HowTo Enable The Gnome Sound Applet

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Problem:

The Gnome sound applet does not startup when logging in as user: "root". If you try to launch the menu item: "System => Preference => Sound" the following hanging dialog will appear: "Waiting for sound system to respond".


Solution:

The "pulseaudio" daemon is not running. Use the following method to correct this issue:

  • Go to the "System => Preference => Startup Applications" menu entry.
  • Make sure you are in the "Startup Programs" tab.
  • Click on the "Add" button.
  • Fill in the fields similar to this:
 Name: Pulseaudio daemon
 Command: /usr/bin/pulseaudio
 Comment: Start the pulseaudio sound daemon...
  • Logout and then relogin and the Gnome sound applet should appear.


Sound Device Selection

To select the sound device that pulse audio will use, open the PulseAudio Volume Control found under Sound & Video sub menu on the MATE desktop. Once the Volume Control window is displayed, look for the Configuration tab to select the desired sound profile.

By default, pulseaudio will change the profile selection if the device is disconnected or goes to sleep. This can be quite annoying if you are using the speakers on a monitor via an HDMI connection. To prevent pulseaudio from making this helpful choice, try commenting out the load-module module-switch-on-port-available line found in /etc/pulse/default.pa:

# PKB: 2017-10-18 (disable auto switch to see if it will stay
# on HDMI 3 even when monitor is turned off)
#load-module module-switch-on-port-available