Configurator persistence Win11
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#261 Configurator persistence Win11
Previously EQAPO worked fine after setting up the audio device in the configurator but now it won't stay installed after every reboot. It looks like EQAPO is being disabled after rebooting the computer but when I run the configurator again; the audio device is still selected but no audio enchancment is happening. The only way I get past this issue is by selecting any audio device and installing/uninstalling APO to it without rebooting which will start the APO processing but it's a bit annoying having to do this every time I boot the PC. So far I've tried clean installing EQAPO/PEACE and deleted any folder directories related to EQAPO and also ran Geek uninstaller to try cleaning the registry (also tried without Voicemeeter installed). Is there any way to solve this?
Have tried other "Install as" settings? Or perhaps first try the unchecking of the "Use original APO" checkbox. It could be that the Corsair software and/or audio driver is restoring itself thus overwriting what Equalizer APO did: the changing of some registry keys to reroute the audio stream through its audio changing engine.
Yes I've tried messing with the "install as" option and sfx/efx works best with sfx/gfx second but this option doesn't fix my current issue. I just tried uninstalling the corsair program but the issue still remains. The strange thing is that this happens with all my audio devices including external wired speaker, bluetooth earbuds/speakers, and the corsair 2.4ghz dongle headphones I'm currently using. It's almost as if theres a service for EQAPO that is not starting on boot, and re-running the configurator and installing to any audio device starts the audio processing service (I'm not sure if there's a service for EQAPO in services.msc as I don't see one under the E section when sorted by name).
Equalizer APO isn't a service. No audio processing object (APO) is. One could see an APO as a part of the audio device driver. The audio stream is routed through an APO for some sound effect, typically a simple equalization. The Configurator of Equalizer APO changes some Windows registry keys to reroute the audio stream of a device through its audio changing engine (equalizerapo.dll) so this isn't a service to start up. But what needs to be done after any rerouting in the Configurator (installing Equalizer APO or changing some troubleshooting option) is a computer restart, or better said a restart of the audio service (2 services to be precise). Btw. I've made a built-in restart feature for this in the Peace equalizer.
Indeed it's strange that this issue happens for all devices. Usually one device is the cause and others are affected. The programming of the Configurator could be improved for these kind of things. Well, unless some anti-malware/firewall app is doing this for all devices. Such an app could be monitoring the Windows registry and undone the changes the Configurator makes. A reboot causes the made changes to be "restored" which we don't want to happen. But this behaviour could also be done by the software of an audio device. In your case it should only be happening on the Corsair dongle.
And there's the issue that Microsoft could have an update released with more security features. I haven't gotten such an update (yet). In principle such a feature could also be monitoring the Windows registry although I don't think they're going to implement this. It could interfere with the proper operation of some apps, causing all kinds of problems.
Reading the above you notice I don't have a simple fix to offer unfortunately.
Quick update. After a Windows 11 update on 2023-09-22 (Cumulative Update KB5030219 and KB5031217 and 2 other security updates); the audio proccessing with EQAPO finally started working again which is strange because Windows updates usually reset the EQAPO Configuration and also show "Peace has detected a Windows update" on boot which meant I usually have to re-run the configurator. Since the update from above, I have also done multiple other updates with each one showing "Peace has detected a Windows update" which I just click on continue as the audio keeps working normally. It's a bit confusing as to why EQAPO started working again as it had stopped working for 4 months already along with installing many Windows updates during those 4 months and none affecting/fixing the audio(Perhaps this recent update reset something in the windows audio driver or maybe a change in the security of the registry which you previously mentioned could be the issue). Thanks for the previous assistance/troubleshoot advice.
That's great. However, it's confusing that we don't know the cause. I've seen this many times on this forum. Suddenly Equalizer APO starts working as something is changed to an audio driver by a Windows update. In other words, I wasn't much of assistance :) At least Peace did its job by detecting updates.