📎 AI Summary:
The thread is about Xbox Game Bar notification sounds (achievements and party join/leave) resetting to 100% volume every time Game Bar or the PC restarts, with the user saying their audio drivers/exclusive mode changes didn’t help and party chat volume itself otherwise works fine. The main responses focus on identifying which Windows volume-mixer slider (often Xbox Game Bar/GameBarFTServer or System Sounds) is being reset, trying Game Bar/Gaming Services updates and repairs, and checking Windows “communications” volume behavior; if that doesn’t persist, the suggested workaround is using a small third-party tool (NirCmd) with Task Scheduler to automatically re-apply the desired volume after restarts. Overall sentiment is practical and troubleshooting-oriented, with the responder providing a likely cause and a reliable mitigation since Microsoft support reportedly didn’t finish the solution.
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unsecuredham

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Every time my game bar program restarts all the notification sounds like achievements and party chat joining/leaving for myself or others gets set to 100%. The program does not remember what I set it to in between resets of game bar or my Pc.
I have updated my audio drivers and turned off the apps exclusive control over my audio devices.
I have no issues with the party chats audio, I hear and speak to my friends with no issue. Its purely a notification issue.
I've found old forum posts but they are all incomplete as Microsoft support seems to always stop responding before a solution is fixed.
I'm open to a third party software which will limit the sound for game bar but everything I've found online does not actually have this feature

If someone has the answer or a solution for this problem then I would love to hear it
 

Solution
WindowsForum AI
Hi unsecuredham — what you’re describing usually happens when Game Bar spins up a “fresh” audio session (or routes the notification sound through System Sounds) and Windows ends up treating it like “new”, so the per‑app mixer value comes back at 100%.
Below are the two best approaches: first try to fix/persist it, and if that doesn’t stick, use a small automatic limiter that forces the volume back down whenever Game Bar restarts.

1) First: identify which mixer slider is actually being reset​

  • Press Win + G to open Game Bar.
  • Trigger one of the loud sounds (achievement test, join/leave, etc..
  • Immediately open Settings → System → Sound → Volume mixer...
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WindowsForum AI

WindowsForum AI

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#2
Hi unsecuredham — what you’re describing usually happens when Game Bar spins up a “fresh” audio session (or routes the notification sound through System Sounds) and Windows ends up treating it like “new”, so the per‑app mixer value comes back at 100%.
Below are the two best approaches: first try to fix/persist it, and if that doesn’t stick, use a small automatic limiter that forces the volume back down whenever Game Bar restarts.

1) First: identify which mixer slider is actually being reset​

  • Press Win + G to open Game Bar.
  • Trigger one of the loud sounds (achievement test, join/leave, etc..
  • Immediately open Settings → System → Sound → Volume mixer (Win11) or App volume and device preferences (Win10/11).
Look for which slider jumps / is too loud:
  • Xbox Game Bar (often GameBar.exe)
  • Game Bar background process (often GameBarFTServer.exe)
  • System Sounds (very common for “notification-style” audio)
If it’s System Sounds, that’s good news: we can target it directly.

2) Fix attempts (that sometimes make the volume “stick” again)​

A) Update Game Bar / Gaming Services from Microsoft Store​

Microsoft Store → Library → Get updates and make sure these are updated:
  • Xbox Game Bar
  • Gaming Services
  • (Optionally) Xbox app

B) Repair / Reset Xbox Game Bar​

Settings → Apps → Installed apps → Xbox Game Bar → Advanced options
  • Click Repair
  • If it still resets: click Reset (this will wipe the app’s settings)

C) Make sure Windows isn’t “helpfully” changing volumes​

  • Open Control Panel → Sound → Communications
  • Set it to Do nothing
(Party chat itself is fine for you, but this setting can still affect “comms-like” audio behaviors on some systems.
If after all that it still pops back to 100%, the most reliable “real world” workaround is to enforce the mixer value automatically:

3) Reliable workaround: automatically force Game Bar/System Sounds volume (free)​

Use NirCmd to set the per‑app volume at logon (and optionally on a repeating schedule).
NirCmd has a command specifically for this:
setappvolume [Process] [volume 0..1] (you can even target SystemSounds).

Step-by-step​

  • Download NirCmd (official NirSoft page).
  • Put nircmd.exe somewhere permanent, e.g. C:\Tools\NirCmd\nircmd.exe
  • Create a file: C:\Tools\SetGameBarVolume.cmd with this content (edit the numbers to taste):
Code: 
[USER=35331]@echo[/USER] off
REM 0.15 = 15% volume
"C:\Tools\NirCmd\nircmd.exe" setappvolume GameBar.exe 0.15
"C:\Tools\NirCmd\nircmd.exe" setappvolume GameBarFTServer.exe 0.15
"C:\Tools\NirCmd\nircmd.exe" setappvolume SystemSounds 0.15
  • Open Task Scheduler → Create Task
  • Triggers
  • At log on
  • (Recommended) Add a second trigger: Daily → “Repeat task every: 1 minute” for “Duration: Indefinitely”
    This is what makes it recover even after Game Bar crashes/restarts later.
  • Actions
  • Start a program: cmd.exe
  • Add arguments: /c "C:\Tools\SetGameBarVolume.cmd"
That’s it—whenever Windows/Game Bar decides to reset it, your scheduled task will shove it back down.

Quick questions (so I can tailor this to your exact case)​

  • Are you on Windows 10 or Windows 11 (and which version/build, roughly)?
  • In Volume mixer, does the loud sound show under Xbox Game Bar, GameBarFTServer, or System Sounds?
  • What’s your audio output device (USB headset, Bluetooth, HDMI/monitor, etc., and does it ever disconnect/reconnect?
If you tell me which slider it is, I can tell you exactly which line(s) to keep in the .cmd so you’re not adjusting unnecessary sessions.
 

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