Ever since installing Windows 7 I have had a persistent problem: The speaker portion (and never the microphone portion) of several USB headsets I have tried randomly stops working (MTBF about 25 min.). Sound output can be restored by disabling it and immediately re-enabling the speaker portion in the "Sounds Dialog" restores proper function. In order to solve this very annoying problem, I have replaced every piece of hardware from the wall plug to the headset! I have escalated the problem to Microsoft's top-level support team. All to no avail. It takes quite a few mouse clicks after invoking the "Sounds" dialog to accomplish the disable/enable process. Because I am visuallyimpaired, this is quite tedious. I'm an experienced C++ and "batch file" programmer but, try as I may, have been unable to find a programmatic interface to accomplish the same tasks as can be performed with the "Sounds" dialog. I would really appreciate explicit directions to a detailed description of this interface for either the DOS batch (.CMD) or Visual Studio C++ languages. Thanks,Steve Behman

The type of information you are looking for would be over on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/ms348103 This is strictly and end user peer-to-peer forum that does not delve into the inner workings of the OS.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Rick, thank you for your response. I have tried to find "the right program" (Devcon.exe for 64-bit Windows 7) but have been unable to do so. Perhaps this is due to my visual impairment. All pointers I can find leads to a 2002 version which I find will not run on Windows 7 X 64. Have you any idea where to find the version of Devcon.exe that is appropriate for Windows 7 X 64? Again thanks,Steve Behman

Sorry. I am not into development and I have never dealt with Devcon.exe.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi Steve, Based on my research, please refer to How to Obtain the Current Version of Device Console Utility (DevCon.exe) to obtain the correct version of DevCon.exe for Windows 7. Hope this helps. Jeremy Wu TechNet Community Support

Jeremy, since you started me off I have located four distinct versions of Devcon.exe. The oldest of them was dated 2003 and the newest (for Windows 7) is dated February 17, 2012. Unfortunately, none of them will mimic the actions that can be taken with either the "Sounds" or "Device Manager" dialogs with which you can immediately disable a device (e.g. my USB headset.) Before any of the versions of Devcon will disable a device there must be in the intervening system reboot this, of course, totally defeats my intended purpose. I have been unable to find anything documenting the use of Devcon except for the Devcon "help" subcommand. The "help disable" subcommand description offers the "-r" switch the use of which causes Devcon to force a reboot. Absent is a (hoped for) "-i" switch which would tell Devcon to disable the referenced device and do it right now! As a consequence of the behavior of Devcon.exe I am no closer to a solution to my problem. Clearly, Devcon is not it! I would appreciate any further suggestions because the problem I am trying to solve is an extremely frustrating one costing me a great deal of time and effort every day. Thanks,Steve Behman

"Steve Behman" wrote in message news:5fca47fb-d94a-4f7f-a89c-22d9239b2849... Jeremy, since you started me off I have located four distinct versions of Devcon.exe. The oldest of them was dated 2003 and the newest (for Windows 7) is dated February 17, 2012. Unfortunately, none of them will mimic the actions that can be taken with either the "Sounds" or "Device Manager" dialogs with which you can immediately disable a device (e.g. my USB headset.) Before any of the versions of Devcon will disable a device there must be in the intervening system reboot this, of course, totally defeats my intended purpose. I have been unable to find anything documenting the use of Devcon except for the Devcon "help" subcommand. The "help disable" subcommand description offers the "-r" switch the use of which causes Devcon to force a reboot. Absent is a (hoped for) "-i" switch which would tell Devcon to disable the referenced device and do it right now! As a consequence of the behavior of Devcon.exe I am no closer to a solution to my problem. Clearly, Devcon is not it! I would appreciate any further suggestions because the problem I am trying to solve is an extremely frustrating one costing me a great deal of time and effort every day. Thanks, Steve Behman The /r switch is a conditional reboot, according to the documentation - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff544722(v=vs.85).aspx - and will only reboot if the hardware/system requires it. Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth

Noel, thanks for the reply. This is the output from speaker.CMD: d:\>devcon find "@USB\VID_047F*" USB\VID_047F&PID_0410&MI_03\6&14AB3D07&0&0003 : USB Input Device USB\VID_047F&PID_0410\5&35EDA8E7&0&1 : USB Composite Device USB\VID_047F&PID_0410&MI_00\6&14AB3D07&0&0000 : CS50/CS60-USB Headset 3 matching device(s) found. *Note: It is probably only the last two devices that are of interest. d:\>devcon disable "@USB\VID_047F*" USB\VID_047F&PID_0410&MI_03\6&14AB3D07&0&0003 : Disabled USB\VID_047F&PID_0410\5&35EDA8E7&0&1 : Disabled on reboot USB\VID_047F&PID_0410&MI_00\6&14AB3D07&0&0000 : Disabled on reboot The 3 device(s) are ready to be disabled. To disable the devices, restart the devices or reboot the system . *Note: This offers an "or" condition so I elected the Devcon restart option. d:\>devcon restart "@USB\VID_047F*" USB\VID_047F&PID_0410&MI_03\6&14AB3D07&0&0003 : Restarted USB\VID_047F&PID_0410\5&35EDA8E7&0&1 : Requires reboot USB\VID_047F&PID_0410&MI_00\6&14AB3D07&0&0000 : Requires reboot The 3 device(s) are ready to be restarted. To restart the devices, reboot the system. *Note: From the "Requires reboot" comment it appears that this option will not work and it doesn't d:\>pause Press any key to continue . . . *Note: While the command is paused the microphone and speaker are still enabled! d:\>devcon enable "@USB\VID_047F*" USB\VID_047F&PID_0410&MI_03\6&14AB3D07&0&0003 : Enabled USB\VID_047F&PID_0410\5&35EDA8E7&0&1 : Enabled USB\VID_047F&PID_0410&MI_00\6&14AB3D07&0&0000 : Enabled 3 device(s) are enabled. If I include the "/R" switch in the disable subcommand I get an immediate reboot after which the device is not found in either the "Sounds" or "Device Manager" dialogs. At this point the device cannot be restored either by using "scan for hardware changes" or by unplugging/re-plugging the headset. The only way I have found to restore the existence of the device is to use the restart subcommand of Devcon followed by another reboot. Since it is possible to disable and immediately reenable ONLY the speaker portion of the CS 50 using the "Sounds" dialog and to do so without a reboot I conclude: The sounds dialog uses a different API from the one employed by Devcon one which accounts for the "separateness" of the speaker and microphone components of the CS 50 and operates on an entirely different level from Devcon. If my conclusion is correct, I would really like to find that API. Otherwise, I need to discover how to separately enumerate the microphone and speaker so that whatever I do operates on the speaker portion only and does so without a reboot. Thanks,Steve Behman

"Steve Behman" wrote in message news:068153e8-3c6f-4aa8-a755-27f9c0e13a63... one which accounts for the "separateness" of the speaker and microphone components of the CS 50 and operates on an entirely different level from Devcon. If my conclusion is correct, I would really like to find that API. Otherwise, I need to discover how to separately enumerate the microphone and speaker so that whatever I do operates on the speaker portion only and does so without a reboot. Thanks, Steve Behman I agree - there has to be an easier way! Unfortunately this is well beyond my experience :( Is there nothing in the drivers themselves? Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth

Noel, If there is such a capability/interface within the driver I haven't the foggiest notion what it is or how to get to it!Steve Behman

"Steve Behman" wrote in message news:6194d64f-165c-42c8-b13a-0ab8f42437ea... Noel, If there is such a capability/interface within the driver I haven't the foggiest notion what it is or how to get to it! Steve Behman Heh - so there's no application that gets installed at the same time? Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth