Q: The speaker icon in the Notification area has a red cross on it. When I hover my mouse over it, it says The audio service is not running. When I right click on the it I get 3 options (Playback devices, Recording devices, Sounds) There is also an open volume mixer option but it’s greyed out.

Solution
1. Click Start, type Services.msc in the Start Search box.
2. Scroll down the list of services, right-click Windows Audio and select Start.
3. Select Properties for Windows Audio and set its Startup Type to Automatic.
If the Windows Audio service does not start and you get the error Error 1068: The dependency service or group failed to start, then make sure that the following services are started and their Startup Type is set to Automatic.
- Plug and Play
- Multimedia Class Scheduler
- Windows Audio Endpoint Builder
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Awesome,i disabled the power service initially and that’s what causes these audio services not to run. I restarted the power service i was then able to enable sound again..Awesome job guys
BerggreenDK, thanks a lot
WINDOWS SEVEN SUCKS!!!! I have more problems now, than I did with Vista. Maybe I will switch over to a Mac…
Thanks so much for the great advice. After seven hours of trying to troubleshoot, even chatting with hp support, I thought I was out of options. Then this site changed it all. Yeah!
BerggreenDK ==> Thanks a lot guy, I had the same problem with the audio service, and when I launch the power service, all my audio service has relaunch successfully. Well done !
okay, as soon as i clicked on properties on windows audio service it said “configuration manager: a general internal error occured” and then said right after “the system cannot find the file specified”.
i dont understand, my audio was fine, i could play music, etc then one day it stopped working and im really frustrated PLEASE HELP
THanks Buddy!!!
YOU THE MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i tried the steps you provided which were very descriptive, but i get the message window after step:2 that states “windows could not start the audio service on local computer. error1079 the account specified for this service is different from the account specified for other services running in the same process” i am currently deployed, and i use this computer {HP Pavilion dv7-1245dx} to stay in touch with my family, and friends… help please…
If the error continues, then look for WindowsAudioEndpoint or something, and if that service cannot start – check if you might have disabled “power service” – even on a DESKTOP this services seems hardwired into other parts… weird!
Thanks! Running windows server 2008x64r2, and you’re a lifesaver!