If you cannot find the Realtek HD Audio Manager under Windows 10 and it suddenly disappeared, this is usually due to the following reason:
In most cases, the latest version of the Realtek HD Audio driver on the Windows 10 installation is faulty. This causes the Realtek HD Audio Manager to disappear from the Windows taskbar or not start at all.
The workaround for this problem is the following:
Uninstall the audio driver, install an older version or install an even more recent version of the audio driver. We have summarized how to do this here in our step-by-step solution:
Step 1: Uninstall the Realtek HD audio driver of the faulty Audio Manager
1. Open the Device Manager in Windows by typing "Device Manager" in the search field in the lower left corner and selecting the entry.
2. Expand the section Sound, Video and Game Controllers in the menu
3. Right click on Realtek High Definition Audio and select "Uninstall
4. Check the box "Delete driver for this software" and confirm the process with "Ok
You have now uninstalled the driver. Now the new driver (older version or newer version) must be installed.
Step 2: Reinstall the Realtek HD Audio driver
Since the working driver V2.81 is currently no longer available on Realtek, the provider "Filehippo" must be used.
Download the new audio driver there:
Right-click on the downloaded setup and select Run as administrator.
Follow the setup installation instructions and restart your computer after installing the Realtek HD audio driver.
Step 3: Make Realtek HD Audio Manager visible on your PC
1. Start your file explorer and navigate to this directory
- C:\Programs\Realtek\Audio\HDA.
2. Right click on RAVCpl64 (Realtek HD Audio Manager application) and tap "Send To". Select Desktop (create shortcut).
3. Navigate back to your desktop and right-click the RAVCpl64 shortcut and tap the "Pin to taskbar" option.
Realtek HD Audio Manager will then be pinned to your taskbar. It will also appear in the taskbar and notification area.
Now you know the three steps necessary to unhide Realtek HD Audio Manager when it disappears.
