How to disable system beep for non-privileged user

How to disable system beep on Linux? I don’t have superuser powers so I cannot recompile kernel/unload module.

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Method 1

For beeps generated in your shell (which seem to be the most annoying ones), add this to “~/.inputrc“:

set bell-style none

Note that this is not terminal- but host-specific. That means that when you log in to another computer via ssh where this isn’t set, the beep is back. (I tested on Fedora)

Method 2

There’s various levels at which beeps can be controlled by the user. Here’s some I’m aware of:

APPLICATION LEVEL

export LESS="$LESS"' -q' – adds -q to the default options for less so it doesn’t ring the bell (eg. when trying to scroll past the end of a file)
echo 'set bell-style none' >> ~/.inputrc – disables bell for all applications using readline (restart your terminal to see effect)

TERMINAL LEVEL

xterm -vb – enables “visual bell”, which flashes the terminal window instead of making an audible noise. You can add xterm*visualBell: true to your X resources (~/.Xdefaults) to change the default. Most terminal emulators include a similar option.

X SERVER LEVEL

xset b off – disables X server bell

MACHINE LEVEL?

alsamixer – mute or turn down the Speaker and Bell channels

In my case muting the ALSA channels didn’t help – I still got a bell sometimes from the builtin speaker (even with headphones plugged in). But disabling the X server bell got rid of it.

Method 3

Have you already unchecked “Enable system beep” in System -> Preferences -> Sound -> System Beep?

All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0

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