How to find which app keeps making a notification sound on Windows 11
You're working, or the PC is just sitting there, and it dings. Not a sound you know. You look at the screen and nothing has changed. A few minutes later it happens again.
This is one of the most common Windows complaints, and it's maddening because the sound is over before you can look for it. The steps below are the ones that actually work, roughly from quickest to most thorough. They apply to Windows 11 and Windows 10.
1. Check notification history right after the sound
Most mystery dings are notifications from an app. Even when the pop-up doesn't appear, Windows usually keeps a record of it.
The next time you hear the sound, press Windows key + N right away (on Windows 10, click the speech bubble at the bottom right of the taskbar). Look at the newest notification and the app it came from. If there's nothing new, the sound probably isn't a notification, and the next steps will help.
2. Turn off notification sounds one app at a time
Open Settings > System > Notifications. Under "Notifications from apps and other senders," click an app and turn off Play a sound when a notification arrives. Start with the apps that cause this most often:
- Microsoft Teams and Outlook
- Steam and Discord
- Phone Link (texts and calls from your phone)
- Windows Security and OneDrive
- Your web browsers (see step 3)
If the dinging stops after you silence one app, you've found it. You can turn that app's sound back on and change its settings inside the app instead.
3. Check which websites can send you notifications
Websites can send notifications through your browser, and those arrive with a Windows sound. It's easy to click "Allow" once on a news or shopping site and forget about it.
- Chrome: go to
chrome://settings/content/notificationsand look under "Allowed to send notifications." - Edge: go to
edge://settings/content/notifications. - Firefox: go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Permissions > Notifications > Settings.
Remove any site you don't recognize or don't need.
4. Watch the Volume Mixer while it plays
Right-click the speaker icon on the taskbar and choose Open volume mixer (on Windows 11 it's also in Settings > System > Sound > Volume mixer). Every app that's making sound has a level bar that moves while it plays.
This works well for longer sounds. For a one-second ding, the bar has usually dropped back before you get the window open, and sounds that Windows plays on another app's behalf show up only as "System Sounds," without naming the app. That's why so many people try this step and come away with nothing.
5. Test whether it's a Windows system sound
Open Control Panel > Sound, go to the Sounds tab and set the Sound Scheme to No Sounds. Click Apply.
If the mystery sound stops, it's one of Windows' own alert or notification sounds being triggered by something, such as an app's notification or a device connecting and disconnecting. If it keeps playing, an app is playing its own sound file, and steps 2 and 6 are the ones to focus on. Set the scheme back to "Windows Default" when you're done.
A related culprit: if the sound is the one Windows plays when a USB device connects or disconnects, a loose cable or a device that keeps dropping its connection can cause it at random.
6. Narrow it down with a clean boot
If nothing above finds it, a clean boot tells you whether it's one of your startup programs.
- Press Windows key + R, type
msconfigand press Enter. - On the Services tab, tick Hide all Microsoft services, then click Disable all.
- On the Startup tab, open Task Manager and disable the startup apps.
- Restart and use the PC as normal.
If the sound stops, turn half of the disabled items back on and restart. Keep halving until the sound returns, and the last group you enabled holds the culprit. Undo everything in msconfig afterward.
This works, but it can take an afternoon, which is why people who've been through it usually wish there were a faster way.
The faster way: What Dinged
We went through every step on this page trying to track down a sound on one of our own laptops, and in the end we built a tool for it. So, full disclosure: this part is about our own app.
What Dinged sits by the clock and keeps a list of every sound your computer makes, with the time and the app that made it. It catches the short dings that are gone before the Volume Mixer can show them, and when Windows plays a sound on another app's behalf, it works out which app just sent the notification. So the next time the mystery sound plays, even while you're away from the PC, you can come back and look.
Click an entry and it takes you straight to that app. If the sound came from a website in one of your browser tabs, the free extension for Chrome, Edge or Firefox names the exact tab and takes you to it.
It never records audio, needs no account and keeps your sound history on your computer. It's on the Microsoft Store, it also runs on Mac, and it's free for 14 days with everything working.
Common questions
Why doesn't the Volume Mixer show what made the sound?
Short sounds finish before the window opens, and sounds Windows plays for other apps are grouped under "System Sounds" instead of naming the app.
Could the sound be a virus?
It's very rarely malware. It's almost always a notification, a website you allowed to send notifications, or a device connecting and disconnecting. If you're worried, run a full scan with Windows Security, which costs nothing to check.
Will turning off all sounds fix it?
Muting everything stops the noise but hides the cause, and you'll also miss sounds you want. Finding the app lets you silence just that one.