IntPtr hwo, out uint dwVolume);

[DllImport("winmm.dll")]
public static extern int waveOutSetVolume(IntPtr hwo, uint dwVolume);

Maliamalice

You are using the wrong API to do this from vista/W7 or above (but correct for XP. If on vista/W7 or higher look into the EndpointVolume msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms678715.aspx – Java

Answer 1

SendKeys stopped working for me in Windows 10 (it literally types digits where my caret is). I found this blog post with a very convenient way of doing it.

First, run this to get access to the audio API:

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @'
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
[Guid("5CDF2C82-841E-4546-9722-0CF74078229A"), InterfaceType(ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsIUnknown)]
interface IAudioEndpointVolume
{
    // f(), g(), ... are unused COM method slots. Define these if you care
    int f(); int g(); int h(); int i();
    int SetMasterVolumeLevelScalar(float fLevel, System.Guid pguidEventContext);
    int j();
    int GetMasterVolumeLevelScalar(out float pfLevel);
    int k(); int l(); int m(); int n();
    int SetMute([MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] bool bMute, System.Guid pguidEventContext);
    int GetMute(out bool pbMute);
}
[Guid("D666063F-1587-4E43-81F1-B948E807363F"), InterfaceType(ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsIUnknown)]
interface IMMDevice
{
    int Activate(ref System.Guid id, int clsCtx, int activationParams, out IAudioEndpointVolume aev);
}
[Guid("A95664D2-9614-4F35-A746-DE8DB63617E6"), InterfaceType(ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsIUnknown)]
interface IMMDeviceEnumerator
{
    int f(); // Unused
    int GetDefaultAudioEndpoint(int dataFlow, int role, out IMMDevice endpoint);
}
[ComImport, Guid("BCDE0395-E52F-467C-8E3D-C4579291692E")] class MMDeviceEnumeratorComObject { }
public class Audio
{
    static IAudioEndpointVolume Vol()
    {
        var enumerator = new MMDeviceEnumeratorComObject() as IMMDeviceEnumerator;
        IMMDevice dev = null;
        Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(enumerator.GetDefaultAudioEndpoint(/*eRender*/ 0, /*eMultimedia*/ 1, out dev));
        IAudioEndpointVolume epv = null;
        var epvid = typeof(IAudioEndpointVolume).GUID;
        Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(dev.Activate(ref epvid, /*CLSCTX_ALL*/ 23, 0, out epv));
        return epv;
    }
    public static float Volume
    {
        get { float v = -1; Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(Vol().GetMasterVolumeLevelScalar(out v)); return v; }
        set { Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(Vol().SetMasterVolumeLevelScalar(value, System.Guid.Empty)); }
    }
    public static bool Mute
    {
        get { bool mute; Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(Vol().GetMute(out mute)); return mute; }
        set { Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(Vol().SetMute(value, System.Guid.Empty)); }
    }
}
'@

Then control the volume like this:

[audio]::Volume  = 0.2 # 0.2 = 20%, etc.

And mute/unmute like this:

[audio]::Mute = $true  # Set to $false to un-mute

Zippora

This solution originally came from this Stack Overflow post. There's a bit more info there as well. – Emaemaciate

Thanks for this great piece of code! Works great with Win10 – Ieshaieso

I know this is really old, but this powershell used to work fine but now it doesnt and throws the error "Exception setting "Volume": "Element not found. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070490)"" – Intellectuality

@JohnnyCakes It's still working for me on Win 10 & 11 🫤 Might try another machine and/or DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth and sfc /scannow. – Zippora

Answer 2

We can Mute, Volume Down, Volume Up speaker levels with these commands. A simple 1..50 loop (each counter = 2% volume) can be added to make a function that accepts input and adjusts volume without any need for C#.

Volume Mute

$obj = new-object -com wscript.shell
$obj.SendKeys([char]173)

Volume Down Button

$obj = new-object -com wscript.shell
$obj.SendKeys([char]174)

Volume Up Button

$obj = new-object -com wscript.shell
$obj.SendKeys([char]175)

Find some relevant info here.

How can I mute/unmute my sound from PowerShell

http://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/archive/2013/07/28/weekend-scripter-cheesy-script-to-set-speaker-volume.aspx

EDIT: Here is a reusable function, tested and working on W7x64 w/ Powershell v2.

Function Set-Speaker($Volume){$wshShell = new-object -com wscript.shell;1..50 | % {$wshShell.SendKeys([char]174)};1..$Volume | % {$wshShell.SendKeys([char]175)}}
#

Example usage. Remember each tick is 2%

#Sets volume to 60%
Set-Speaker -Volume 30

#Sets volume to 80%
Set-Speaker -Volume 40

#Sets volume to 100%
Set-Speaker -Volume 50

and this function will Toggle-Mute

Function Toggle-Mute(){$wshShell = new-object -com wscript.shell;$wshShell.SendKeys([char]173)}
#

Java

devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/… – Parapsychology

For your function name, Set-Mute would use an approved Powershell verb. – Teston

Is there any to put the mic off/on ? – Nihhi

Answer 3

I created a cmdlet for manipulating audio devices.

http://www.automatedops.com/projects/windowsaudiodevice-powershell-cmdlet/

It even includes a live peak value display.

Circumfluent

Answer 4

I liked the solution from @Knuckle-Dragger but I made a few changes. My solution is comprised of a Powershell script (a .ps1 file) and a batch/.cmd file. I do this to make it a little more straightforward to use and so that I can create a shortcut and place in the Startup folder.

Maybe there's a way to create a Shortcut to directly run the .ps1 file (and I acknowledge that there probably is) then the .cmd file could be omitted. I might work on that next.

I made a couple of improvements to the script code, as well. My adjustments let you provide a number, and the volume is set to THAT number (not 2 x that number). It can't set to an odd number, since the keypresses used are in 2% increments, but it get as close as possible to the requested volume level.

Here's the setvol.ps1 file's contents

<# begin function #>
Function Set-Speaker($Volume){$wshShell = new-object -com wscript.shell;1..50 | % {$wshShell.SendKeys([char]174)};1..$Volume | % {$wshShell.SendKeys([char]175)}}
<# end function #>

write-host "Requested volume:" $args[0]

<# set the volume here #>
$vol=$args[0] / 2
Set-Speaker -volume $vol 

<# show the operator how the volume ws actually set... it may be off by 1 from their request #>
$vol=$vol * 2
write-host "Volume adjusted to" $vol

This could easily be called by running a command from the command line, like: powershell <path>\setvol.ps1 50 to set the volume to 50%, but I chose to create a .cmd file with this one line in it:

powershell <path>\setvol.ps1 %1

This allows me to configure a Windows shortcut to the .cmd file and provide a parameter for the desired volume level. I can then put that shortcut in my StartUp folder so that it will run when I login.

Imidazole

Answer 5

Check out this PC Volume Control script on TechNet. It claims to do what you're asking for - well at least on Windows XP. Here's another approach that uses a tool called NirCmd.

Outwear