Idea/Suggestion if possible: Restore Volume Control options somewhere

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

In Windows 7, SndVol.exe added a -P switch which opened Volume Control options so we could change volume of multiple audio outputs from a single flyout.

This was also in the right click menu of the Volume icon on the Taskbar but was removed in Windows 10 for no reason. Is there some way to restore it?

The -P switch itself still works in Windows 10 and 11. Just the menu item was silently removed by Microsoft.

[Anixx]

LOL I did not know this function existed.

[valinet]

What question marks in English anyway, that's full ASCII, shouldn't have had a problem then... anyway, glad that it works now.

[Anixx]

Yes, it works.

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

But with earlier version, I got questions marks too for a lot of strings (which are now fixed) :)

[Anixx]

[valinet]

But with earlier version, I got questions marks too for a lot of strings (which are now fixed) :)

Yeah, seems I did too, whatever, now the standard library is properly set as well, so it works. Problem solved.

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

OK found it in Windows 7's sndvolsso.dll.mui. Menuitem "&Volume control options", 40009.

In Windows 10/11, it doesn't exist. But the one to replace is: MENUITEM "&Troubleshoot sound problems", 40008

It's not in "String table" according to Resource Hacker but in "Menu".

[valinet]

I remembered why I did it like so for the network icon.

[Anixx]

For some reason, this option is not yet in the latest build.

Also, I've noticed that the option "Enable missing tray icons" is present in both taskbar and tray tabs.

[valinet]

The “reason” is because I did not have time to implement it and also haven’t found a proper way to implement it: adding stuff to the menu is very complicated due to the owner drawing, also changing an item’s name requires research into how the internal structure of the owner drawn menu looks because the name is taken from there; and generally I did not have that insane amount of time to waste on studying yet some more disassembly, again, after 2 months of doing this basically daily. Long story short.

I never said it will be in the next version, but still, maybe I sounded too enthusiastic, I apologize there for giving false hopes, if the case. But still…

And no, I won’t redirect “Troubleshoot…” without changing the label because it is confusing for users. But again, this is relatively easily fixable if you build the software for yourself with just this patch baked in, if it’s really that necessary. Or idk, maybe someone steps in and contributes something in this area.

Also, what you noticed about the “Enable systray icons” link is deliberate. It’s there in 2 places to actually be noticed. I wish more people would do. It’s a “fix” for the billions of questions asking how to enable the “clock, network and sound” icons. It belongs to the “System tray” section, but since that’s not the default page, I moved it to the main page with the hope of it being noticed more easily there. Alas, my hopes are mostly shattered, but nevertheless, maybe it helps 2% of people, I am still happy and relieved.

[Anixx]

Thanks for the comment. Is changing the menus in File Explorer more easy? For instance (hypothetically, I do not mean I request this), moving the "Go" submenu from inside "View" to a separate pull-down item as in Win95?

[valinet]

I don’t know, haven’t looked on that. Probably easier since the actual data is maybe stored in the MENUITEM structure this time. But who knows for sure how the logic is around that and what one would break with such a patch without actually looking, which personally I certainly haven’t. You could try and see what results you get.

Idk, what I think still misses at this point from the classic theme is a much thinner address bar. This in general is a problem with File Explorer these days on all themes. On high DPI big screens is actually more helpful since it is easier to see, but indeed, on 1366x768 it probably sucks. I’d look on that, but I ain’t got that much time at the moment. I can’t possibly think they changed the height too overly complicated. Isn’t adjusting the height of the Rebar32 control that hosts the address bar enough to make it back thin again, I wonder…?

[Anixx]

By the way, there is the first item in the tray context menu "open sound settings" which leads to the settings app. Maybe it would be better to replace this?

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

Oh yes that's an idea too! Because there's also right click -> Sounds which leads to the good old mmsys.cpl. Whether to replace "Troubleshoot" or UWP Settings app menu item - either way is fine. Or how Valentin did the trick for the Network icon's context menu, he can redirect "Open Sound settings" also back to mmsys.cpl Playback tab.

Anyway it needs to be in the current OS. Older OS files won't do. I will find if it's there in any of the current files since that Language Portal says so.

[Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester]

OK I found this using Sysinternals Strings.exe.

Strings C:\Windows\system32\en-US\ *.mui | findstr /i Volume > VolumeOp.txt

It is in Windows 10's sndvol.exe.mui and it is in Resource: DIALOG as a caption for that dialog (which Anixx suggested we use). Earlier one I found was only in Windows 7's sndvolsso.dll.mui as a MenuItem.

In C:\Windows\system32\en-US\sndvol.exe.mui

Dialog 203: 1033 CAPTION "Volume Control Options"

Is that useful?

[valinet]

It's what @Anixx suggested we use earlier. You already found it even earlier, Resource Hacker can show those as well. I'll use that, yeah.

[Anixx]

For some reason I have no sndvol.exe.mui in en-US folder.

[valinet]

@Anixx Do you have English OS language installed? If not, you don't have that file, indeed.

[plofhaan]

This old registry tweak still worked for me:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\MTCUVC" /f /v EnableMtcUvc /t REG_DWORD /d 0