Volume icon for tray that's not a speaker icon

I'd like to replace the small windows speaker icon in the taskbar tray. A sound icon with a color bar of some sort. As small as it would be, it would show bars of green yellow and red. If it showed red, it would mean I have my volume set to max using headphones (music). Seeing that the bar is showing red would allow me to reduce my windows volume before I start a game and blast my ears out. Can anyone recommend one?

Anyone know of a replacement for the Windows taskbar tray icon that shows volume?

In other words, at a glance I want to see a more accurate icon. One with light colored bars. I would know to turn down the volume before starting a game if I saw the icon bar in red. Clicking on my desired new icon would work the same as the speaker icon for adjusting the volume.

I want to quick glance my taskbar tray and see what my volume is set at . Something other than a speaker icon.

Sorry, no...I don't want to have to move my mouse cursor to check my Windows sound volume tray icon. I don't think I'm lazy either. Why not be able to just glance at it? Anyone know of a replacement for the Windows taskbar tray of Sound?

It looks like it would be as simple as editing %systemroot%\windows\system32\SndVolSSO.ddl using resource hacker.
Simple enough, only when I go to save changes, it says access is denied. Even after taking full control and ownership of system32 folder and the .dll file, I still am unable to overwrite the original.

So what we need now is someone who knows how to bypass permissions in the system32 folder

PS: once we figure out how to get this working, I'll happily design some .icos for this.

pshock13 said:

It looks like it would be as simple as editing %systemroot%\windows\system32\SndVolSSO.ddl using resource hacker.
Simple enough, only when I go to save changes, it says access is denied. Even after taking full control and ownership of system32 folder and the .dll file, I still am unable to overwrite the original.

So what we need now is someone who knows how to bypass permissions in the system32 folder

PS: once we figure out how to get this working, I'll happily design some .icos for this.

could you possibly make one for when i switch where my sound comes from i.e. speakers for well speakers and a headset for my headphones
you know like when i change it here? I'm not to well versed in this stuff and if you want I could pay you

You can try Customizer God which can modify the appropriate .dll file and replace the default icons with custom ones. This should be able to modify the SndVolSSO.dll file directly. An alternative is to copy the file at another folder, modify it and then change ownership of the C:\Windows\System32 folder from TrustedInstaller to Administrators, then grant Administrators full access to the folder and its contents. You may also have to change ownnership to SndVolSSO.dll and grant full access separately to let you replace it. Another trick is to boot with Windows setup, press SHIFT+F10 to open a Command Prompt and replace the file using the appropriate commands, or boot from a WinPE USB or DVD such as Strelec's WinPE and do it from there.

spapakons said:

You can try Customizer God which can modify the appropriate .dll file and replace the default icons with custom ones. This should be able to modify the SndVolSSO.dll file directly. An alternative is to copy the file at another folder, modify it and then change ownership of the C:\Windows\System32 folder from TrustedInstaller to Administrators, then grant Administrators full access to the folder and its contents. You may also have to change ownnership to SndVolSSO.dll and grant full access separately to let you replace it. Another trick is to boot with Windows setup, press SHIFT+F10 to open a Command Prompt and replace the file using the appropriate commands, or boot from a WinPE USB or DVD such as Strelec's WinPE and do it from there.

Would this change the image when I change what output I have selected

Yes, if you open the SndVolSSO.dll with Customizer God or other suitable application you will see many icons, depending on the volume level, mute, no audio detected etc. You can change the volume level icons to custom green bars, for example, and then to a red bar for max volume. There are many icons online to download and you also have the option to extract icons from other .dll or .exe files. If you prefer to create your own, there are some applications that can convert a .bmp image to .ico file I use the good old BMP2ICO utility.