Fix: Enhancements Tab Missing

Enhancements tab allows you to control various settings such as “Bass Boost, Virtual Surround, Room Correction etc. The error occurs most frequently after users update from previous versions of windows. Most of the users claim to have the lost the enhancements tab during/after the update.

You will be inclined to uninstall and then reinstall a lot of drivers but that will not fix the issue. We have had users of two different Audio driver vendors (Realtek Audio ad Conexant SmartAudio) report the issue.  In this article, we will be sharing two methods (one each for both the audio vendors) mentioned above.

enhancement tab

These methods have been tested and are certainly going to fix the problem, no matter what make your laptop might have.

Method 1: If you are using Conexant SmartAudio

In the first method, we will be helping out the users that have Conexant SmartAudio drivers on their computers. Follow these steps:

Fire up the pop-up menu above the start button by pressing “Windows key + X

From the list, select Control panel.

Click on the “Uninstall a program” link under “Programs

Find Conexant SmartAudio from the “All programs” list, right click on it and select “Uninstall”.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Restart your computer.

The enhancements tab should now be back where it was before the update!

Method 2: If you are using Realtek Audio (Card/Drivers)

This method is to be used by users that have Realtek audio drivers on their computer.

Fire up the pop-menu above the start button by pressing “Windows key + X

Select “Device manager” from the list.

Now go to the “Sound, video and game controllers” section.

Here, you should search for “Realtek High Definition Audio” under the list of audio device drivers. Right click and select “Disable”.

Right click again and this time click on “Update driver software

Opt for “Browse my computer for driver software

Now go for “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer

A window asking you to select the driver that you want to install for the device should now appear.

You might see a list of available drivers. Click on “High definition audio device” and then hit “Next”

When asked, select “Yes” and a confirmation window should appear indicating that the process has completed.

When asked to reboot, say yes.

We have essentially just replaced the Realtek audio drivers with the default high definition audio device drivers for windows and this should get you the enhancements tab back! Enjoy!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kamil Anwar


Kamil is a certified MCITP, CCNA (W), CCNA (S) and a former British Computer Society Member with over 9 years of experience Configuring, Deploying and Managing Switches, Firewalls and Domain Controllers also an old-school still active on FreeNode.