If you’re like most people, you probably have a Windows XP system that beeps incessantly. It’s not just annoying, it’s really annoying. There are a few ways to stop the system beeping, but the best way is probably to use a computer that doesn’t have Windows XP. If you have an XP system and want to stop the beeping, here are some tips:

  1. Disable notifications on your computer: This is probably the easiest way to stop the beeping. Open your Control Panel and click on “Notifications.” Under “Notifications,” select “Windows Update” and then “Turn off notifications for this computer.”
  2. Disable Aero: This is another way to stop the beeping. Open your Control Panel and click on “Aero.” Under “Aero,” select “Disable Aero.”
  3. Change your computer’s sound settings: This is another way to stop the beeping. Open your Sound Properties of your computer and change the sound level to something lower than 100%.

One of the most irritating beeps happens when you use the Volume control… but there are other beeps, such as on error dialogs or when you hit the wrong key.

Disable Beep in Device Manager

Open up Device Manager by right-clicking on Computer and choosing Properties, then on the Hardware tab you’ll find the button for Device Manager.

Select View \ Show hidden devices from the menu.

Find Non-Plug and Play Drivers in the list, and then right-click on “Beep” and disable it:

When it prompts you to reboot, select no, and then right-click again and choose Properties this time. On the Driver tab, change the Startup type to “Disabled” and then click the “Stop” button if you are able to.

This should disable the system beep speaker, but it probably won’t change the volume control beep, so continue on.

Disabling Beep in Registry

Open up regedit.exe through the run box, and then navigate down to the following key:

Find the “Beep” key on the right-hand side and change the value to “no”.

Disable Beep in Sounds Panel

Open up Control Panel and find the Sounds and Audio Devices panel, choose the Sounds tab and then find “Default Beep” in the list.

Change the sound drop-down on the bottom to “None” and then click Apply. This should disable the volume control beep.

You’ll want to also change Critical Stop to “None” as well, and should probably also turn off some of the other items.

You can also use TweakUI to get rid of some of the beeps, but if you follow the items on this page you shouldn’t need that.