Realtek HD Audio Manager Not Loading with latest R2.82 drivers

[MadScientist]

Sometimes it's better to leave well enough alone. I was running Realtek's R2.79 audio drivers from 2015 with Windows Creators edition with no problems. Realtek's HD Audio Manager was loading. Decided to upgrade to R2.82 from Realtek's site. Audio Manager would not load, no icon on the taskbar. I could not roll back the drivers because the new driver install first uninstalls the old drivers. Audio Manager was listed in Task Manager/Startup as enabled but did not show up in Control Panel. Several uninstalls and installs failed to load it. After Googling it I found out that this is a common problem with the R2.81 and R2.82 Realtek HD audio drivers.
My Asrock MB is ~6 years old so their drivers would be outdated.

I found this post: https://www.tenforums.com/drivers-hardware/5993-latest-realtek-hd-audio-driver-version.html
Downloaded the 11/21//2017 6.0.1.8308 Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and Later Servicing Drivers (Sound) from the Microsoft Update Catalog https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=Realtek Semiconductor Corp. sound, uninstalled the R2.82 drivers, unzipped the cab, and installed the 6.0.1.8308 drivers. Everything is back to normal. Realtek Audio Manager is loading and shows up in Control Panel.

So stay clear of the current Realtek HD audio drivers from Realtek's site for now.

 

[Iron Woode]

actually, I had this problem with the Fall Creator Update. The answer was to uninstall and delete the realtek folder where ever I found it and then reinstalled the driver. Then poof! my icon showed up on the task bar.

 

[MadScientist]

actually, I had this problem with the Fall Creator Update. The answer was to uninstall and delete the realtek folder where ever I found it and then reinstalled the driver. Then poof! my icon showed up on the task bar.

What driver version are you using? I and others on different forums have also tried this with version R2.82 but it did not work. Could be a glitch in the R2.82 drivers because as I stated version R2.79 worked fine with the Creators update.

 

[Iron Woode]

What driver version are you using? I and others on different forums have also tried this with version R2.82 but it did not work. Could be a glitch in the R2.82 drivers because as I stated version R2.79 worked fine with the Creators update.

I used the one I had downloaded to hdd a while back and is the one I was using before CFU messed up my realtek manager.

 

[MadScientist]

Must be an older driver version then. Like I said driver version R2.79 or older works fine and loads the audio manager.