Windows 7 OS

From Audacity Wiki

Audacity and Windows 7

Our present aim is to announce full official support for Windows 7 when we release a new 2.0 line of Audacity to replace the elderly 1.2 line. The current Beta version of Audacity works well with Windows 7, and we will make further improvements in future Beta releases.

• Please subscribe to our announcements mailing list to be notified of new releases containing improvements for Windows 7 as we make them.

• Please let us know of any reproducible problems you encounter with Audacity Beta and Windows 7. Before writing, please check this page, the Release Notes for the current Beta and Known Issues for any issues discovered since release of the current Beta.

• If you just want help, such as advice on setting up recording inputs or similar topics, please check this page then use our Forum or -users mailing list. See Asking Questions for details.

System requirements

Windows 7 system requirements quoted by Microsoft are as follows for all versions of Windows 7, including the "Starter" edition with least features that is shipped with many netbooks.Unlike the Vista Starter Edition, Windows 7 Starter does not have a limit of three programs running at a time. For a comparison of features in different versions of Windows 7, click here.

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit), or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Sound Device driver requirements

You must have appropriate sound device drivers intended for your particular computer model and for your version of Windows 7, as provided either by the manufacturers of the motherboard or by the device manufacturer. Sometimes, new computers may only come with generic Microsoft sound device drivers. See Updating Sound Device Drivers for help.

On a 64-bit system, the sound device drivers must be 64-bit.

On older machines upgraded from Vista or XP, Windows 7 sound device drivers for your particular motherboard or sound device may not yet be available. In that case, the best general recommendation is to use drivers meant for Vista, because Windows 7 is largely based on Vista. If in doubt, seek advice from your motherboard or sound device manufacturer.

Known Issues

Installation or launch

• On launching Audacity, "Runtime Error Program:(location) R6034" may occur. This seems a rare occurrence but as a workaround, right-click over audacity.exe, click Properties and change compatibility mode to Vista SP2 or XP SP3.

• There has been a report that 1.3.11 hangs on a first install while scanning for VST Plug-ins. This prevents the launch completing. You may need to use ALT + CTRL + DEL to force quit Audacity. Check if you have any VST plug-ins in locations where Audacity looks for them. If so, you can see if removing individual plug-ins stops the hang (this is the most likely explanation), or rename the VST folders or paths. You can also minimise all other windows before launching Audacity, to make sure the scanning window is visible, then cancel the scanning dialogue if it is visible for long enough. Please let us know if you identify any plug-ins that cause Audacity to hang.

Recording and playback

• Select inputs in Devices Preferences: in Windows XP and earlier, recording inputs such as "microphone" or "stereo mix" could be selected in the Audacity Mixer Toolbar. Currently, the newer audio API in both Windows Vista and 7 means that inputs must be selected in Audacity at Edit > Preferences: Devices.

• Error opening sound device when recording: Audacity is subject to Windows 7 and driver behaviour that can cause inputs to be hidden by default. Also, physical input ports such as microphone or line-in ports will not be automatically listed by Windows if there is no input connected to them. As a result of these behaviors, an error may be received when trying to record.

  To solve this, go to "Sound" in the Windows Control Panel, show the disabled and disconnected inputs, then enable and make default the required input. Make sure a physical input such as a microphone or line-in is properly connected to the computer. For more detailed instructions, see our Mixer Tooolbar page. If you have problems finding or enabling the "Stereo Mix" or "What U Hear" input to record computer playback, see the "Help with recording computer playback" panel directly above the image of the system mixer.

  Note: some previous Beta versions of Audacity caused a crash if no audio devices were available. To correct this, use the current Beta version.

• Default Format: this is a new feature of the Windows Vista and 7 audio API which sets the specific sample rate and number of channels for the sound device. There are some reports that if default format is not the same as the Audacity project rate (bottom left of the screen) and the sample rate in any external audio hardware in use, there may be speed issues and distortion when playing back or recording. Follow the instructions on the Mixer Toolbar page to match the Default Format in all possible places. If problems persist, click Edit > Preferences: Devices in Audacity and set the "Host" to "Windows DirectSound". This should allow Audacity to take exclusive control of the sound device if this is enabled in the "Advanced" tab of the system mixer.

• Input/Output sliders:
  • Application-specific output volume: Vista and 7 were the first Windows systems to support volume sliders for each application. However the Audacity output slider currently operates directly on the WAVE output of the audio hardware, so controls the overall system output volume. Audacity does not yet have the ability to control its own application-specific volume slider. The Audacity application slider appears in the system mixer. You can access and adjust it by right-clicking the speaker icon in the system tray (by the system clock) and choosing "Open Volume Mixer".
  • Greyed out input slider: if Audacity Beta does not have proper control of the system input slider, the Audacity input slider will grey out on maximum volume. This is intentional. If Audacity does not have proper control of the system slider, turning it down won't actually stop input distortion if the system slider is set too high. All the Audacity slider would do in that case is scale down the distorted signal - it will be quieter, but still distorted. Use the system slider instead.

    To give Audacity control of the system slider, try updating your computer sound device drivers so they are specifically intended for your particular computer model and operating system, as provided by the motherboard or sound device manufacturer.

  • There may be an issue as of January 2010 where the input and/or output sliders for the inbuilt sound device won't work if you have an external device connected. The sliders may be active, but do not affect the volume. In this case you may need to use the system sliders or disconnect the external device.
  • The Audacity input/output level sliders may act independently of or incorrectly with system level sliders. In particular, the achieved recorded level may only match the level indicated on the Recording VU meter if the Audacity input slider is at 100%. This seems to have been largely fixed in current Betas.

Interface issues

• File open or save dialogues do not contain special Windows 7 features such as "Search" and "Organize"

• File filtering was broken so that:
  • File open or save dialogues displayed all the files, whatever filter was chosen
  • Clicking in a file open or save dialogue could cause the files or some folders to disappear from the list
  • Creating a new folder could make the window perpetually scroll to the bottom without creating the folder
• Modern mice with high resolution scroll-wheels could cause a freeze or crash in Audacity