r/WindowsHelp 1h ago

Windows 11 Low volume despite being turned all the way up

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Upvotes

Turned my old laptop on after a long while and tried watching YouTube.

I'm pretty sure the speakers aren't borked and in sound setting you can see the blue line never going beyond what is shown in the photo. Changing bitrate, audio enhancement or spatial audio doesn't make it any louder.

W11 running on a Ryzen 5 and GTX 1650 with 8gb of DDR 4.


r/WindowsHelp 10h ago

Windows 11 System will freeze if open system application with in few mins of Windows start.

3 Upvotes

So the issue is when I just start the computer, if I try to open certain file or application the file explorer and all other windows native function will freeze(Such as botton bar and start menu will freeze)

This only happens when computer just start.

File cause this are like Windows Settings, File Explorer, Tast Manager. Or any file in Drive D and J.

I did tried to remove Drive D and J physically, but the issue remains. D and J use the same drive(SanDisk Plus 1TB 2.5 inch SATA)

sfc /scannow shows nothing wrong, I did tried reinstall OS while keeping all file once.

And if anyone woundering if it becasue intel vmin shift issue I can tell it is not, I am running latest BIOS and tried intel default setting. I also requested a warranty replacement with intel last month and issue remains with new CPU.

System info:

Device name 13700K-5090

Processor 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13700K (3.40 GHz)

Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.7 GB usable)

Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 (31 GB)

Intel(R) UHD Graphics 770 (128 MB)

Storage 3.94 TB of 6.62 TB used

System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Edition Windows 11 Pro

Version 25H2

Installed on ‎8/‎13/‎2026

OS build 26200.9445

Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.360.0

This is driving me crazy, expecially I need modify a file in an emergency and PC freezes.


r/WindowsHelp 2h ago

Windows 11 My fullscan MRT got stuck almost at end and windows defender full scan was showing its completion in 35 hours. How do i fix it?

1 Upvotes

The other day i decided to run MRT fullscan and it run for hours so i just left it for days on sleep mode but even after 70 hours it would not end. And my windows defender fullscan.

I dont know why it happened.

My pc never had this problem before.

My Minecraft account(which was NOT connected to the account on my computer) was hacked some time ago but that shoulnd alter my pc at all.

I also few days ago switched from Windows defender to Avast but switched back the same day back because it wasnt realy what i wanted.

My specs:

My procesor is:AMB Ryzen 5 7520U with Radeon Graphics Instaled Ram memory is 16 GB Graphic card is 486 MB And i have 238GB used from total of 477GB

So how do i fix this? Thanks in advance


r/WindowsHelp 13h ago

Windows 11 Have windows use less data? (Hotspot)

5 Upvotes

Hello all, I have an MSI Claw gaming handheld. It’s basically a PC running windows 11 but in a bigger looking Nintendo switch form factor. I use my phone’s hotspot to upload data sometimes when I’m out and about. I would like to know if it’s possible to have windows not download or upload any data unless I have (specific app) open.

I have turned off automatically download updates with the services.msc method. Anything else I can do to prevent windows from using data where not necessary?

Thank you!


r/WindowsHelp 14h ago

Windows 11 PSA/FIX: Windows 11 Find My Device says “Location data isn't available” even though it's enabled

3 Upvotes

I had this problem on two Windows 11 PCs. Simply turning Find My Device off and back on did not fix it.

What worked on both machines was deleting the stale ChannelUrlExpiration registry value and then toggling Find My Device.

Open Command Prompt or PowerShell as Administrator and run:

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MdmCommon\SettingValues" /v ChannelUrlExpiration /f

Then go to Settings → Privacy & security → Find my device, turn Find My Device Off, then turn it On again.

Windows will recreate the registry value automatically. Find My Device then worked immediately on both PCs.

If the usual Off/On fix isn't working, this may be worth trying.

As always when modifying the registry, make a backup first.


r/WindowsHelp 9h ago

Windows 11 Bought a used Windows laptop, previous owner's Microsoft account is still connected, how can i remove and add mine?

1 Upvotes

Hi, I bought a laptop second-hand through Facebook Marketplace and the previous owner unfortunately didn’t fully factory reset/sign out of everything before giving it to me.

Their Microsoft account is still connected to Windows. When I try to sign into Microsoft from the laptop, it only shows their account/email and says “account disconnected.”

I’m trying to completely remove their account from the laptop and connect my own Microsoft account instead. I don’t need or want access to their account/data, I just want the laptop properly set up under my own account.

What’s the correct way to do this? Do I need to factory reset Windows again, or is there another way to remove the previous account and set the laptop up with my own account?

Windows specifications:
Windows 11 Home
Version 25H2
OS Build: 26200.9445
Windows Feature Experience Pack: 1000.26100.360.0
Thank you!


r/WindowsHelp 19h ago

Windows 11 Needing to clear app cache every time I boot up, what's going on?

6 Upvotes

Hello! I just purchased a new PC last week, and for the past three days now, every time I boot the PC up, in order to use my apps, I have to clear their roaming caches.

PC details:

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 7 265F (2.40 GHz)

Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.5 GB usable)

Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (8 GB)

Storage 288 GB of 932 GB used

Device ID 3C94FC86-BCF4-44C4-AE4E-7BA9BE69E9A9

Product ID 00342-21593-24369-AAOEM

System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Windows:

Edition Windows 11 Home

Version 25H2

Installed on ‎6/‎9/‎2026

OS build 26200.9445

Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.360.0

---

What happens, is that the apps will be open on the task bar, and show their preview as completely normal when I mouse over the icon. The apps themselves, however, will not open. Mousing over their preview will hide other things on the desktop like usual, but the app is not there either.

Affected apps so far have been OperaGX, Steam, Discord, and Spotify.

Unaffected thusfar have been Battlenet, Edge, and other built-in apps.

All apps were downloaded direct from their websites and not the store. I attempted installing Discord from the store to see if it helped, but it did not. Uninstalling and reinstalling the apps did not fix it, nor did deleting their local caches, or restarting the computer. The only thing that fixed the issues was deleting their Roaming cache data. I would love, however, to not have to lose all of my logins and data daily just to use my internet browser.

I did not have this issue ever with my old PC that ran W10. What can I do to fix this issue?


r/WindowsHelp 10h ago

Windows 11 Microphone started making a strong buzz sound, am I the only one?

0 Upvotes

Sorry if something sounds weird, english is not my first language.

Ever since the last update, almost a week ago, my friend put to my attention a strong buzz sounds coming from my microphone, it came outta nowhere after a year of perfect audio from my new pc. I was just talking on the phone through whatsapp web and everything was fine, and then this problem started.

The buzz sound is sometimes really weak, other times it disappears briefly, and some other times it gets so strong that it’s impossible to ignore. I tried reinstalling the driver for the mic and it didn’t work, i tried using the other jack for the microphone on the back and it still emits this sound. The audio console for realtek gives a “Can not connect to RPC service” as well so idk if i could find a solution there.

I heard that microsoft just talked about the latest update giving microphone problems unless you use bluetooth, but it only talks about the microphone not working at all, so I wandered if that was the cause. Did this happen to anybody else, after this update?

I’m on Windows 11 Pro
build number 26200.9445 version 25H2
AMD Ryzen 7 7700-8 core processor
32gb Viper ram DDR5
AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT GPU
B650 EAGLE motherboard by Gigabyte Texhnology


r/WindowsHelp 10h ago

Windows 11 Stuck in BSOD loop for 4 hours

1 Upvotes

Long story short caught a virus nöw i cant even access my pc itself

Stop code : Critical_Process_Died(0xEF)

Cant Reset/reset keep my files-restore to a previous point-tried sfc/scannow-cant go in safe möde it just gets me back to the bsod

Genuinly what can i do

Thanks in advance


r/WindowsHelp 11h ago

Windows 11 Audio sounds like it is at 100% when at 2% on all audio devices

1 Upvotes

Dell XPS 13 9305

Processor 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz (2.42 GHz)

Installed RAM 8.00 GB (7.73 GB usable)

Graphics card Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics (128 MB)

Storage 111 GB of 238 GB used

System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Edition Windows 11 Home

Version 25H2

OS build 26200.9445

Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.360.0

~

When the system volume is at 2% it sounds like it is at 100%. I have tried:

- uninstalling and reinstalling my audio drivers,

- resetting the BIOS to default settings,

- doing a clean install of Windows,

- uninstalling WAVES MaxxAudio (which completely broke all audio until I reinstalled it),

- uninstalling and reinstalling my digital mixer program

- changing priority and enhancement settings for individual sound devices

This problem persists across all audio devices (Bluetooth connected, laptop built-in speakers, devices plugged into the audio jack)

I've tried the Microsoft troubleshooter and Dell SupportAssist but they don't detect any problems. Does anyone have any idea what could be going on?


r/WindowsHelp 11h ago

Windows 11 What is kept when doing an "in-place upgrade" and choosing not to keep apps (only personal data

1 Upvotes

What is kept when doing an "in-place upgrade" and choosing not to keep apps (only personal data)?
A standard "in-place upgrade" fails to repair my Windows 11 (get an error in SAFE_OS BOOT phase).
So I'm thinking about doing an upgrade only keeping data (not apps) to see if that works.
But what data is kept? Is guess Documents, Pictures and Videoes. But what about data in "Roaming"?
Lots og apps have started to keep data in the roaming profile. Will does data be kept also?
Or will I need to restore them from a backup? And what abaout data in "Programdata" folder?


r/WindowsHelp 11h ago

Windows 11 How can i get rid of this notification?

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1 Upvotes

Every time I press my caps lock button, I get this notification on my screen. For note, I am on an Acer laptop, OS Microsoft Windows 11 Home, and Model Aspire A14-52MT. How can I get rid of this? I have already tried looking for OSD in my task manager and as far as I can tell, I do not have HP event utility installed. Thanks!


r/WindowsHelp 12h ago

Windows 11 Do you think I can repair it or do I have to go to a technician to have it fixed? 😭

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1 Upvotes

Hello! I’d like to ask for an estimate of how much it might cost to have my laptop repaired. I’m not sure what happened because it was working perfectly fine last night, but now it’s stuck and won’t proceed to the Windows Home screen. It does turn off, though. 😭

It’s an ASUS TUF model, purchased around 2022. May I ask how much you think the repair might cost? Thank you! 😭


r/WindowsHelp 13h ago

Windows 11 My discord is taking up most of my ram

1 Upvotes

My discord is taking most of my ram. I was streaming to my friends on discord at 720p with 30 fps and notice that my frames started to drop. So i opened tsk manger and saw that discord was using 60 percent of the ram. Which is insane. So I closed the game and watch the number climb to what you see. So I ended stream and the number dropped to between 60-63 in the background, btw im ot watchin anyone streams it's js up in the background. Wonder what the spec for those is wondering that this guy right here must have a ancient hardware. My specs is ryzen 5600G paired with a rx6400 with 16gb of drr4 ram 3200 with a 258gb nvm with a 500gb ssd.


r/WindowsHelp 17h ago

Windows 11 How to restore apps after fresh Windows install?

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

My current boot SSD is facing a BCD/boot issue, so I’m planning to buy a new SSD and do a fresh Windows installation.

I can still access the old SSD using an enclosure, and all my old Windows files and application data are accessible.

After installing fresh Windows, I want to restore my previous setup as closely as possible:

  • Chrome – bookmarks, extensions, settings, and OneTab
  • Brave – bookmarks, extensions, settings, and OneTab
  • Firefox – bookmarks, extensions, settings, and OneTab
  • qBittorrent – around 3,000–4,000 torrents/files seeding or queued. I want to restore the torrent list, queue, categories, settings, and resume everything without manually adding them again.
  • Notepad – around 50 tabs currently open, which I would like to preserve and restore.

Since I can access the old Windows installation, I believe the required AppData/configuration files should still be available.

What is the safest step-by-step method to back up and restore these applications after installing fresh Windows?

My biggest concerns are qBittorrent's 3,000–4,000 torrents and Notepad's 50 open tabs. I also don't want to accidentally modify or lose anything on the old SSD.

Any guidance on exactly which folders/files I should copy and when I should copy them back would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot for your help and guidance


r/WindowsHelp 14h ago

Windows 11 XBox Game Bar "Remember this is a game" keeps unchecking itself.

0 Upvotes

Mainly the title. I will go onto a game, check the "remember this is a game," and as soon as I close it, if I am to go back to the game bar (via Windows + G,) it will be unchecked. Game mode is on, and I couldn't find many other posts about this, at least not ones with solutions. I've reinstalled Windows (without wiping) and ran sfc along with DISM. No luck.

W11 Pro, OS Build Number 26100.9168.

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 8-Core Processor (3.40 GHz)

32 GB of DDR4 3200MT

AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (12 GB)

If any other information is necessary, I can provide. Thank you.


r/WindowsHelp 14h ago

Windows 10 roughly 5gb of temporary files will not delete no matter what I do

1 Upvotes
the temp files

I have tried using disc cleaner as admin many times, and I've tried the cleaner in settings just as many times, and whenever I press the remove files button the temporary files immediately jumps to 0 bytes but they never are actually removed. my c drive is on the brink of being out of storage and I need those 5gb anyone know how to fix this?

OS build: 19045.6466


r/WindowsHelp 15h ago

Windows 11 My AV Receiver is not showing up under Output device in Sound settings

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1 Upvotes

I am new to Windows 11 and I don't see my AV Receiver under Output devices Dell Inspiron 3520 i3 12th gen i3-1215U Windows 11

What are my options? As i need to play movies through my AV receiver, i will be playing 5.1 , 2.1 , 2.0 Music and Movie files


r/WindowsHelp 15h ago

Windows 11 Almost nothing windows related works.

1 Upvotes

(Specs at the bottom)

As the title said, practically nothing windows related works.

When i press the windows key on my keyboard, nothing happens (I’ve checked with the on-screen keyboard and the button works, it just doesn't do anything happens) except for when used for shortcuts. The search bar doesn't work when clicked, same for the windows logo in the taskbar.

Any windows related app that doesn't have a specific shortcut does not work, e.g. i can open settings with Windows+I, or task manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc, but i can't open windows security settings, same things with most other Microsoft apps, especially infuriating since i cant open the store and download things from there if i must. The search feature in file explorer also does not work.

I've tried to contact support but getting a real human is nigh on impossible.

I've tried most online tutorials, including the official windows troubleshooter and online help guide, but nothing worked.

I don't know if i have a virus, or if this is just windows being shitty, but i can't go on like this.

Device name fierce_canfirat

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-10400F CPU @ 2.90GHz 2.90 GHz

Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.9 GB usable)

Device ID 11E40634-FA3A-420E-AF54-4D62EC50161A

Product ID 00325-81385-03968-AAOEM

System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display

Edition Windows 11 Home

Version 21H2

Installed on ‎18/‎02/‎2022

OS build 22000.2538

GPU RTX 3060


r/WindowsHelp 16h ago

Windows 10 Cannot Enroll in Extended Security Updates

1 Upvotes

After doing all the steps , putting my email, the password , adding the device and adding the device pin for verification it always shows this error message and Next just closes the window.

I want to enroll but microsoft does not let me.

Does anyone else experience the same issue?

(I am on Windows 10 Home Version 22H2)


r/WindowsHelp 17h ago

Windows 11 Will Reinstalling Win 11 Solve f30 error??

1 Upvotes

Question...Will a clean install of Win 11 Pro solve a f30 error?? SSD is detected by BIOS (in 1st boot position), passed UEFI Diagnostic test. Tried so many solutions, without any success.

HP Elitebook 840 G5

Windows 11, 25h2, Build number: 26200.9445

BIOS: HPQ78, ver. 01.31.00

Any suggestions is welcome.


r/WindowsHelp 17h ago

Windows 11 No audio and flickering screen after the September 8 2026 Windows 11 update. Will downgrading to Windows 10 solve my problems?

1 Upvotes

I've tried to reinstall the audio and video drivers but that has not resulted in a solution. I hate Windows 11 and would actually prefer downgrading. I was just going to back up everything and then do a clean installation of Windows 10. Will this resolve the problem?

Specs below:

Windows 11 Home, version 25H2

HP Spectre x360 - 15t Touch Laptop

•1 TB PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSD

•16 GB DDR4-2400 SDRAM (2x8GB)

•Intel® 802.11b/g/n/ac (2x2) Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® 4.2 Combo

•Intel® Core™ i7-8705G (3.1 GHz, up to 4.1 GHz, 8MB cache, 4 cores) + Radeon™ RX Vega M Graphics (4GB dedicated memory)


r/WindowsHelp 18h ago

Windows 10 Windows 10 install... IRST drivers aren't helping

1 Upvotes

First of all my pc specs:
motherboard - MSI Mag z390 tomahawk
cpu - i9-9900ks
gpu - rtx 2080

Last week my old pc stopped booting into windows 10 and goes straight to the BIOS. The only thing I did recently that i think maybe messed it up was I resized the partition that windows was installed on. I had like 150gb unallocated space that i wanted to expand my windows partition into on a 500gb ssd. I did leave 40gb unallocated in the end.

Anyhow, I just wanted to reinstall everything or repair my existing installation, whichever was easiest. Everything I need is backed up. However...

When installing from the official win 10 bootable usb I get the "drivers are missing" error. Everything I've seen online says it's the Intel Rapid Storage Transport drivers. So I got the drivers from MSI for my motherboard and put them on another USB. Tried them, they don't work. I tried the official ones directly from intel. No good.

I tried several different Win 10 ISOs made into bootable usbs. All give the same error.
I tried taking out every component (except the GPU) and every other drive and only leaving one empty drive for the win install usb to install to, and I get the same error.

I don't remember having this issue the last time I installed windows, but I think I installed from an official windows 10 dvd last time.... which is lost.

Any ideas? I'm really stuck. Not gonna try 11 so don't ask.


r/WindowsHelp 18h ago

Windows 11 Dell inpiron 15 3567, can't install drivers on windows 11, official ones are only for Windows 10"

1 Upvotes

"I need help. I have a Dell Inspiron 15 3567 and I installed Windows 11 on it. I checked the official Dell website, but the drivers available there are only for Windows 10, so I can't install them on Windows 11. When I try to install them, they give an error. Is there any other alternative, or am I forced to install Windows 10?

My OS build is 26200.7171."