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Disable system beeps in VMWare Workstation



vmwarelogoAfter installing Windows Server 2008 (Longhorn) on a Virtual Machine, a system beep kept annoying me. The beep occurred with every system event.
There are two possibilities: turn it off for one session, or turn it off for good.

To turn it off for only one session, do the following:

  1. Click Start
  2. Click Run
  3. In the run box type
    net stop beep

To turn off the beep permanently, do the following:

  1. Click Start
  2. Click Run
  3. In the run box type
    sc config beep start= disabled (please note the space after the = !!)

To change the status of the beep again, type any of the following in the run box:

  • sc config beep start= boot (for loading device driver by the boot loader)
  • sc config beep start= system (for loading device driver by the kernel initialization)
  • sc config beep start= auto (for starting service automatically at startup. Even when no one logs on)
  • sc config beep start= demand (for starting service manually (default, when no start parameter is specified))
  • sc config beep start= disabled (completely disables the service)
  • sc config beep start= delayed-auto (for starting service after other “auto” services are started)

4 Comments

  1. Damon Miller says:

    Apparently Microsoft has removed the “beep” service from Windows Server 2008 such that this approach no longer works. I did find the following, however:

    http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserver2008appcompatabilityandcertification/thread/335a7b2c-893a-4870-b25c-a93ba4e00f49

    This is obviously a system-wide change and not specific to VMware.

    -D  

    (Quote)

  2. dugrands says:
  3. Christian says:

    Hi Chris,

    what’s the OS you’re using? Vista, Windows 2008 or XP?  

    (Quote)

  4. Chris says:

    That didn’t work on my VM, I still get the beep. The command above states “success” but the beep won’t stop.

    I’ve gone so far as removeing the beep from device manager (which worked on Win 2003) but haven’t had any success.

    Any suggestions?
    Thanks!  

    (Quote)

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