· On my PC running Windows 11 the Audio Device connected to my PC is not showing up. To determine if the issue was related to my firewall I turned the Private Network Settings off and my Audio Device showed up. So this seems to indicate the issue lies with my firewall despite the fact that I haven't done a thing to my firewall and it was working previously. However, in looking at all the allowed apps and features listed everything looked good to me, with the exception that I didn't see roonbridge.exe listed. I tried searching for it on my C:Drive and nothing came up. I do see raatserver.exe, roon.exe, and roonappliance.exe listed and they have both the Private and Public boxes checked.
Tell us about your home network
· I don't use VPN. Router is a LINKYS 06454. My audio device is a Benchmark DAC3 HGC connected directly to my PC. My antivirus software is Malwarebytes.
This issue has happened multiple times before, but restarting my PC always took care of it. I did that this time too, but it didn’t fix the issue. After doing the troubleshooting above, I decided to restart one more time and it worked this time - I can now see the missing Audio Zone. This raises the question - why does my audio zone keep dropping like this? It’s a hassle restarting my computer every time I go to listen to music.
Thanks for writing in and for sharing your report - I’m sorry to hear you’re experiencing this each time you’re ready for a listening session.
Based on what you’ve shared so far, it sounds like Roon’s audio driver or service isn’t starting reliably on boot/wake. When your firewall blocks it, the audio zone disappears, but the firewall itself probably isn’t the root cause.
Roon Bridge is a separate application from Roon itself. If it’s not on your C: drive, you likely never installed it, and you may not need to. Since your Benchmark DAC3 is connected directly to your PC, Roon should be handling it through the main Roon app (not Bridge). Bridge is only needed on remote devices. So that’s not your problem.
What to try to stop this from recurring:
Check if you have ‘launch at startup’ enabled - if not, enable it and see if it helps.
Check Roon's audio exclusive mode setting: In Roon Settings → Audio, click the gear on your Benchmark DAC3 zone and look at the Device Setup. If "Exclusive Mode" is on, try toggling it off. Exclusive mode can cause the zone to go missing if another process briefly touches the audio device first.
Check Windows audio service startup: Press Win+R, type services.msc, and find Windows Audio and Windows Audio Endpoint Builder. Make sure both are set to Automatic startup, not Manual. If Roon starts before these services are ready, it won't see the device.
Malwarebytes check: Malwarebytes can sometimes interfere with app behavior in ways that don't show up in obvious firewall logs. Try temporarily disabling it and using Roon for a session to see if the zone stays stable. If it does, add Roon's executable folder to Malwarebytes' exclusions.
Check Windows Event Viewer — The next time the zone drops (before restarting), open Event Viewer (Win+R → eventvwr) and look under Windows Logs → Application for any Roon-related errors. This can pinpoint whether it's a crash, a timeout, or a service conflict.
We’ve also seen some users add a Roon startup delay. Some users fix this by creating a scheduled task that launches Roon 30–60 seconds after login, giving Windows audio services time to fully initialize first.
Let me know if any of the above help, thanks @moredins!
Thanks for the quick response Benjamin. 1) I checked launch at startup and it was enabled. 2) Roon’s exclusive mode was enabled; I disabled it. 3) Windows Audio & Windows Audio Endpoint Builder were both set to Automatic already 4) I will try this and see if it helps. I’ll have to figure out how to add Roon’s executable folder to Malwarebytes’ exclusions (I’m not technically inclined at all) 5) Will check this step next time it happens.
Thank you for those updates! Since you mentioned you aren’t very “technically inclined,” I want to clarify one important thing about why the firewall matters here, even for a DAC plugged directly into your PC.
Roon uses a networking protocol called RAAT to talk to your audio devices. Even when the device is connected via USB to the same computer, Roon still “talks” to it over a virtual internal network connection (using the address 127.0.0.1). If a security program like Malwarebytes or the Windows Firewall blocks this internal “handshake,” the audio zone will disappear, even if the cable is perfectly fine.
To ensure this doesn’t keep happening, you should add the following two processes to the Exclusions (sometimes called “Allow list” or “Exceptions”) in Malwarebytes:
Roon.exe
RAATServer.exe
You can usually find these in this folder: C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Local\Roon\Application
By adding these as exclusions, you’re telling Malwarebytes: “This app is safe, don’t monitor or block its internal network traffic.” This is much more reliable than restarting the PC and hoping the service “beats” the firewall during the boot sequence.
Please try adding those exclusions and let us know if the Benchmark DAC remains stable over the next few days!
I haven’t had any issues since turning off Exclusive Mode as suggested by Benjamin. Not sure if there are any downsides to turning it off, but everything seems to be working as it should.
At your suggestion I opened up Malwarebytes and went to the Windows Firewall Section and then clicked on the Rules tab. These entries look more like activity than rules to me.
I see a bunch of lines here and when I scroll down I see multiple entries for raatserver.exe. Under the Direction column all say Inbound. In the Network column, some entries say Public and some say Private. And in the Action column some say Allow and some say Block.
Further down I also see entries for roon.exe Inbound, but under the Action column all say Allow.
I went ahead and created a rule for both raatserver.exe and roon.exe to Allow all Inbound. For network I checked Domain, Local, Private
Glad to hear it’s been stable since turning off Exclusive Mode and updating those firewall rules. We’ll go ahead and mark this thread for closure. Enjoy your Roon experience!
This thread has been reopened as per your request, can you please let us know the current status in as much detail as you can? Are you still using Private network mode, no Public? I have sometimes seen this revert after a Windows update:
I have no idea how, but after hours of playing around rebooting Roon, my Server, and my PC multiple times the audio zone I employ to play my PC desktop system showed up. The audio zones pertaining to my Macbook also showed up briefly, but then disappeared again.
I also have a Macbook and have no issues with it. When I look at the audio zones on my Macbook I see them all. I should be able to see the Audio Zones on my Macbook, while on my PC, but I cannot so this definitely seems like a Windows related issue.
I followed the instructions you sent above about how to change the network profile type on Windows 11. Under Settings>Network & Internet>Ethernet, the Network Profile Type is Private as you say it should be.
However, when I look under Settings>Network & Internet>Wi-Fi>Manage Known Networks, no networks are shown. When I click on Add Network no networks are shown and it asks for a Network Name. I would think in order for Roon on my PC to ‘see’ Roon on my Macbook I would need to have a Wi-Fi Network designated here. I have a Wi-Fi network obviously, but don’t know the name of it or how to add it here. Do you think this may be part of my issue?
But going back to the main reason for reopening this ticket, which is not being able to see Roon audio zones on my PC, it sure seems like a Firewall issue. Every time I disabled the firewall via Malwarebytes the audio zones on my PC would show up and then disappear when I enabled it again. What caused the audio zone to all of a sudden show up much later with the Firewall engaged makes no sense to me.
One more thing…I see Windows is going to update sometime in the next 24 hrs (Currently 5/27 11:00 AM PDT) so it will be interesting to see what happens.
So the Windows update mentioned above went through last night. I opened Roon this morning and all my Audio Zones are now showing up on my PC…even those on my Macbook which weren’t there yesterday. So I guess this ticket can technically be considered closed, but I have a feeling this isn’t resolved since it has cleared up before and come back. At least now I have a checklist of settings I can check. Has anyone else had a similar issue, or am I the only one?
Since my last post I can no longer see the Audio Zones related to my Macbook. There were no Windows updates/reboots. Roon was open the whole time just sitting there and when I looked today they were gone. Any Ideas???
Since you’re running macOS, the behavior you’re seeing is consistent with the newer, stricter Local Network permission controls in the recent macOS releases.
Please try the following steps:
Open macOS System Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network
Make sure Roon and Roon Server are both enabled
Even if they are already enabled, please toggle them off and back on
Fully quit Roon Server from the macOS menu bar / task bar
Reboot your Mac
After reboot, launch Roon again and check if the devices is avaliable again.
Once these permissions are refreshed and the system restarted, your audio devices should reappear.
Please let us know if the issue persists after these steps, and we’ll continue from there.
When I go to macOS System Settings>Privacy & Security>Local Network I see Roon, but I do not see Roon Server. I also do not see Roon Server on the macOS menu/task bar.
