diff --git a/Lib/test/check_soundcard.vbs b/Lib/test/check_soundcard.vbs
deleted file mode 100644
index 8c21852..0000000
--- a/Lib/test/check_soundcard.vbs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-rem Check for a working sound-card - exit with 0 if OK, 1 otherwise.
-set wmi = GetObject("winmgmts:")
-set scs = wmi.InstancesOf("win32_sounddevice")
-for each sc in scs
-   set status = sc.Properties_("Status")
-   wscript.Echo(sc.Properties_("Name") + "/" + status)
-   if status = "OK" then
-       wscript.Quit 0 rem normal exit
-   end if
-next
-rem No sound card found - exit with status code of 1
-wscript.Quit 1
-
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_winsound.py b/Lib/test/test_winsound.py
index c94a4dc..c3725ef 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_winsound.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_winsound.py
@@ -1,42 +1,41 @@
 # Ridiculously simple test of the winsound module for Windows.
 
-import unittest
-from test import test_support
-test_support.requires('audio')
-import time
+from __future__ import print_function
+
+import functools
 import os
 import subprocess
+import time
+import unittest
 
-winsound = test_support.import_module('winsound')
-ctypes = test_support.import_module('ctypes')
-import _winreg
+from test import test_support as support
 
-def has_sound(sound):
-    """Find out if a particular event is configured with a default sound"""
-    try:
-        # Ask the mixer API for the number of devices it knows about.
-        # When there are no devices, PlaySound will fail.
-        if ctypes.windll.winmm.mixerGetNumDevs() is 0:
-            return False
+support.requires('audio')
+winsound = support.import_module('winsound')
 
-        key = _winreg.OpenKeyEx(_winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
-                "AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\{0}\.Default".format(sound))
-        value = _winreg.EnumValue(key, 0)[1]
-        if value is not u"":
-            return True
+# Unless we actually have an ear in the room, we have no idea whether a sound
+# actually plays, and it's incredibly flaky trying to figure out if a sound
+# even *should* play.  Instead of guessing, just call the function and assume
+# it either passed or raised the RuntimeError we expect in case of failure.
+def sound_func(func):
+    @functools.wraps(func)
+    def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
+        try:
+            ret = func(*args, **kwargs)
+        except RuntimeError as e:
+            if support.verbose:
+                print(func.__name__, 'failed:', e)
         else:
-            return False
-    except WindowsError:
-        return False
+            if support.verbose:
+                print(func.__name__, 'returned')
+            return ret
+    return wrapper
+
+safe_Beep = sound_func(winsound.Beep)
+safe_MessageBeep = sound_func(winsound.MessageBeep)
+safe_PlaySound = sound_func(winsound.PlaySound)
 
 class BeepTest(unittest.TestCase):
-    # As with PlaySoundTest, incorporate the _have_soundcard() check
-    # into our test methods.  If there's no audio device present,
-    # winsound.Beep returns 0 and GetLastError() returns 127, which
-    # is: ERROR_PROC_NOT_FOUND ("The specified procedure could not
-    # be found").  (FWIW, virtual/Hyper-V systems fall under this
-    # scenario as they have no sound devices whatsoever  (not even
-    # a legacy Beep device).)
 
     def test_errors(self):
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, winsound.Beep)
@@ -44,27 +43,13 @@
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, winsound.Beep, 32768, 75)
 
     def test_extremes(self):
-        self._beep(37, 75)
-        self._beep(32767, 75)
+        safe_Beep(37, 75)
+        safe_Beep(32767, 75)
 
     def test_increasingfrequency(self):
         for i in xrange(100, 2000, 100):
-            self._beep(i, 75)
+            safe_Beep(i, 75)
 
-    def _beep(self, *args):
-        # these tests used to use _have_soundcard(), but it's quite
-        # possible to have a soundcard, and yet have the beep driver
-        # disabled. So basically, we have no way of knowing whether
-        # a beep should be produced or not, so currently if these
-        # tests fail we're ignoring them
-        #
-        # XXX the right fix for this is to define something like
-        # _have_enabled_beep_driver() and use that instead of the
-        # try/except below
-        try:
-            winsound.Beep(*args)
-        except RuntimeError:
-            pass
 
 class MessageBeepTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
@@ -74,22 +59,22 @@
     def test_default(self):
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, winsound.MessageBeep, "bad")
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, winsound.MessageBeep, 42, 42)
-        winsound.MessageBeep()
+        safe_MessageBeep()
 
     def test_ok(self):
-        winsound.MessageBeep(winsound.MB_OK)
+        safe_MessageBeep(winsound.MB_OK)
 
     def test_asterisk(self):
-        winsound.MessageBeep(winsound.MB_ICONASTERISK)
+        safe_MessageBeep(winsound.MB_ICONASTERISK)
 
     def test_exclamation(self):
-        winsound.MessageBeep(winsound.MB_ICONEXCLAMATION)
+        safe_MessageBeep(winsound.MB_ICONEXCLAMATION)
 
     def test_hand(self):
-        winsound.MessageBeep(winsound.MB_ICONHAND)
+        safe_MessageBeep(winsound.MB_ICONHAND)
 
     def test_question(self):
-        winsound.MessageBeep(winsound.MB_ICONQUESTION)
+        safe_MessageBeep(winsound.MB_ICONQUESTION)
 
 
 class PlaySoundTest(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -103,151 +88,38 @@
             "none", winsound.SND_ASYNC | winsound.SND_MEMORY
         )
 
-    @unittest.skipUnless(has_sound("SystemAsterisk"), "No default SystemAsterisk")
-    def test_alias_asterisk(self):
-        if _have_soundcard():
-            winsound.PlaySound('SystemAsterisk', winsound.SND_ALIAS)
-        else:
-            self.assertRaises(
-                RuntimeError,
-                winsound.PlaySound,
-                'SystemAsterisk', winsound.SND_ALIAS
-            )
-
-    @unittest.skipUnless(has_sound("SystemExclamation"), "No default SystemExclamation")
-    def test_alias_exclamation(self):
-        if _have_soundcard():
-            winsound.PlaySound('SystemExclamation', winsound.SND_ALIAS)
-        else:
-            self.assertRaises(
-                RuntimeError,
-                winsound.PlaySound,
-                'SystemExclamation', winsound.SND_ALIAS
-            )
-
-    @unittest.skipUnless(has_sound("SystemExit"), "No default SystemExit")
-    def test_alias_exit(self):
-        if _have_soundcard():
-            winsound.PlaySound('SystemExit', winsound.SND_ALIAS)
-        else:
-            self.assertRaises(
-                RuntimeError,
-                winsound.PlaySound,
-                'SystemExit', winsound.SND_ALIAS
-            )
-
-    @unittest.skipUnless(has_sound("SystemHand"), "No default SystemHand")
-    def test_alias_hand(self):
-        if _have_soundcard():
-            winsound.PlaySound('SystemHand', winsound.SND_ALIAS)
-        else:
-            self.assertRaises(
-                RuntimeError,
-                winsound.PlaySound,
-                'SystemHand', winsound.SND_ALIAS
-            )
-
-    @unittest.skipUnless(has_sound("SystemQuestion"), "No default SystemQuestion")
-    def test_alias_question(self):
-        if _have_soundcard():
-            winsound.PlaySound('SystemQuestion', winsound.SND_ALIAS)
-        else:
-            self.assertRaises(
-                RuntimeError,
-                winsound.PlaySound,
-                'SystemQuestion', winsound.SND_ALIAS
-            )
+    def test_aliases(self):
+        aliases = [
+            "SystemAsterisk",
+            "SystemExclamation",
+            "SystemExit",
+            "SystemHand",
+            "SystemQuestion",
+        ]
+        for alias in aliases:
+            safe_PlaySound(alias, winsound.SND_ALIAS)
 
     def test_alias_fallback(self):
-        # In the absence of the ability to tell if a sound was actually
-        # played, this test has two acceptable outcomes: success (no error,
-        # sound was theoretically played; although as issue #19987 shows
-        # a box without a soundcard can "succeed") or RuntimeError.  Any
-        # other error is a failure.
-        try:
-            winsound.PlaySound('!"$%&/(#+*', winsound.SND_ALIAS)
-        except RuntimeError:
-            pass
+        safe_PlaySound('!"$%&/(#+*', winsound.SND_ALIAS)
 
     def test_alias_nofallback(self):
-        if _have_soundcard():
-            # Note that this is not the same as asserting RuntimeError
-            # will get raised:  you cannot convert this to
-            # self.assertRaises(...) form.  The attempt may or may not
-            # raise RuntimeError, but it shouldn't raise anything other
-            # than RuntimeError, and that's all we're trying to test
-            # here.  The MS docs aren't clear about whether the SDK
-            # PlaySound() with SND_ALIAS and SND_NODEFAULT will return
-            # True or False when the alias is unknown.  On Tim's WinXP
-            # box today, it returns True (no exception is raised).  What
-            # we'd really like to test is that no sound is played, but
-            # that requires first wiring an eardrum class into unittest
-            # <wink>.
-            try:
-                winsound.PlaySound(
-                    '!"$%&/(#+*',
-                    winsound.SND_ALIAS | winsound.SND_NODEFAULT
-                )
-            except RuntimeError:
-                pass
-        else:
-            self.assertRaises(
-                RuntimeError,
-                winsound.PlaySound,
-                '!"$%&/(#+*', winsound.SND_ALIAS | winsound.SND_NODEFAULT
-            )
+        safe_PlaySound('!"$%&/(#+*', winsound.SND_ALIAS | winsound.SND_NODEFAULT)
 
     def test_stopasync(self):
-        if _have_soundcard():
-            winsound.PlaySound(
-                'SystemQuestion',
-                winsound.SND_ALIAS | winsound.SND_ASYNC | winsound.SND_LOOP
-            )
-            time.sleep(0.5)
-            try:
-                winsound.PlaySound(
-                    'SystemQuestion',
-                    winsound.SND_ALIAS | winsound.SND_NOSTOP
-                )
-            except RuntimeError:
-                pass
-            else: # the first sound might already be finished
-                pass
-            winsound.PlaySound(None, winsound.SND_PURGE)
-        else:
-            # Issue 8367: PlaySound(None, winsound.SND_PURGE)
-            # does not raise on systems without a sound card.
-            pass
-
-
-def _get_cscript_path():
-    """Return the full path to cscript.exe or None."""
-    for dir in os.environ.get("PATH", "").split(os.pathsep):
-        cscript_path = os.path.join(dir, "cscript.exe")
-        if os.path.exists(cscript_path):
-            return cscript_path
-
-__have_soundcard_cache = None
-def _have_soundcard():
-    """Return True iff this computer has a soundcard."""
-    global __have_soundcard_cache
-    if __have_soundcard_cache is None:
-        cscript_path = _get_cscript_path()
-        if cscript_path is None:
-            # Could not find cscript.exe to run our VBScript helper. Default
-            # to True: most computers these days *do* have a soundcard.
-            return True
-
-        check_script = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),
-                                    "check_soundcard.vbs")
-        p = subprocess.Popen([cscript_path, check_script],
-                             stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
-        __have_soundcard_cache = not p.wait()
-    return __have_soundcard_cache
+        safe_PlaySound(
+            'SystemQuestion',
+            winsound.SND_ALIAS | winsound.SND_ASYNC | winsound.SND_LOOP
+        )
+        time.sleep(0.5)
+        safe_PlaySound('SystemQuestion', winsound.SND_ALIAS | winsound.SND_NOSTOP)
+        # Issue 8367: PlaySound(None, winsound.SND_PURGE)
+        # does not raise on systems without a sound card.
+        winsound.PlaySound(None, winsound.SND_PURGE)
 
 
 def test_main():
-    test_support.run_unittest(BeepTest, MessageBeepTest, PlaySoundTest)
+    support.run_unittest(BeepTest, MessageBeepTest, PlaySoundTest)
+
 
 if __name__=="__main__":
     test_main()