Unlocked Realtek HD Audio Drivers for Windows 11 (Dolby Digital Live/DTS Interactive)

[SoppingClam]

I ended up making my own drivers again. Just customised the Nvidia control panel to allow you to have another option to use HDMI to connect to your 'soundbar' and only receive and output audio and no video. WIndows doesn't recognise it as another monitor.
It requires some basic execution of my file upon windows startup but works for me.
No GUI as yet. I'll leave that for nvidia to do.

 

[Gradius2]

Why are you guys still using a driver from 2016?

Also, dts and dolby digital, are pretty much dead already.

The future is Dolby Atmos.

 

[Gustavo Sicha]

Why are you guys still using a driver from 2016?

Also, dts and dolby digital, are pretty much dead already.

The future is Dolby Atmos.

because this guide was written only for people with motherboards that only support dolby digital and dts nothing else

 

[Ferather]

@Gradius2, well, you can do Atmos over SPDIF, but there is a lot more support needed my Microsoft and equipment manufacturers, else you get 2 channel SPDIF.
DTS And Dolby are far from dead, many television transmissions still opt for Dolby Digital over PCM due to stream size and bandwidth.

Dolby Atmos is not a standard, at all (optional). PCM is a standard though, think about Atmos for Headphones, which do not decode, and require PCM.

====

The future is no compression, and only using compression to overcome support failures, such as trying to get more than 8 channels, or for reduced bandwidth (less Mbps).
DTS-Dolby will be decoded (un-compressed to PCM) before hitting a DAC, so either way we are still talking PCM audio.

Which is worse, Microsoft-OEMS failing to update-support, or driver modders for adding a way to get more than 2 channels on SPDIF which supports 15 (see here)

 

[Fr0stkeule]

I have a ROG z690-I-Gaming with an ALC 4080 Supreme FX III soundchip, so there's the possibility of putting DDL on it somehow

 

[brotherscro1]

Hey guys just checking after a while whats the latest working method to gets DTS Interactive / Dolby Digital Live working?
Planning on upgrading to Windows 11 so worried my old method is no longer gonna work
I'm currently using dvojinov method and 6.0.1.8059 drivers (only thing what worked ) I need this because of my Logitech Z906 speakers only way I can get 5.1 DTS over optical for games
My motherboard is X99 Sabertooth
Also to get same Realted HD Audio Manager as in screenshot

 

[katapaltes]

Strange case for me...everything installed correctly (with Asus last patched drivers).
When I test sound in "supported format" (2nd tab) I can hear the sound in the 5.1 speakers:

View attachment 282799

but when I test the sound in "Advanced Options" (4th tab) I can only hear 2 frontal speakers working:

View attachment 282800

I did some tests with dts/dolby 5.1 video demos and it works like a charm but when trying to play games only 2 speakers (Doom Eternal, Cyberpunk 2077 and A Plague Tale...)

Someone has this problem also?

Hello. The behavior you describe, hearing 5.1 test tones in the Supported Formats tab but only stereo in the Advanced tab, I think is normal. I have seen the same behavior with my system with various surround sound patches applied over the years.
I remember with these DDL/DTS:I mods that I also had to modify the XAudio2*.dll files in System32 and/or SysWOW64, depending on the game, in order to get surround sound. Prey 2017 and Alien Isolation both needed some of those DLL files patched while other games worked fine without the DLLs being patched.

XAudio2 Dolby Digital Live patcher – defer time.Sleep()

With the patch in this thread applied but no DLLs patched yet, I seem to be getting surround in Shadow of the Tomb Raider (free trial), but Prey does not have surround. Once I patch the DLLs, I will probably get surround in Prey.

 

[Ferather]

Windows will only use the stereo test tone on SPDIF no matter how many channels are set, the end SPDIF transmitter is still 2 channel.
DTS and Dolby are compressed multichannel, it fits within a 2 channel PCM stream, but not as PCM.

If your device had a 6 channel SPDIF transmitter, no DTS or Dolby is needed, Windows will play a 6 channel test tone.
However you would need an audio receiver that also has a 6 channel SPDIF receiver.

 

[chefreionhold]

Hi,

I followed the steps here on my Windows 11 PC, but I am still not seeing the options for Realtek HD Audio Manager. In fact, it doesn't seem to be installed at all.
I'm running an SPDIF cable from my motherboard's IO to my Onkyo receiver.

1. I uninstalled my existing Realtek drivers with Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) and booted into Driver Disable Enforcement mode.
2. Downloaded and extracted the zip file containing the Realtek HD audio drivers R2.80, then used Pihto's patch to patch the DLL files in WIN32 and WIN64.
3. Ran the Realtek setup program.
4. Opened regedit and created the "DisableProtectedAudioDG" registry item.
5. Rebooted.

But I seem to be back where I started.

• "DisableProtectedAudioDG" has disappeared from registry.
• Realtek HD Audio Manager isn't installed.
• I have no options to enable Dolby Live or DTS Connect.
  I can test Dolby and DTS under the speaker properties, but it doesn't enable during games.
• 

I am not sure what I am doing wrong. Can you please help me?

 

[Tosnic]

Hi,

I followed the steps here on my Windows 11 PC, but I am still not seeing the options for Realtek HD Audio Manager. In fact, it doesn't seem to be installed at all.
I'm running an SPDIF cable from my motherboard's IO to my Onkyo receiver.

1. I uninstalled my existing Realtek drivers with Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) and booted into Driver Disable Enforcement mode.
2. Downloaded and extracted the zip file containing the Realtek HD audio drivers R2.80, then used Pihto's patch to patch the DLL files in WIN32 and WIN64.
3. Ran the Realtek setup program.
4. Opened regedit and created the "DisableProtectedAudioDG" registry item.
5. Rebooted.

But I seem to be back where I started.

• "DisableProtectedAudioDG" has disappeared from registry.
• Realtek HD Audio Manager isn't installed.
• I have no options to enable Dolby Live or DTS Connect.
  I can test Dolby and DTS under the speaker properties, but it doesn't enable during games.

I am not sure what I am doing wrong. Can you please help me?

That is about the same issue that I ran into. I tried the whole process twice. I never got it to work.
You may want to post work Mobo model for comparison.

 

[chefreionhold]

That is about the same issue that I ran into. I tried the whole process twice. I never got it to work.
You may want to post work Mobo model for comparison.

Glad I'm not alone in any case.

I posted a link to the MB in my last post, it's a B550 AORUS ELITE V2, which has a pretty good reputation as far as sound quality goes.

 

[Nusuth]

Hi,

I followed the steps here on my Windows 11 PC, but I am still not seeing the options for Realtek HD Audio Manager. In fact, it doesn't seem to be installed at all.
I'm running an SPDIF cable from my motherboard's IO to my Onkyo receiver.

1. I uninstalled my existing Realtek drivers with Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) and booted into Driver Disable Enforcement mode.
2. Downloaded and extracted the zip file containing the Realtek HD audio drivers R2.80, then used Pihto's patch to patch the DLL files in WIN32 and WIN64.
3. Ran the Realtek setup program.
4. Opened regedit and created the "DisableProtectedAudioDG" registry item.
5. Rebooted.

But I seem to be back where I started.
View attachment 310849

• "DisableProtectedAudioDG" has disappeared from registry.
• Realtek HD Audio Manager isn't installed.
• I have no options to enable Dolby Live or DTS Connect.
  I can test Dolby and DTS under the speaker properties, but it doesn't enable during games.
• View attachment 310850

I am not sure what I am doing wrong. Can you please help me?

Did you try the method described by me?

 

[chefreionhold]

YES! THANK YOU!

I ran into the same issue as you did - I tried everything, AAF modded drivers - no luck, DTS and DD didn't show up (it worked in some old version from 2020. which I couldn't find anymore). Then I found this thread, modded the R2.80 drivers, installed them, and DTS and DD showed up - only to be replaced by Windows Update drivers, which couldn't be stopped. Then I saw your post, went to Gigabyte driver site (I have Aorus Pro WiFi Z390), downloaded the latest drivers (6.0.9225.1), found the rltkAPO64U.dll in the installation folder, replaced it with modded and renamed rltkAPO64.dll, ran the installation with driver signature disabled, restarted the system - and DD and DTS are finally there! And since it's a signed driver, and latest one, it's not replaced by Windows Update! So FINALLY there is a usable workaround to get DD and DTS on my TOSLINK connected receiver connected to 5.1 surround!

Thanks a bunch man!
View attachment 273603

No, I'm just seeing it now. Thanks! I'll try this tomorrow. Unfortunately, the PC is an awkward distance from my receiver, so I have a new 10ft toslink cable arriving tomorrow. I'll try it then and let you know.

 

[Nusuth]

No, I'm just seeing it now. Thanks! I'll try this tomorrow. Unfortunately, the PC is an awkward distance from my receiver, so I have a new 10ft toslink cable arriving tomorrow. I'll try it then and let you know.

Alright, let me know if you need any help.

 

[johnnybee]

And you will have it People just need to clarify their English sometimes, so there are no confusions.

hi i upgraded to dts and dolby digitial live and love it. but how do i add dts x or any 7.1 format that isnt pcm over hdmi or toslink im running an avr from 2010

 

[chefreionhold]

I'm on a Gigabyte Z390 and can confirm the process still works.
The trick for later drivers is to download the v2.8 drivers and patch as normal then rename the patched dll to match the version in the desired driver. eg rltkAPO64.dll may become rltkAPOU64.dll. Then copy to the desired driver install folder and follow the install process. Here's my notes I made for this process.

1) Download Realtek v.2.80 drivers https://www.techspot.com/drivers/driver/file/information/18007/
2) Download the updated driver you actually want
3) Use the Patcher to patch the files in the v2.80 folder
1) Copy specific patched dlls from v2.80 folder and rename to match existing files in the updated driver install folder, eg RltkAPOU64.dll - remember to backup the original files
2) Run Display Driver Uninstaller to remove Realtek drivers
3) Reboot to UEFI to disable driver signing requirement. Or just reboot if already disabled
4) Remove auto installed Realtek driver via driver manager
5) Install new patched driver
6)Add reg key for DisableProtectedAudioDG
7) reboot

For the reg key copy and save the following to a text file and rename to DisableProtectedAudioDG.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Audio]
"DisableProtectedAudioDG"=dword:00000001

Hi all,

I followed the direction suggested by @Nusuth, and @Toxster (which I have placed above). 5.1 is working now over S/P DIF and sounds brilliant.
Thanks for your help, guys!

 

[Nusuth]

Hi all,

I followed the direction suggested by @Nusuth, and @Toxster (which I have placed above). 5.1 is working now over S/P DIF and sounds brilliant.
Thanks for your help, guys!

Sweet!

 

[victosab]

BIG THANKS !!! That's work great on my motherboard ASUS B550-F with optical / S PDIF on Windows 11 and using this 2.80 driver (And not with the lastest version, because the patch don't work, probably because the dll in the installation folder now called "rltkAPOU64.dll".

 

[bottlefedc83]

You guys are making this too hard, you don't need to disable driver enforcement or anything, just patch the .dll then rename it to RltkAPOU64.dll boot into safe mode, if for some reason the audio driver still launches just disable the service, then copy RltkAPOU64.dll overwriting the installed one in "C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\realtekapo.inf_amd64_86fc0b0b9eccc8ac" or something similar, you will see it. Reboot and enjoy. I have even done this without booting into safe mode by disabling audo endpoint builder and audio services. As long as the driver isn't trying to load the .dll you can overwrite it and reboot.

The patched .dll are a pain in my opinion not because of the method described above its because how realtek handles the implementation. If you patch the .dll you are leaving realtek SFX/MFX/EFX to handle the DTSi & DDL since realtek loves to kill off using the system mixer unless you manipulate SFX it will only output stereo despite the endpoint switching output channels to 5.1, a problem many run into still. This is fixed pretty easy by inserting Microsoft SFX ,{62dc1a93-ae24-464c-a43e-452f824c4250}, into your chain so the system mixer can see what EFX output channels are and act accordingly. For example when I used to run patched .dll to get DTSi I would need to configure my FX configurator as follows:

Spoiler: DTSi Realtek patched .dll

[LFX]
{62dc1a93-ae24-464c-a43e-452f824c4250}
{DC253AB8-10DC-483c-AB5F-D6A4E189FD70}
[GFX]
{A27368B3-D810-42ce-B114-83900258B8EC}
[SFX]
{DA2C9ECE-7418-4906-B4FA-0A00B3EB88AA}
[MFX]
{A296D363-EE83-4af9-9BE7-729C1296150A}
[EFX]
{A29EB043-6CE2-4ee2-B38C-F58719E0D88F}
[UI]
{6861CFDC-0461-49d5-A8DF-BE5ACD02692F}
[ProcessingSFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}
[ProcessingMFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}
[ProcessingEFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}

This is as opposed to

Spoiler: Factory Realtek

[LFX]
{DC253AB8-10DC-483c-AB5F-D6A4E189FD70}
[GFX]
{A27368B3-D810-42ce-B114-83900258B8EC}
[SFX]
{DA2C9ECE-7418-4906-B4FA-0A00B3EB88AA}
[MFX]
{A296D363-EE83-4af9-9BE7-729C1296150A}
[EFX]
{A29EB043-6CE2-4ee2-B38C-F58719E0D88F}
[UI]
{6861CFDC-0461-49d5-A8DF-BE5ACD02692F}
[ProcessingSFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}
[ProcessingMFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}
[ProcessingEFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}

This will allow you to get upmix from the system mixer in without the need to disable system enhancements or in other words, proper upmix based on speaker configuration while running in WASAPI shared mode (all the time) instead of WASAPI exclusive mode only.

Its honestly a cool little work around since you can now get APO's to work while running DTSi or DDL. My favorite has been NAHIMIC (sonic studio 3 in my case since it came with my board) with DTSi. It does a good job of subtle effects and gives decent HRTF. Worth a try. Ironically I didn't patch .dll to achieve it, a config as follows is easier and just as effective.

Spoiler: DTSi + SS3 + RLTK

[CompositeSFX]
{62dc1a93-ae24-464c-a43e-452f824c4250}
{670173E1-78CF-11E5-A837-0800200C9A66}
[CompositeMFX]
{670173E2-78CF-11E5-A837-0800200C9A66}
{A296D363-EE83-4af9-9BE7-729C1296150A}
[CompositeEFX]
{A29EB043-6CE2-4ee2-B38C-F58719E0D88F}
{A515262A-68B3-441a-A310-0D145362EE87}
[ProcessingSFx]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}
{B26FEB0D-EC94-477C-9494-D1AB8E753F6E}
{4780004E-7133-41D8-8C74-660DADD2C0EE}
[ProcessingMFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}
{B26FEB0D-EC94-477C-9494-D1AB8E753F6E}
{4780004E-7133-41D8-8C74-660DADD2C0EE}
[ProcessingEFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}
{B26FEB0D-EC94-477C-9494-D1AB8E753F6E}
{4780004E-7133-41D8-8C74-660DADD2C0EE}

 

[Laurijan]

I wonder what OP meant with download and extract realtek 2.80 package? Its an .exe, nothing to extract. Was there a link in post 1 that is gone now? I am not able to patch the exe? Should I install realtek driver first, then patch? Driver signature is disabled.

Edit: Ok figured it out. The exe file decompresses into a user/appdata/local/temp folder.. I copied that folder to a different location first, patched the files with the patcher and installed driver after firstly removing old driver and disabling driver signature (which needed a reboot of course). Then I added the regedit line and rebooted. Works with optical cable 5.1 DTS and 5.1 Dolby now but with 3,5mm cables not. Wonder why...

 

[czesio666]

Does DTS work with digital output only? I have B550 AORUS ELITE V2 (ALC1200), win10 and 6.0.9496.1 driver from gigabyte. Driver is patched but changing to dts for speakers is not working.

I will explain why I need DTS. I have 5.1 speakers connected with three jacks. When I was using Gigabyte X48-DQ6 with chipset ALC889A I cannot obtain 5.1 sound on 2.0 stream. Therefore I turned on DTS to have always 5.1 even on 2.0 streams. I was using original driver 2.70 from gigabyte (DTS was supported in default, no need to patch).
Now, on new motherboard I have the same. 2.0 streams are not played as 5.1. Is there any way to fix it?

 

[clawhamer]

is anybody know how to install unocked drivers for macbook with windows installed? I have dolby app but no reaction on swithes

 

[vegetagaru]

hi OP i just fresh installed windows with 23h2, ran DDU and did the registry, the panel its not working but still, i can set the dts option on control panel -> sound is there any way to get the panel working ? for mic functions (echo cancelation and so on)

 

[Greg636]

God knows how i was able to do it. It works though
First i installed some apo and fx settings or how they are called that i saw on reddit and youtube. Didn't work. Uninstalled this stuff. I already made a system restore point before that. I didn't restored, just uninstalled this stuff that didn't work. Then i tried the method here with the mb manufatured driver.

I downloaded 2.80 and patched the 2 files required. Then renamed the RltkAPO64.DLL to RltkAPOU64.DLL which is the only similar file on my msi's audio driver. Overwrited the msi's file. A couple of tries, ddu and audio stuff uninstalled it worked! It said one time unassined driver. Although i have left in device manager a duplicate nahimic mirroring device that doesn't work. It says device is busy. I disabled it. Everything looks fine.
Then i tried to system restore thinking this duplicate was from apo and reddit stuff that i tried since then it was when i spoted this. Restored system, device manager looks ok, trying again to do the driver patch thing. No matter how many tries it won't work. It didn't notified me for unassined driver. Device manager is ok though. Undid system restore point (got duplicate nahimic again) and after of couple of tries it and again 1 warnging about unassined driver, it worked again.

No idea what is happening. I am leaving it as is. I would really like a cleaner solution though.

Edit: I tried @bottlefedc83 solution and it worked like a charm. I restored windows so i don't have the duplicate nahimic in device manager and it worked flawlessly.

You guys are making this too hard, you don't need to disable driver enforcement or anything, just patch the .dll then rename it to RltkAPOU64.dll boot into safe mode, if for some reason the audio driver still launches just disable the service, then copy RltkAPOU64.dll overwriting the installed one in "C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\realtekapo.inf_amd64_86fc0b0b9eccc8ac" or something similar, you will see it. Reboot and enjoy. I have even done this without booting into safe mode by disabling audo endpoint builder and audio services. As long as the driver isn't trying to load the .dll you can overwrite it and reboot.

The patched .dll are a pain in my opinion not because of the method described above its because how realtek handles the implementation. If you patch the .dll you are leaving realtek SFX/MFX/EFX to handle the DTSi & DDL since realtek loves to kill off using the system mixer unless you manipulate SFX it will only output stereo despite the endpoint switching output channels to 5.1, a problem many run into still. This is fixed pretty easy by inserting Microsoft SFX ,{62dc1a93-ae24-464c-a43e-452f824c4250}, into your chain so the system mixer can see what EFX output channels are and act accordingly. For example when I used to run patched .dll to get DTSi I would need to configure my FX configurator as follows:

Spoiler: DTSi Realtek patched .dll

[LFX]
{62dc1a93-ae24-464c-a43e-452f824c4250}
{DC253AB8-10DC-483c-AB5F-D6A4E189FD70}
[GFX]
{A27368B3-D810-42ce-B114-83900258B8EC}
[SFX]
{DA2C9ECE-7418-4906-B4FA-0A00B3EB88AA}
[MFX]
{A296D363-EE83-4af9-9BE7-729C1296150A}
[EFX]
{A29EB043-6CE2-4ee2-B38C-F58719E0D88F}
[UI]
{6861CFDC-0461-49d5-A8DF-BE5ACD02692F}
[ProcessingSFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}
[ProcessingMFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}
[ProcessingEFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}

This is as opposed to

Spoiler: Factory Realtek

[LFX]
{DC253AB8-10DC-483c-AB5F-D6A4E189FD70}
[GFX]
{A27368B3-D810-42ce-B114-83900258B8EC}
[SFX]
{DA2C9ECE-7418-4906-B4FA-0A00B3EB88AA}
[MFX]
{A296D363-EE83-4af9-9BE7-729C1296150A}
[EFX]
{A29EB043-6CE2-4ee2-B38C-F58719E0D88F}
[UI]
{6861CFDC-0461-49d5-A8DF-BE5ACD02692F}
[ProcessingSFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}
[ProcessingMFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}
[ProcessingEFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}

This will allow you to get upmix from the system mixer in without the need to disable system enhancements or in other words, proper upmix based on speaker configuration while running in WASAPI shared mode (all the time) instead of WASAPI exclusive mode only.

Its honestly a cool little work around since you can now get APO's to work while running DTSi or DDL. My favorite has been NAHIMIC (sonic studio 3 in my case since it came with my board) with DTSi. It does a good job of subtle effects and gives decent HRTF. Worth a try. Ironically I didn't patch .dll to achieve it, a config as follows is easier and just as effective.

Spoiler: DTSi + SS3 + RLTK

[CompositeSFX]
{62dc1a93-ae24-464c-a43e-452f824c4250}
{670173E1-78CF-11E5-A837-0800200C9A66}
[CompositeMFX]
{670173E2-78CF-11E5-A837-0800200C9A66}
{A296D363-EE83-4af9-9BE7-729C1296150A}
[CompositeEFX]
{A29EB043-6CE2-4ee2-B38C-F58719E0D88F}
{A515262A-68B3-441a-A310-0D145362EE87}
[ProcessingSFx]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}
{B26FEB0D-EC94-477C-9494-D1AB8E753F6E}
{4780004E-7133-41D8-8C74-660DADD2C0EE}
[ProcessingMFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}
{B26FEB0D-EC94-477C-9494-D1AB8E753F6E}
{4780004E-7133-41D8-8C74-660DADD2C0EE}
[ProcessingEFX]
{C18E2F7E-933D-4965-B7D1-1EEF228D2AF3}
{B26FEB0D-EC94-477C-9494-D1AB8E753F6E}
{4780004E-7133-41D8-8C74-660DADD2C0EE}

Yeap. You are right. We were making it too hard. Your solution worked perfect for me with msi's realtek driver. It just that when in safe mode you still need to mess with permissions. Originally RltkAPOU64.dll is system and i made it everyone. After overwrite, system again.

Also for some reason i had 2 folders in C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository.
One is realtekapo.inf_amd64_2a8d34c2796a10cc and the other is realtekapo.inf_amd64_904bfc0f717985ef.
Both had RltkAPOU64.dll inside. I replaced both with renamed/patched dll and all good!

 

[hypper]

This solution works very well indeed.
The biggest problem is some games refuses to work for no reason. Lies of P is one them, it outputs only stereo. Anyone else with the same problem?