MySQL Bugs: #17088: Command line tools beep too loud on Windows

Bug #17088	Command line tools beep too loud on Windows
Submitted:	3 Feb 2006 2:40	Modified:	14 Nov 2012 7:00
Reporter:	Craig Carper	Email Updates:
Status:	Closed	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL for Windows: Installer	Severity:	S4 (Feature request)
Version:		OS:	Windows (Windows)
Assigned to:	Assigned Account	CPU Architecture:	Any

Description:
The "beep" sound produced by the mysql command line tool on my Windows laptop is startlingly loud and cannot be affected by the volume control.  The beep can be suppressed but its volume level cannot be changed.  

I like the option of hearing a beep on error, but not one that startles me and everyone else in the room.  A series of such beeps can be quite annoying.

How to repeat:
In the mysql command line too, make any error, even something as simple as typing a semi-colon and pressing enter.  On the windows platform, the beep generated can be very loud.

Suggested fix:
Hopefully there is an alternative WIndows API that can be used that respects the volume control.

the beep is just an ASCII BEL (ascii character 7) on all platforms,
and it is usually emmited using the system speaker, not the sound
card, on desktop PCs

due to the hardware implementation of the system speaker there's
no volume control whatsoever, it is just capabal of emmiting square
waves at a fixed amplitude (laptops usually map it to the soundcard
speaker though, so it becomes affected by the master volume control)

(changing to feature request)

I wish I knew how to disable the beep on Windows.  From Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services, I locate the MySQL service and try to add the --no-beep to the startup command, but Windows won't allow me to modify this command.  I have not found any useful information in the docs or on the support forums to tell me how this is done.  Do I really have to make this change using regedit?

To kill the "Beep of frustration" do a 'net stop beep' at the command line in Windows.

net stop beep worked for me ..Thanks

Not sure when it was implemented, but including -b in the command line args when starting MySQL will disable beeps on errors.

mysql client in 5.1.49 has an option:

{"no-beep", 'b', "Turn off beep on error.", &opt_nobeep,
   &opt_nobeep, 0, GET_BOOL, NO_ARG, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0},

As an aside - during a bulk data loading from text files, the beep appears to be causing mysql command line to become unresponsive for long periods when a backlog of errors occurs: I was batch inserting up to 4000 rows from each file and when I did net stop beep performance increased massively and the shell didn't hang when lots of duplicate entries threw errors.

Alex, the "no-beep" option should prevent that.  Try putting into the [mysql] pr [client] section of the my.ini/my.cnf that is used...

Actually I still think this beeping should be disabled by default.  Hence: 
http://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=57086

This beep is easily stopped. Go to hardware >> view >> Show hidden hardware >> search for beep in drivers that are not plug and play compatible   (yes really !) and disable it.

Fixed as of the MySQL Installer 1.1.5 for Windows, and here's the changelog entry:

  The "no-beep" option is now enabled by default in the bundled 
  "my.ini" configuration file.

Thank you for the bug report.