Apple Remote Desktop Help
Index

# Setting Computer Audio Volume

You may want to standardize or otherwise configure the output volume of your computers. You could use this to silence a lab of computers all playing music, or turn up the volume on a single remote computer for a user's benefit. You can also set the alert volume separately from the output volume and input volume. Additionally you can set "output muted." Muting the volume causes the computer to remember what the previous volume level was and return to it when the sound is enabled again.

Setting computer audio volume requires the use of Apple Remote Desktop's Send UNIX Command feature, AppleScript, and the command-line tool osascript. See UNIX Shell Commands for more information. See AppleScript's StandardAdditions dictionary for information about using this tool.

1. Select a computer list in the Remote Desktop window.
2. Select one or more computers in the selected computer list.
3. Choose Manage > Send UNIX Command.
4. Use the provided Templates for Send UNIX Command to set the computer volume (see Send UNIX Command Templates for more information).
   1. Select Miscellaneous > Volume On from the Template pop-up menu.
   2. Set the desired volume level in the Send UNIX Task dialog.
5. Alternatively, manually enter the UNIX command.
   1. Type or paste the following UNIX command:
      osascript -e 'set volume output volume any_number_from_0-100'
   2. or for Mac OS X v.10.3 clients enter or paste the following:
      osascript -e 'set volume any_number_from_0-7'
6. Click Send.

For other maintenance tasks, see:

- Maintaining Systems