How to Update and Reinstall Realtek HD Audio Manager

Realtek HD Audio Manager is one of the most popular and useful software that Windows users have on their PCs. HD Audio Manager is essentially the GUI end of the Realtek HD Audio Driver, the default audio driver for most PC sound cards (including those integrated into motherboards ). It is usually installed on the PC, but users cannot even find it using the Windows search tool.

So how to find Realtek HD Audio Manager, as well as how to update and reinstall Realtek drivers? Today's article will give you answers to these questions.

Where is Realtek HD Audio Manager located?

Before tweaking Realtek HD Audio Manager, users need to actually know where it is located. The default installation directory for Realtek should be “C:\Program Files\Realtek\Audio\HDA”. Here, users will find a large number of seemingly executable (.exe) files, but the really important file is “RtkNGUI64”. Double-clicking this file will open Realtek HD Audio Manager.

Users can make various adjustments here to their audio settings. For example, click the cog icon, then Options, and users can enable a handy feature that creates two separate audio devices that output sound simultaneously — useful if users want to use speakers to listen to game audio while chatting with someone on a headset.

Another useful option is “Display icon in notification area” , which allows users to access HD Audio Manager from the notification area instead of the well-hidden folder mentioned above.

Also, click the gear icon, then select “About”, to see the driver version introduction. This information is important if you want to install the Realtek driver manually.

How to update Realtek HD Audio driver

Updating Realtek HD Audio Manager is simple. Click the Start button, then type " device manager" and click Device Manager when it appears.

Next, click on the arrow next to Audio inputs and outputs to display the list of audio devices. Users will see the line “Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)” . Right-click on this and select “ Update driver ” .

To reinstall the driver, right-click on Device Manager, select “Uninstall device” , then restart your PC.

If Realtek updates, that's good news, but if another message says the latest driver isn't always the best version, the user can choose a different version of the driver. Or sometimes the latest drivers provided by the motherboard aren't the latest drivers available, and the user may be missing out on the best sound quality.

Update Realtek HD Audio Driver Manually

To update Realtek HD Audio Driver manually, users should visit this page , which regularly provides links to the latest Realtek Audio drivers in the Microsoft Catalog.

The actual drivers from the Microsoft Catalog come in the form of CAB files. After downloading the CAB file, users need to use an unpacking tool like 7-Zip or WinRAR to extract the CAB file to their own folder.

After extracting the file, go back to Device Manager, right-click on the Realtek High Definition Audio driver and click “Update driver”.

Then, click on “Browse my computer for driver software” . On the next screen, click on “Let me pick from a list of available drivers” .

Click “ Have Disk”, “Browse” , then go to the extracted CAB folder and select the first file “.inf” from there.

Once done, click OK and the driver will be installed.

The above steps will help users speed up the operations of Realtek HD Audio Manager and its drivers. It is worth remembering that Windows generally does a good job of updating and matching the right audio drivers for your PC, so if you are satisfied with your sound quality or feel no problems, there is no need to go through the complicated steps above.

Download and reinstall Realtek HD Audio Manager

Before downloading the new driver, uninstall all current drivers. To avoid conflicts due to duplication between several drivers, users must also uninstall duplicate audio drivers.

To do this, follow these steps:

• Click the Start button and navigate to Device Manager.
• Expand Sound, video and game controllers from the list in Device Manager .
• In this section, locate the Realtek High Definition Audio sound driver .
• Right click on it and select Uninstall device from the drop-down menu.

• Check the Delete the driver software for this device option and click the Uninstall button.

• Now go to the Views tab and click Show hidden devices from the drop-down menu.

• Now, search for duplicate audio driver if any. Right click on it and hit Uninstall option.
• Restart the system.

To download the audio driver manually, navigate to the official Realtek website . Click on High Definition Audio Codecs (Software) .

The download page will list the audio drivers available for download. Search for the one you want and download it to your computer.

Once the download is complete, double-click the setup file and follow the instructions to complete the installation.

If you've reinstalled Realtek HD Audio, but you still find the component missing or have difficulty opening it, follow the suggestions in the following section.

Troubleshoot Realtek HD Audio Manager issues

1. Disable Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for HD Audio and fix driver conflicts

• In Device Manager , expand System Devices .
• Search for and locate Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio .
• Right click on it and select Disable from the drop-down menu.
• Open Windows Settings and go to Apps & Features .
• Click on Realtek High Definition Audio Driver and tap on Uninstall option .

• Now, navigate to Device Manager and right-click on the disabled Microsoft driver.
• Click Uninstall from the drop-down menu.

Once this is done, reinstall the Realtek HD audio driver.

2. Enable startup in Task Manager

• Go to Start and open Task Manager .
• Navigate to the Startup tab.
• Search for and locate Realtek HD Audio Manager .
• If the status is Disabled , right-click on it and select the Enable option from the drop-down menu.

• Restart the system.

3. Update audio driver software

If Realtek HD Audio is still missing, follow the instructions in the section above to update the driver.

4. Use the Add legacy hardware option

• Go to Device Manager.
• Search for and click Sound, video and game controllers .
• Click the Action tab.
• Search for and click Add legacy hardware from the drop-down menu.

• Click the Next button and check Search for and install the hardware automatically (Recommended) .

• Click Next and manually reinstall the driver.

Good luck!