How to Change Volume in Windows 11 With Your Mouse Wheel

The middle wheels on computer mice are ideal for volume control. Yet, you can’t adjust the default volume control bar in Windows 11 by rolling the middle mouse wheel. Instead, you must double-click the speaker’s system tray icon and drag the volume control bar’s slider left/right.

So, you’ll need a third-party program to enable middle-mouse wheel volume control functionality in Windows 11. Volumouse and Tb-vol-scroll are freely available programs that enable such functionality. This is how to change the volume in Windows 11 by rolling your mouse’s wheel with those apps.

How to Change Volume With Volumouse

Volumouse is a NirSoft program that enables you to set custom mouse wheel rules for adjusting the volume in all Windows platforms. You can set up to 12 custom rules for adjusting 10 different components with the mouse wheel. These are the steps for changing the volume with your middle mouse wheel by installing Volumouse.

1. Open Softpedia’s Volumouse page.
2. Click Download Now and the Softpedia Mirror (US) options.
3. Press the File Explorer (folder library icon) taskbar button.
4. Go to the folder that includes your downloaded Volumouse file.
5. Double-click the volumouse_setup.exe installer.
6. Then click Next twice on Volumouse’s setup window.
7. Select Install to add the software.
8. To run Volumouse, click Start and the All apps button on that menu. Then click the NirSoft Volumouse folder, and right-click the program to select More > Run as administrator.

9. Volumouse has a default Alt key rule for changing volume with the middle mouse wheel. Hold the Alt key and then roll your mouse’s middle wheel up and down to increase and decrease the volume on the green sound indicator below.

You can set up a different rule for changing the volume with your mouse wheel. To do so, click one of the disabled Use the wheel when drop-down menus. Then select one of the numerous rules available on that drop-down menu. You can choose rules for activating the middle mouse wheel’s volume control with various key combinations, holding mouse buttons, or hovering the cursor over certain areas.

You can also select a different component for a mouse wheel rule change on its adjacent Component drop-down menu. Default playback needs to be selected there for you to adjust the volume with the middle mouse button. However, you can set the mouse wheel to change window transparency, the screen’s brightness level, or recording volume by selecting alternative options on that drop-down menu.

Volumouse has additional advanced rule options, with which you can customize the volume control bar. Click the More button for a wheel mouse rule to view those settings. You can change the color of the default on-screen volume indicator display by clicking the Choose button for the Color option. Select a different color for it on the palette.

You can also choose an alternative vertical or horizontal volume indicator from the Advanced Rule Options window. Click the Type drop-down menu, and select Vertical TrackBar or Horizontal TrackBar. Press the OK > Apply button to save the settings, and restart the Volumouse software. Then you’ll see a smaller volume indicator when scrolling the mouse wheel, like the one shown directly below.

Tb-vol-scroll enables you to increase or decrease the volume by rolling the mouse wheel with the cursor over the scrollbar. This program isn’t as customizable as Volumouse, but some users might prefer its volume control bar. It also adds an icon to the system tray that displays a percentage figure for the set volume level. You can change the volume by rolling the mouse wheel with Tb-vol-scroll like this:

1. Bring up the tb-vol-scroll page on Softpedia.
2. Click Download Now and select the US location option.
3. Next, open Explorer (see how to open File Explorer for more info) and the folder containing the tb-vol-scroll.exe file.
4. Double-click tb-vol-scroll.exe to run the program (no installation required).
5. Now move your cursor over Windows 11’s taskbar.
6. Roll the mouse wheel up to increase volume and down to lower it. You’ll see the volume control bar below when you do.

You can also change the volume with an alternative Tb-vol-scroll slider control. To do so, right-click the program’s system tray and select Volume slider control; place your cursor over the slider control shown directly below. Then roll the middle mouse button to move that volume bar’s slider left or right.

Tb-vol-scroll’s system tray icon provides a new way to mute the volume with your mouse’s middle scroll wheel. Middle-click the Tb-vol-scroll icon in the system tray with the scroll wheel button to mute the volume. Then you’ll see an M on the icon. That’s a nice feature you don’t get in Volumouse.

To change some settings, right-click Tb-vol-scroll’s system tray icon and select Options. Click Configuration on the submenu to view a two-tabbed window. The Behavior tab includes settings for adjusting the normal scroll step and precise scroll threshold percentages. You can also change how quickly the volume control closes with the Auto-hide status bar option.

The Appearance tab includes options for customizing Tb-vol-scroll’s volume status bar and system tray icon. You can increase or decrease the volume control by entering smaller or larger values in the boxes for the Status bar padding option. Click the Select button for the Status bar font setting to choose a different font and text size. You can add transparency to the volume control by dragging the Status bar opacity slider to the left.

You’ll see additional color options for the volume status bar and system tray icon when you scroll down the Appearance tab. If you prefer one color for the bar instead of a gradient, click the Status bar color option’s Solid button. Then choose a color on the palette, click OK, and press the Apply button. You can change the bar’s text and Tb-vol-scroll’s tray icon colors with the other options much the same.

Tb-vol-scroll’s Configuration window doesn’t include a setting for adding that program to the Windows startup. To do that, you’ll need to move the b-vol-scroll.exe into the Startup folder. Check out our guide for utilizing the Startup folder on Windows for further details.

Change Your PC’s Volume at the Roll of a Mouse Wheel

Now you can change the volume in Windows 11 at the roll of a mouse wheel instead of flapping around with a slider bar for speakers. Rolling the mouse wheel is a more convenient way to adjust the volume level. Volumouse and Tb-vol-scroll are decent programs with numerous customization options for enabling that kind of sound control functionality in Windows 11.