Gnome DE: How to disable certain sound devices (input & output)?

:wave: Hi,

I’m using Gnome as my DE.
I’m a wee confused about the supposedly default audio service for Manjaro, pulseaudio or pipewire, I’ve been using this Gnome extension below:

But based on my understanding, it doesn’t really tackle the root cause, also I installed pavucontrol and muted what I could, but there are still some devices showing up (hence why I ended up using the Gnome extension).

I would like to know a reliable and simple way to disable sound devices (both input and output).

My lspci output:

╭─natalie-perret at natalie-perret-precision5570 in ⌁
╰─λ lspci                                                                                                                                             127 (0.004s) < 07:49:48
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 12th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 02)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 12th Gen Core Processor PCI Express x16 Controller #1 (rev 02)
0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] (rev 0c)
0000:00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake Innovation Platform Framework Processor Participant (rev 02)
0000:00:06.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation RST VMD Managed Controller
0000:00:07.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P Thunderbolt 4 PCI Express Root Port #0 (rev 02)
0000:00:07.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P Thunderbolt 4 PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev 02)
0000:00:08.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 12th Gen Core Processor Gaussian & Neural Accelerator (rev 02)
0000:00:0d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P Thunderbolt 4 USB Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:0d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P Thunderbolt 4 NHI #0 (rev 02)
0000:00:0e.0 RAID bus controller: Intel Corporation Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller
0000:00:12.0 Serial controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P Integrated Sensor Hub (rev 01)
0000:00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake PCH USB 3.2 xHCI Host Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:14.2 RAM memory: Intel Corporation Alder Lake PCH Shared SRAM (rev 01)
0000:00:14.3 Network controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P PCH CNVi WiFi (rev 01)
0000:00:15.0 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake PCH Serial IO I2C Controller #0 (rev 01)
0000:00:15.1 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake PCH Serial IO I2C Controller #1 (rev 01)
0000:00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake PCH HECI Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:16.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake AMT SOL Redirection (rev 01)
0000:00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P PCH PCIe Root Port #4 (rev 01)
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Alder Lake PCH eSPI Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Alder Lake PCH-P High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Alder Lake PCH-P SMBus Host Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:1f.5 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P PCH SPI Controller (rev 01)
0000:01:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GA107GLM [RTX A1000 Laptop GPU] (rev a1)
0000:a4:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5260 PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
10000:e0:06.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 12th Gen Core Processor PCI Express x4 Controller #0 (rev 02)
10000:e1:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: SK hynix Platinum P41/PC801 NVMe Solid State Drive

I’m not sure if that could be relevant, but just in case of, I’m also listing the output of a fastfetch:

╭─natalie-perret at natalie-perret-precision5570 in ⌁
╰─λ fastfetch                                                                                                                                           0 (1.204s) < 08:39:10
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ    natalie-perret@natalie-perret-precision5570
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ    -------------------------------------------
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ    OS: Manjaro Linux x86_64
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ    Host: Precision 5570
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ            β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ    Kernel: Linux 6.10.6-10-MANJARO
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ    Uptime: 1 day, 15 hours, 24 mins
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ    Packages: 1375 (pacman)[stable]
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ    Shell: fish 3.7.1
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ    Display (DELL P2419H): 1920x1080 @ 60 Hz in 24β€³ [External] *
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ    Display (DELL P2419H): 1920x1080 @ 60 Hz in 24β€³ [External]
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ    DE: GNOME 46.4
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ    WM: Mutter (X11)
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ    WM Theme: Custom-Accent-Colors
β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ  β–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆβ–ˆ    Theme: KvLibadwaitaMaiaDark [Qt], adw-gtk3-dark [GTK2/3/4]
                                Icons: Papirus-Dark-Maia [Qt], Papirus-Dark-Maia [GTK2/3/4]
                                Font: qt5ct [Qt], Noto Sans (11pt) [GTK2/3/4]
                                Cursor: Bibata-Modern-Classic (24px)
                                Terminal: GNOME Terminal 3.52.2
                                Terminal Font: MesloLGS NF (11pt)
                                CPU: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12800H (20) @ 4.80 GHz
                                GPU 1: NVIDIA RTX A1000 Laptop GPU
                                GPU 2: Intel Iris Xe Graphics @ 1.40 GHz [Integrated]
                                Memory: 11.71 GiB / 31.02 GiB (38%)
                                Swap: 0 B / 12.00 GiB (0%)
                                Disk (/): 75.37 GiB / 468.09 GiB (16%) - ext4
                                Local IP (enp0s20f0u1u2): 192.168.1.215/24
                                Battery: 100% [AC Connected]
                                Locale: en_US.UTF-8

pavucontrol β†’ Configuration β†’ Profile: Off

or

# get the card name
pactl list cards short | cut -f2
# switch it off
pactl set-card-profile <cardprofile> off

So you mute them? Why? Do you use only one audio device? So that one:

Reliable, but in no way convenient, is to simply disable an audio device in BIOS. This is certainly effective for all built-in audio systems, though if you have a discrete audio card, this won’t necessarily be useful.

Cheers.

For onboard audio device

To disable all inputs and outputs

pactl set-card-profile alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3 off

To disable inputs and retain outputs for speaker and headphone

pactl set-card-profile alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3 output:analog-stereo

pipewire-pulse can also use pw-cli to change card profile
Migrate PulseAudio - set-card-profile Β· Wiki Β· PipeWire

1 Like

Thanks!
I will look into it :female_detective: