Win XP - Default Sound Playback Device

[bodminman]

Hi there,

 

Everyday teachers when switching on their laptops are having to do the following to make audio come out of their Smartboard speakers instead of the laptop speakers

 

START/CONTROL PANEL/SOUND & AUDIO DEVICE PROPERTIES - Audio tab and changing the DEFAULT DEVICE to USB SOUND DEVICE from the Realtek one!

 

Is there a way to change this somehow and make it quick for them?

 

Thanks in antisipation.

[Davit2005]

Is there an audio input connection on the Smartboard speakers, if so I'd be inclined to set that up so they can plug in to the standard audio output of the laptop.

[bodminman]

Is there an audio input connection on the Smartboard speakers, if so I'd be inclined to set that up so they can plug in to the standard audio output of the laptop.

 

The simple ones are always the best!

 

Cheers

[mac_shinobi]

The simple ones are always the best!

 

Cheers

 

That or use the realtek control panel application ( normally loads in the system tray ) and set the default audio device through that.

[Davit2005]

That or use the realtek control panel application ( normally loads in the system tray ) and set the default audio device through that.

 

True, end users being able to plug in a device is sometimes beyond their technical abilities :-D (PICNIC).

[CAM]

How is it being connected? We plug the whiteboard speakers into the headphone jack here.

 

Windows 7 has capability to swap from the default device to something else on the fly if you set the removable device as the default. My USB headphones are set as default, computer uses speakers when they are removed and swap to the USB headphones when they go in. I'm not sure this will work on XP, worth a try making the whiteboard default?

 

Failing that, the staff could be plugging the speakers into the microphone socket! Mine do! >.<

[bodminman]

The Smartboards are connected to the laptops via USB.

[Norphy]

Are your teachers using XP? I had a similar problem in our Music department who use USB sound cards. The on-board was always taking precedence over the USB cards so in the end, I found that a registry patch was in order.

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Multimedia\Sound Mapper]
"Record"="nio 2|4"
"PreferredOnly"=dword:00000001
"SetupPreferredAudioDevicesCount"=dword:00000005
"Playback"="nio 2|4"
"ConsoleVoiceComRecord"="nio 2|4"
"ConsoleVoiceComPlayback"="nio 2|4"

 

Change where is says "nio 2|4" to whatever your USB sound device is called taking care to match the case and apply that registry patch as a login script.

 

Either that or disable the on-board sound device on the laptop.

 

This won't work with W7/Vista, I haven't crossed that bridge yet

Edited February 21, 2012 by Norphy
Changed mistake, should be a login script, not startup!