Realtek HD Audio Manager is a popular application which allows you to tweak audio-related settings on Windows computers. For many users, the Realtek HD Audio Manager was the go-to place for enhancing the overall sound quality. However, due to some major changes in Windows 10, the application keeps disappearing and sometimes does not work at all. But you don’t have to worry. We have done thorough research on Realtek HD Audio Manager and found some easy ways to enable it. Apart from that, I have also shared simple and easy steps to update Realtek HD Audio drivers using both automatic and manual method. So having said that, let’s briefly learn about Realtek HD Audio Manager first and then move to the steps.
Before we start our article, let us first talk a little about Realtek HD Audio Manager. If you are someone who is already quite familiar with the subject, you can skip to the next section.
Realtek HD Audio Manager is an advanced application which lets you configure various sound settings. The reason Realtek HD Audio Manager is so ubiquitous in Windows computers is that most of the PCs have Realtek’s sound card. Besides the hardware, Realtek also provides an audio driver and a standalone app called Realtek HD Audio Manager to manage audio configuration.
Download Realtek HD Audio Manager for Windows 10
To give you some context, Realtek HD Audio Manager was easily accessible on Windows 7. It was available out of the box and used to sit in the system tray. However, with Windows 10, Microsoft cut down on many additional utilities to make the OS minimal and light. But long-time Windows users are clearly not happy with it.
- Voila, there you have the Realtek HD Audio Manager. Now go ahead and configure the music as per your taste.
- Fix Realtek HD Audio Manager Missing Error
Most of the time, Realtek HD Audio Manager is missing because the audio driver is not properly installed on your PC. So to install the dedicated Realtek driver for your sound card, follow these steps.
Fix Realtek HD Audio Manager Missing Error
- On the next screen, click on “Search automatically for updated driver software”. Now, your PC will find the dedicated driver online and install it thereafter.
Update Realtek HD Audio Driver Manually
Sometimes, the automatic driver update from Microsoft’s server does not work properly. In such cases, you will have to manually install the drivers. Do note that this will also fix any audio problem you were facing including microphone and headphone issues. Having said that, here is how you can do it.
Open the Device Manager again and right-click on “Speaker/Headphone (2- Realtek High Definition Audio)” or “High Definition Audio Device”. Here, click on “Update driver”.
In case, Realtek HD Audio Manager is still not working, you can download the drivers manually from Windows Update Catalog. Click on this link and download the latest build based on your Windows 10 version. After that, extract the CAB file using WinRAR or 7-Zip.
Here, click on the “Browse” button and locate the extracted CAB folder.
Alternate Ways to Install Realtek HD Audio Driver
While we can update Realtek audio driver from Device Manager, there are also other ways which can do the job in a few clicks. For example, you can directly download the audio driver from the website of your motherboard manufacturer. This way you will be sure that the audio driver is correct and will eventually enable Realtek HD Audio Manager. Generally, the file is in EXE format so you just have to run it and install like a standard Windows application. You have to do a bit of Googling, but that’s about it.
Another way is to download the audio driver directly from Realtek’s website. It provides a bundled EXE file which has support from Windows Vista to 10 and for both 32 and 64 bit. You just have to download the EXE file and run it. Depending on your system configuration, the installer will itself choose the correct driver and install it. Voila, you just installed the latest audio driver with Realtek HD Audio Manager built-in. Enjoy!
So now that we have learned how to enable Realtek HD Audio Manager and resolve some related issues, let us find out the best settings for Realtek HD Audio Manager. In this section, we will learn about the various sound configurations which you can apply in Realtek HD Audio Manager.
SEE ALSO: 11 Best Free Tools to Download and Install Drivers in Windows
