"The Audio Service is not running", no sound, please help

My issue started a day or two ago when I installed a windows update. I go to watch something the next day, and no sound is coming from the computer. I double check the connections, update the drivers and still get nothing. I look around online and most people who have had similar issues had windows 7, so the fixes haven't been too useful. I tried opening the services menu and restarting the windows audio service. That didn't work, so then I check the dependencies. Only 3 were listed, and it looks like the one giving me problems is "Multimedia class scheduler". It won't re-start, and gives me an error message that says "The system cannot find the file specified." I figured this meant I had some sort of corrupted file, so I brought up the command prompt menu and ran both sfc /scannow as well as dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth. SFC found nothing. DISM found a corruption, but "fixed" it. I have restarted and still do not have sound. I tried Microsoft support, and they just ran a few automatic troubleshooters that did basically nothing, and told me to "take it to a local technician". It's my impression that the problem must be with windows, as it started right after an update and there is a specific file (multimedia class scheduler) that can't be found. They think it's a hardware issue. I think they just don't want to help me on this level for free. Thoughts? Ideas? Anything would be helpful at this point, thanks in advance.

Did you try restoring system to earlier time ? You can also uninstall update that made the problem.

I have tried several different restore points, and none of that seems to get me anywhere either. Does anyone know a way to manually replace the "multimedia class scheduler" file without re-installing windows? At this point, is it possible that even though the file is missing, it is not a windows issue but a hardware one?

You can have a look in system32 for mmcss.dll.

Failing that,try removing it from the audiosrv entry. I do that in my pe builds as I can't be bothered with mmcss

I removed it from the registry, and upon restart my sound is working again! Thank you VERY MUCH, I really appreciate the fix. Your attachment was especially helpful :thumb:


I'm so glad this community exists to help people. This problem was beyond me and even the "complimentary" support from Microsoft. You guys rock.

-Nick