Bang & Olufen Audio Control Not Openning (Force Closing)

[Hawks_Eye · Accepted solution]

@Paul_Days  I appreciate all your efforts and patience!!

Thanks for sharing those details — that clears things up.

Here’s the situation with Bang & Olufsen (B&O) audio on HP laptops:

Bang & Olufsen doesn’t provide a separate “driver.”
It’s bundled as part of a customized Realtek audio driver package that HP ships with your laptop. If you just install a generic Realtek driver (from HP or Windows Update), the Bang & Olufsen Audio Control panel will either be missing or crash because the customization hooks aren’t present.

Why you’re not seeing “Bang & Olufsen” listed
On HP’s support site, the description often just says Realtek High-Definition (HD) Audio Driver or Realtek Universal Audio Driver (UAD). The B&O branding won’t always appear in the title, but it’s inside that package.

Why it’s force closing
That’s exactly what happens when the wrong Realtek build is installed (generic vs. HP-customized). The app launches, but since the registry/config files it expects aren’t there, it crashes on init.

What you can do now:

Get your original SoftPaq (factory driver)

Go to: HP Software & Driver Downloads

Enter your full product number: 7WUL60UP#ABA

Under Driver – Audio, download the Realtek High-Definition Audio Driver listed there.

That’s the exact HP-customized package with the B&O hooks.

Use HP Recovery Manager (if available)

Press F11 at boot → Troubleshoot → Recovery Manager → Reinstall drivers and applications.

This will list Bang & Olufsen Audio separately if your recovery partition still exists.

Check Microsoft Update Catalog (backup option)

Open Device Manager → Audio → Realtek Audio → Properties → Details → Hardware IDs.

Copy the first line (e.g., HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_XXXX).

Search it at Microsoft Update Catalog.

Look for a Realtek package around your laptop’s release year — it will usually contain the B&O extension.

As a last resort

If your recovery partition is gone and HP’s site no longer lists the exact SoftPaq, you can request HP Recovery Media (USB) for your model. That will have the exact B&O build preloaded.

Quick check: When you go to the HP driver page for your model, do you see a Realtek Audio Driver ~500MB in size? That’s usually the one with B&O. Smaller ones (~30–50MB) are generic.

You’ve clearly done the legwork, and this kind of issue deserves a clean, branded resolution.

Regards,

Hawks_Eye

[Paul_Days]

Hello, so let me give feedback of the steps I took in case others need the assistence.

Go to: HP Software & Driver Downloads

Enter your full product number: 7WUL60UP#ABA

Under Driver – Audio, download the Realtek High-Definition Audio Driver listed there.

That’s the exact HP-customized package with the B&O hooks.

I did go to this link BUT, it wouldn't take the full product number so I used my Serial number.  I downloaded the drivers from there and before installing I not only deleted the '' Sound, video and game controller" but also from "Audio Inputs and Outputs".  This recommendation might have been the previous culprit, but it's what I did.

Afterwards I extracted the drivers, installed them.  Rebooted and now the B&O Audio Control stayed open when using the laptop speakers.

So, Solved.