On my laptop, every time I connect to a wireless network, the Intel software pops up a notification window telling me that I’ve connected, but it is accompanied by a loud BEEP — even though my speaker is muted and I run the “No Sounds” sound scheme.
Turns out that BEEP is a service; but a service that’s hidden from almost all user interfaces.
The easiest way to stop it (temporarily) is to open a command prompt (Click Start, Run and then type CMD and click OK or hit enter) and then type the following:
net stop beep
Easy enough. However, after a reboot, you’ll need to do it again… which is a drag, so let’s use a lesser known command, SC, to handle this for us.
From its help text:
DESCRIPTION:
SC is a command line program used for communicating with the
NT Service Controller and services.
In the command window, type
sc config beep start= disabled
There needs to be a space after the equals sign.
Once you do that, your computer should respond with:
[SC] ChangeServiceConfig SUCCESS
You can also do this using the GUI, but I don’t know why you would want to… it’s a chore.
For an XP system (Win2K and Vista are similarly done). Instructions gacked from Windows IT Magazine:
- Right-click My Computer and select Manage.
- Expand System Tools and select Device Manager.
- From the View menu, select Show hidden devices.
- Expand Non-Plug and Play Drivers.
- Right-click Beep, and select Properties.
- Select the Drivers tab.
- Click Stop. You can also change the start-up type to Disabled so the beep service never starts.
Enjoyyour new, quieter, life. 🙂
If you need to turn it back on, use this:
net start beep
On the off-chance you want to turn this back on forever, use the command:
sc config beep start= boot
Or using the GUI instructions, change step 7 to:
7. Click START
To have it restart forever:
7. Change the start-up type to Boot so the beep service starts at boot time.
Thank You!!! I had a customer bring in a Dell Inspiron 6000 with the Intel Proset wireless card. They complained about a loud beep and I was loosing hair over it until I read your article!
I owe you bigtime! Thanks a Million.
Andrew
Awesome! Glad to hear it!
thank you, it works fine!
Thanks alot, u saved me from being killed by beeps !!
To silence the Intel Proset Wireless Beep, do this.
1: open the Intel Proset Wireless program and click within the window border to make sure it is selected.
2: hit [Ctrl]+[p] to open preferences
3: uncheck the box next to “show information notifications”
4: accept the changes
5: enjoy the silence. You’re welcome.
I can’t thank you enough. I am not sure when this behavior started, but it wasn’t always there. Best wishes!