How to Turn Off Notifications & System Sounds in Windows 11/10

In Windows, you can choose which notifications you want to see. You can either choose to receive all of them or only a few. However, most of us don’t like sound, especially if we have too many of them. The ding-dong is way too much. In this post, I will show how to turn off Notifications & System sounds in Windows 11/10.

How to Turn Off Notifications & System Sounds in Windows 11/10

So how do you get rid of it? It’s an old trick, but I will show you a few more new options in Windows 11/10, especially if you are upgrading to Windows.

Disable System Sound Completely
Disable Notification Sound from Apps
Manage Notifications from Apps
Use Focus Assists or Focus to control

These are user-specific settings; you don’t need admin permission. However, we suggest experimenting with different settings to disable notification sounds in Windows.

1] Disable System Sound Completely in Windows

Windows offers sound schemes for every action. You can choose to turn off System sound scheme so the distraction reduces. Remember, this will affect everywhere on Windows.

Right Click on the speaker Icon on the System tray, and select Sound settings.
Scroll to find More sound settings, and click to open the class Sound control panel window.

Switch to the Sounds tab, then click on the dropdown under Sound Scheme.
The default is Windows Default; switch to No Sounds.

It turns off all the sounds for notifications and disables all the system sounds in Windows 11/10.

2] Disable Notification Sound from Apps

It is possible to control Notifications on the application level if there is a particular app for which there are too many notifications, it’s best only to disable the sound for the app.

Open Windows Settings using Win + I
Navigate to System > Notifications and Actions / Notifications

Look for a label that says Notifications from apps and other senders
Click on the app for which you want to turn off notifications.
Toggle off the option Play a Sound when a notification arrives

Read: Fix Windows Notification Sound, not Working.

It is essential to keep notifications turned on for a few apps. For example, Calendar sound notification is important in Windows if you manage time using that.

3] Manage Notifications from Apps

Those two ways will handle all the sound problems, but if you are annoyed over the number of notifications, the second option is what you need to use. You can turn off notifications for each app or turn it off for all the apps. You also have a separate option to control notifications from Alarms, VOIP calls, and reminders. So choose wisely.

Go to Settings > System > Notifications and Actions or Notifications
Toggle off the Notifications Options
You can keep notifications on the lock screen, VOIP calls on the lock screen, and more.

4] Use Focus Assists or Focus to control

On Windows 10, Windows offers a Focus Assist feature that helps you control notifications with priority. It allows you to get notifications from priority-only apps or Alarms only.

Focus Assist Windows 10

On Windows 11, Focus assist has changed to Focus. It’s a time-based mode that lets you control notifications and focus on the work you plan to do within a time range. Focus offers the following:

A focus timer will appear on your screen
Do not disturb will turn on
Apps in the taskbar won’t flash to alert you
Badge notifications on apps in the taskbar will turn off

To Focus Or Not To Focus

Notifications are annoying and distracting. I have turned off all notifications on my PC as they do not help me anywhere, but that’s just me. Some users want to be notified by apps, email clients, and other messaging apps. So it’s best to learn to control them instead of turning them off.

I hope these tips were easy to follow and helpful to turn off notifications & system sounds in Windows 11/10.