Roon core on a pc some issues

Does the Roon application have to be running all the time for remotes to access the Roon interface? And…why do I lose audio to my sound card on that computer when Roon is running?

Yes as it’s server based software, so you need to keep it running.
You probably have roon in Exclusive mode, which makes the application in focus have exclusive use of the audio.
Look in roon settings audio to take it out if that mode.

Best to post in the support category in future for your post to be seen by official roon support.

ok thanks I don’ see any tab or check box or any mention of Exclusive mode in the Roon>Settings>Audio page

Apologies I’m not near my roon setup.
It’s on the device setting. The roon knowledge base is your friend, fully searchable via Google in a browser.

Hi @Mark_McKelvey,

Yes, the Roon application does have to be running, but if you don’t always want the Roon UI up you can use RoonServer.

Can you share screenshots of Device Setup for the device you’re using? It’s likely that this device is in Exclusive Mode which means other sources can’t play to that output.

Two of the devices did have exclusive mode settings but both were already set to off. I disabled those sound card output/drivers and now I have sound from my PC sound card although not from Roon. I’m looking into maybe setting up a ROCK eventually. I think that would be the most powerful set up.

Hi @Mark_McKelvey,

Can you please share a screenshot of your Roon Settings -> Audio tab? Do any zones work properly in Roon?

If you are using a Windows PC, I would verify that both Roon.exe and RAATServer.exe have been added as exceptions to your Windows firewall.

You can use these instructions to add the exceptions and the executables themselves would be located in your Database Location/Application folder path.

I would also add these exceptions to any Antivirus or other Firewall blocking applications you may have and ensure that you connected to your network via a Private network, not a Public one, see this guide for more information.

I guess I should have been more specific. I solved my issue of losing audio on my pc when Roon is running. I never had any other issues with other outputs such as my Bluesound Vault 2 or my Sonus system. Those outputs have worked ok from the get go.It should be noted that I searched on the site for “exclusive mode” and never found what I was looking for. Several times in fact. Someone posted a link to that info though and that made it clear to me what where and how it works So maybe documentation needs some fine-tuning ?

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Use Google for searches, the roon site is fully indexed.

Hi @Mark_McKelvey,

Can you share some more details on how you resolved the issue in case it helps others facing similar symtpoms?

We have a pretty extensive (and searchable) Knowledge Base, I have linked it below:

When I installed the Roon Core on my pc it found all the available endpoints which included 6 on the pc all sound card related. I disabled all six as I’m not using the pc sound card as an endpoint but would still like to use the sound for youtube ect. I enabled the ASIO one (XONAR (64) ASIO) and then I could use it again. It was a little confusing trying to figure out what each of the six did or if in fact they do anything related to sound output. I’m guessing it was all the drivers for the card? At any rate it’s good now and will be completely moot as I ordered an Intel NUC to use as a Roon Rock.

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Hi @Mark_McKelvey,

Thanks for letting us know the resolution!

ROCK is a fantastic choice for a Roon Core, we have quite a bit of documentation on this as well:


You may have seen these articles already, but if you run into any issues with the setup, just let us know!

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