Cannot disable Video Conference Mute

[shawmanz32na]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.51.1

Running as admin

• Yes

Area(s) with issue?

Video Conference Mute

Steps to reproduce

1. Allow PowerToys to launch on Startup in User mode
   • Or, just start it in User mode
2. Open PowerToys Settings and select Video Conference Mute in the left pane
3. Note that Enable Video Conference Mute is toggled to On and disabled (so it cannot be toggled off)
   • 
4. Select General in the left pane and click the Restart PowerToys as administrator button in the Administrator mode section
   • 
   • Note that, at least for me, the settings in the Administrator mode are completely separate from the settings in User mode. Different toys are enabled/disabled, and the settings for each toy are different between modes, e.g. the various toggles in FancyZones are checked/unchecked differently.
5. Open PowerToys Settings and select Video Conference Mute in the left pane
6. In the Enable Video Conference Mute setting, toggle the toy to Off to disable it
7. Close PowerToys by clicking on the icon in the system tray and selecting Exit
8. Start PowerToys (in User mode)
9. Open PowerToys Settings and select Video Conference Mute in the left pane
10. Note that Enable Video Conference Mute is still toggled to On and disabled (so it cannot be toggled off)

✔️ Expected Behavior

I expected to be able to launch PowerToys in User mode and to be able to disable the Video Conference Mute toy.

Alternatively, I expected to be able to disable the Video Conference Mute toy's setting to work more like the File Explorer toy, where there is a note that you must run PowerToys as an administrator to change these settings and that the settings on that page will affect all users on the system and then be able to disable the toy for everyone from Admin mode.

❌ Actual Behavior

Video Conference Mute is toggled off when in Administrator mode and still toggled on when in User mode. There is no (known) way to turn off Video Conference Mute so that it is turned off when PowerToys is in User Mode

Other Software

No response

[Jay-o-Way]

Is the Windows Admin account a differtent one then the User account? I'm guessing settings are saved/read on different accounts.

[shawmanz32na]

@Jay-o-Way Ah, yes, you're right. My primary user doesn't have Admin rights, so there are separate Administrator accounts for tasks requiring Admin rights, because security.

Regardless, there's no way for me to disable Video Conference Mute. Even with my no-admin user, I can toggle on/off other toys that require admin access, like the File Explorer Add-ons, but not Video Conference Mute.

[Jay-o-Way]

Yes, the main toggle switch for VCM requires admin rights. One or two fixes (like adding info bar) have been made lately to show this and should be visible in the next version. There are plans/changes made to change installation, so that need for admin will be minimized as much as possible. #10126 and #14507

[shawmanz32na]

I've installed v53.3, and, unfortunately, this still seems ... quirky.

After upgrading to 53.3 and opening PowerToys as Administrator, VCM is, indeed toggled off by default. Hooray!

However, when launching 53.3 as User after the upgrade, VCM is still toggled on and still cannot be disabled. Boo.

It's possible that this is some edge case where PowerToys was already installed for this user and therefore the installer "left" the Toy enabled rather than disabling it by default?

Is there a workaround or further fixes coming for me to disable VCM? Perhaps I can manually edit some configuration file in AppData/Local or something to that effect?

[franky920920]

@shawmanz32na You can go to %localappdata%\Microsoft\PowerToys\settings.json and you will see the setting for the Video Conference.

[NeoMorfeo]

@shawmanz32na You can go to %localappdata%\Microsoft\PowerToys\settings.json and you will see the setting for the Video Conference.

This works like a charm! thanks!

[crutkas]

Thanks for the feedback but VCM is moving to maintenance only in the 0.67 timeframe. Our team will only directly address critical bugs, security and accessibility issues.

We'll accept community PRs for enhancements.