[W10/1607] Clean Install, Rundll32 UAC Prompt when opening Playback Devices

[HyeVltg3]

I have no idea what happened, left my PC on overnight went to work, and now I'm home and I get a UAC Prompt when I try to R.Click Volume Control for Playback Devices...

Was there some stealth Windows Update? I looked but nothing new was added to the Updates Installed list.

 

[Regedit32]

Do you have any devices plugged in such as external speakers, headset, etcetera?

If you do, and one is not securely connected it will trip the UAC because a troubleshoot will be attempting to start.

 

[HyeVltg3]

This issue isnt only restricted to opening the sound control, I see this UAC prompt when booting too, I looked online and even changed the group policy option for the built-in admin approval, still no change.

EDIT: Now I cannot open more than one instance of File Explorer.
I can open it once from the task bar and can open multiple using Win+E, but through taskbar I can only open one and when I right click taskbar icon to open one of my Pins instead, nothing happens

Heres a snippet of my current Event Viewer I'm getting the same "requires elevated permission" error 740 and all of them stem from process that require Rundll32.exe

 

[Majestic12]

I've got the exact same problem since last September. I wrote few posts describing this case here and here but still no solution. Did you fix this?

 

[HyeVltg3]

I've got the exact same problem since last September. I wrote few posts describing this case here and here but still no solution. Did you fix this?

I actually went back to Windows 7 because this was driving me insane.
Guess What?
For the first first week, no issues, everything was Win7-great, and now this same error is back, every time I open Sound Control. I have no idea what it originates from, but we both have the issue, is there any program you've installed recently that could have triggered it?

 

[Majestic12]

I actually went back to Windows 7 because this was driving me insane.
Guess What?
For the first first week, no issues, everything was Win7-great, and now this same error is back, every time I open Sound Control. I have no idea what it originates from, but we both have the issue, is there any program you've installed recently that could have triggered it?

I really don't know what could've caused this. When it started for a first time I think I just installed some Windows updates. After the last bigger Win 10 update (Creators Update) it worked for a few minutes but after I installed some drivers (for the monitor and the SATA controller I think) and then rebooted, it came back. But it could be just the restart that triggered it...

 

[HyeVltg3]

I really don't know what could've caused this. When it started for a first time I think I just installed some Windows updates. After the last bigger Win 10 update (Creators Update) it worked for a few minutes but after I installed some drivers (for the monitor and the SATA controller I think) and then rebooted, it came back. But it could be just the restart that triggered it...

Same story on my end. Went to sleep (left pc on) woke up, work, came back, was getting Run32.dll prompts for lots of things.

 

[Slazeus]

I know this is an old thread but I had this issue and after about a full day of troubleshooting and research I solved the problem and thought I'd post to help anyone else in the future.

So it turns out (for reasons unkown to me) that the Realtek HD Audio Driver is the problem here. Merely uninstalling it didn't work though as the windows updater would keep automatically re-installing it when I rebooted. Here's what I did to fix the issue:

1: right-click the your speaker/audio icon in the task bar.
2: Choose Troubleshoot sound problems
3: Choose Yes, open Audio Enhancements
4: After the Audio Enhancements page opens, another window opens saying "We're going to try something". Close the Audio Enhancements page (you don't need to do anything there) and choose "Play test sounds".
5: Choose "bad" or "I din't hear anything", don't choose "Good".
6: Choose "restart later" when prompted and choose "Bad" or "I didn't hear anything" again.
7: Choose "Good: Use HD Audio driver".
8:Close the troubleshooter

Now if you go to your playback devices (the UAC prompt will still occur for now), the active driver should be "high definition audio driver" instead of the Realtek HD Audio Driver. Now once you have confirmed that:

9: Go to system settings.
10: Choose Apps.
11: Look for "Realtek High Definition Audio Driver" and uninstall it.
12: Choose restart computer now.

You should find that after your computer has re-booted, you will no longer receive a UAC trigger when trying to access your playback devices etc.

NOTE: I find the default windows audio driver works fine, but some people much prefer the realtek driver. It's your choice whether the prompt is worth using it over the windows driver or not.

Also just to note this also fixed an issue where I couldn't change my lock-screen picture/background.

 

[Majestic12]

@Slazeus I had these Realtek drivers installed (but the Realtek audio card was disabled in the bios) but unfortunately uninstalling them didn't help. But this info might help. maybe it's caused by some other driver?

 

[Majestic12]

After the last bigger Win 10 update (Creators Update) it worked for a few minutes but after I installed some drivers (for the monitor and the SATA controller I think) and then rebooted, it came back. But it could be just the restart that triggered it...

After installing the newest Fall Creators Update the situation repeated - there wasn't any problem with the rundll32 prompt after the first login just after the update process but when I rebooted the PC (the only change was installing the first small Windows Update) the problem came back.