Windows – How to hide certain playback devices in the Windows 10 taskbar

The solution to all your nagging Windows automation problems: AutoIt!

Put this AutoIt and compile it

;-----Configuration-----
;The title of the sound config window.
Dim $ConfigWindowTitle = "Sound"
;-----End of configuration----

Dim $ItemNumber = 1
If $CmdLine[0] >= 1 Then ;If we have a parameter...
    $ItemNumber = $CmdLine[1] ;...we should press the button the specified number of times.
EndIf

Run("control mmsys.cpl") ;Run the sound control applet and hide it.

WinWaitActive($ConfigWindowTitle) ;Wait for it to be active before sending keystrokes.

Send("{TAB}{TAB}{TAB}{TAB}") ;Put the focus on the list

For $i = 1 to $ItemNumber Step 1
    Send("{DOWN}")
Next

Send("!s") ;Press Alt + S to set the selected device as the default.
WinClose($ConfigWindowTitle)

Now create a shortcut, and in the Target put the path to the compiled executable. For an argument, put the number of the sound device in the list that you want to switch to. (to switch to the top item in the list, put 1, the second item in the list, put 2, etc). If you want a keyboard shortcut, use the Shortcut Key field in the shortcut's properties window.

I'd been looking for something to do what you wanted to do, and found that there's no programmatic way that you can switch audio devices in Vista/7. It's just not something that Microsoft decided that programmers need to do, so I make this script to automate the process. It's not the best since it pops up the window in order to change the device (necessary), but it makes it possible to create shortcuts to change the output device for your sound.

It's something of a hack job, but this might do the trick! It requires doing a bit of registry editing to shrink the taskbar icons so that the labels auto-hide.

Set taskbar options

1. Open Taskbar properties.
2. In the "Taskbar Appearance" group, change the "Taskbar Button" option to "Never combine" if you don't want stacking.

Adding/editing the registry entry

1. Press Windows Key + R to open the run command
2. Type int "regedit" (without quotes) and press OK
3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Control Panel -> Desktop -> WindowMetrics
4. Find the "MinWidth" entry.
5. If it is not there, right click on an empty space and select New -> String Value. Name this entry "MinWidth" (without quotes)
6. Double click on the MinWidth entry. If you want just the buttons to show, set this to 38 if you're using small buttons, 52 if you're using large buttons (or 54 in Windows 8). Otherwise any value above 38 will work. If you set a value below 38, the buttons will behave oddly. If your main display (on Windows 8.1 or later) has non-standard DPI (e.g. it's Retina or 4k display) you might need to multiply these numbers by the factor of 1.25, 1.5 or 2. Otherwise buttons will shrink / animate incorrectly.
7. Log off and log back in or restart to see the changes.

Deleting/Uninstalling

1. Press Windows Key + R to open the run command
2. Type int "regedit" (without quotes) and press OK
3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Control Panel -> Desktop -> WindowMetrics
4. Find the "MinWidth" entry and delete it.
5. Log off and log back in or restart to see the changes.