The VideoLAN Forums

I've searched pretty thoroughly and it seems clear that there isn't a command-line option to mute or unmute VLC. This would be handy for those cases where you mute the sound and close VLC, forgetting to unmute it. I have VLC come on in the morning as an alarm, and the other day I'd left it muted. The commands to set the volume level make no difference. I can also easily imagine scenarios where you'd want automatically to mute the sound without affecting the volume setting.

Anyone?
As it stands, if you mute any instance of VLC and close it, all subsequent executions will be muted unless manually unmuted. A --not-mute option would be really handy.

If it doesn't exist, I may have a go adding it myself.

FAQ: "How do I create a new topic or post a reply?
To post a new topic in a forum, click "New Topic". To post a reply to a topic, click "Post Reply"."
Great if I could find "New Topic".
Sorry to pick on you, but your level of posting tells me that you are both knowledgeable and involved.
A screen shot would be great. Thanks

I'm not sure what that means.

I've discovered where the mute setting is being stored, at least in my case, and it seems to be at the Windows level. It's in the registry at this setting:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\LowRegistry\Audio\PolicyConfig\PropertyStore\699e4275_0\{219ED5A0-9CBF-4F3A-B927-37C9E5C5F14F}]

Presumably this will vary according to which audio output you're using. So, a kludgy fix suggests itself: export this key in its unmuted state, and merge it before running VLC. I've tested this and it works.

You can use Process Monitor to see which registry entry is being modified to store the mute setting. Alternatively, try exporting the whole PropertyStore key before and after muting and do a file compare to see what changed.

FAQ: "How do I create a new topic or post a reply?
To post a new topic in a forum, click "New Topic". To post a reply to a topic, click "Post Reply"."
Great if I could find "New Topic".

Yes, that's the New Topic button. However, the topic already existed, and was created by me.

My page does not have that at all. There is nothing that I can click on to create a new topic.

How can I add an attachment to show you or a screenshot?

For attachments you need to use a third party hosting site.

For files you can use https://www.zippyshare.com or https://wetransfer.com
For pictures https://imgur.com or https://postimages.org

As a postscript to this, there's a utility called SoundVolumeView which allows you to mute or unmute a process using the process ID or process name. This is perfect for launching VLC from the command line.