The mic might not be set as the default sound input device. You can access it from Control Panel>Hardware and Sound. It really depends on what drivers are installed and who the manufacturer of your system is. The audio app might be a Dell app or a Realtek app.

Follow through the steps and set up the mic.Ĭheck any audio managers that are installed on your system to see if the mic is disabled.

Under Speech Recognition, click Set up a Microphone.

Some mics, particularly stand-alone ones, need to be set up. If it is, turn it on, and the mic should start working. Some headphones that come with a mic or stand alone mics have an On/Off switch.

Select any virtual audio devices that are listed there, right-click it, and select ‘ Disable.’.

Visit both the Playback and Recording tabs.

If you have a virtual audio device installed, it might be interfering with the mic.

Tap the Win+R keyboard shortcut to open the run box.Īccept any fixes that it recommends, and restart your PC.

To run the general Hardware and devices troubleshooter

Look for and run the Playing audio troubleshooter.

Go to the Update and Security group of settings.

You can try running it, as well as the general Hardware and devices troubleshooter to fix your mic problems. Windows 10 has a built-in troubleshooter for audio playback. If the above fixes haven’t enabled the mic on your system, and it still isn’t working, try the following.

Scroll down the list of apps and check if the app you want to use the mic with has access to it.

It’s possible that your mic is working perfectly, but you’ve disabled access to it in certain apps, or you’ve muted it. To check mic access for apps

Expand the Sound inputs and outputs group of devices.

You will have to go through the Device Manager to do the job. If the mic has been disabled from the Device Manager, you won’t be able to enable it from the Control Panel or the Settings app.

If the mic isn’t there, right-click where the devices are listed on the Recording tab and enable the option to show disconnected and disabled devices, and then enable it.ģ.

Right-click your mic, and select ‘ Enable‘ from the context menu.

The mic might have to be enabled or connected before it can be turned on.

If the Microphone is turned off, click the Change button and turn it on.Ģ.Tap the Start button on the taskbar, and from the Start menu, select Settings i.e., the cogwheel button.The Mic can be turned off from the Settings app, and it’s easy to turn back on. There may be two reasons why the mic isn’t working it needs to be enabled, or it’s not working. If you’ve disabled the mic and want to re-enable it, it’s really easy to do.

Enable input audio