How to Create Custom Shortcuts to adjust Volume Controls on Windows.
I recently replaced my desktop keyboard with a new one. It’s great, the keys have good travel, but no volume keys. It’s a little annoying to adjust the volume with the mouse every time.
So I checked on the internet for keyboard shortcuts for volume control. To my surprise, there are no default shortcuts for volume controls. In any case, we can create the shortcut ourselves. Here’s how to do it.
Create custom shortcuts to adjust volume controls
There are two best ways to create a volume control shortcut. Both methods work on all versions of Windows. I’ll start with the easiest one.
The first way is to create a shortcut to open the volume control panel so you can simply use the arrow keys to adjust the volume. Since this simply opens the volume control panel, you cannot instantly increase or decrease the volume with a single shortcut.
In the second method, we can create a shortcut to increase, decrease the volume and mute the sound. But it’s a bit lengthy process, but definitely not the most difficult.
Create a shortcut to open the volume control panel
1. To create a shortcut to open the volume control panel, right-click the desktop New shortcut.
2. Copy and paste this code into the location option on the tab that appears and click Next. sndvol -f 111111111
3. Give a name to the shortcut, by default it is set to sndvol. I keep using the default. Later click on trim.
4. You can now see this icon on the home screen.
5. Right-click this icon and select properties.
6. In the keyboard shortcuts section, press any alphabet, number, or symbol and the keyboard shortcut will be set to Ctrl + Alt + “Your Shortcut”.
7. And click “Apply” and “OK”.
Now you can just press the shortcut each time so that the volume controls appear in the lower right corner. And you can increase or decrease the volume using the up and down arrow keys.
Create shortcut for volume up, volume down and mute with AutoHotKey
While the first method is simple and works great, it just opens the volume control panel, which is not really a shortcut to adjust the volume.
To create a direct shortcut to adjust the volume, we can use a third party app like AutoHotkey, follow the instructions to set it up.
1. Download the current version of AutoHotKey software, open the file and select Custom Installation.
2. Select 32-bit or 64-bit, depending on your computer, and click Next.
3. Check the box next to the option “Add launch with user interface access to context menus” and click Install and Exit.
4. Now right click on the desktop New AutoHotKey Script.
5. After that, this icon will appear on the desktop.
6. Right-click the icon and select an edit script.
7. Now you see Notepad with a script already written on it. Just ignore this and post this code below. # 8 :: Volume_Down # 9 :: Volume_Up # 0 :: Volume_Mute
8. This will create a shortcut win + 8 for volume down, win + 9 for volume up and win + 0 for mute.
9. Or you can even change them, just open Autohotkey Usage and Syntax List of Keys. Here you can see keywords for each button for mouse, keyboard, joystick.
10. Use these keywords and replace # 8, # 9 and # 0 in the above code, put it in notepad and save.
11. By now, the labels should work. If not, right-click the icon again and select Run Script.
12. Although the shortcuts work, they are not part of the system, so every time the system boots, the system does not load files, and you need to run the script manually.
13. To make the process automatic, we need to place this file in the system files.
14. Press Win + R to open Run and put this code in it. Then click OK. shell: general launch
15. The only system folder in the file manager will open. Just drag the AutoHotKey file into this folder.
16. That’s all. Now your shortcuts will be loaded every time as soon as you boot a system that you can use.
These shortcuts will show you native Windows shortcuts instead of creating a new panel like in the first method.
