Microphone not working on Windows 11? How to fix it

Test your microphone first

Open the mic test, press Start and speak. The result tells you where to look:

• Access is blocked: Windows or your browser is stopping apps from using the microphone. Start with fix 1, then fix 8.
• No sound detected: the microphone is reachable but silent. Fixes 2, 3, 5 and 10 are the usual answers.
• Quiet: the microphone works but the level is low. Go to fix 3 and fix 5.
• Working, but people still can't hear you in a call: the app is using another microphone. Go to fix 9.

1. Turn on microphone access

Windows 11 has three switches that decide which apps may use the microphone. If any of them is off, apps get silence or an error, even though the microphone itself is fine.

1. Open Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone.
2. Turn on Microphone access.
3. Turn on Let apps access your microphone, and check the app you need in the list below it.
4. Turn on Let desktop apps access your microphone. Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Zoom, Discord and most other programs you install count as desktop apps.

If a switch is grayed out, your organization manages the computer. Ask your IT department to allow the microphone.

2. Choose the right input device

Windows records from one input device at a time. If you plugged in a headset, a webcam or a USB microphone, Windows may still be using another microphone, or the one built into a monitor or webcam.

1. Open Settings → System → Sound.
2. Under Input, choose your microphone in Choose a device for speaking or recording.
3. Select the microphone to open its properties. If the page offers to allow audio for this device, allow it: a device that isn't allowed stays silent for every app.

3. Check the input volume and test it

An input volume at or near zero makes a working microphone look dead.

1. In Settings → System → Sound, select your microphone under Input.
2. Drag Input volume to around 75 to start with.
3. Next to Test your microphone, select Start test and speak for a few seconds. Windows shows the level it heard as a percentage.

If the level stays at or near 0 while you speak, the problem is before the app: the device, its driver or a mute switch. If it moves, Windows hears you, and the problem is in the app or its settings.

4. Run the audio troubleshooter

Windows can check for common problems by itself. Open Settings → System → Sound, scroll to Advanced and select Troubleshoot common sound problems, then Input devices. On recent versions of Windows 11, this opens the audio troubleshooter in the Get Help app. Follow its steps and let it apply any fix it suggests.

5. Check the level, boost and exclusive mode

The classic Sound control panel still holds a few settings the new Settings app doesn't show.

1. Open Settings → System → Sound → More sound settings and go to the Recording tab.
2. If your microphone isn't listed, right-click the empty space, choose Show Disabled Devices, then right-click the microphone and choose Enable.
3. Select your microphone, then Properties. On the Levels tab, raise the microphone level, and make sure the microphone isn't muted there. Some devices also show a boost slider; a little boost helps a quiet microphone, too much adds hiss.
4. On the Advanced tab, clear Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device, then select OK.

Exclusive mode lets one app take the microphone for itself. While it holds the microphone, every other app gets nothing, or an error that the device is in use.

6. Update or reinstall the driver

A damaged or outdated driver can make a microphone disappear or record only silence.

1. Right-click the Start button and choose Device Manager.
2. Expand Audio inputs and outputs, right-click your microphone and choose Update driver, then Search automatically for drivers.
3. If that finds nothing, right-click the microphone again, choose Uninstall device, and restart the computer. Windows installs the driver again when it starts.
4. Check Settings → Windows Update → Advanced options → Optional updates for audio driver updates, and the support page of your computer's maker for its latest audio driver.

7. Bluetooth headsets: use the hands-free device

Many Bluetooth headsets show up in Windows as two devices: one for listening in high quality, and a hands-free one that also carries the microphone. The microphone works only through the hands-free device.

1. Check that the headset is connected in Settings → Bluetooth & devices.
2. In Settings → System → Sound, under Input, choose the entry for your headset marked Hands-Free or Headset.

While the microphone is in use, the sound you hear gets thinner. That is how classic Bluetooth works, not a fault. For better sound in calls, use a wired or USB headset, or the computer's own microphone with the Bluetooth headphones.

8. Allow the microphone in your browser

Browsers ask for each website separately, and remember a no. If you once blocked a site, it keeps getting silence.

• Chrome and Edge: click the icon at the left end of the address bar, find Microphone and set it to Allow, then reload the page. To see every site's setting and the microphone the browser uses by default, open chrome://settings/content/microphone in Chrome or edge://settings/content/microphone in Edge.
• Firefox: click the permissions icon at the left end of the address bar and remove the block on the microphone, then reload the page.

The browser also needs the Windows switches from fix 1, including Let desktop apps access your microphone.

9. Pick the microphone in your meeting app

Meeting apps keep their own microphone setting, and it doesn't always follow the Windows default.

• Zoom: open Settings → Audio, choose your microphone and use Test Mic.
• Microsoft Teams: open Settings → Devices, choose your microphone, and make a test call.
• Discord: open User Settings → Voice & Video, set Input Device, and use the microphone test on that page.
• Google Meet: in a meeting, open the settings from the three-dot menu, choose Audio and pick your microphone.

Close other apps that may be holding the microphone, such as a second meeting app, a game chat program or recording software, then restart the app you need.

10. Check the hardware

• Mute switches: many headsets have a mute switch on the cable or the ear cup, or mute when you flip the microphone arm up. Many laptops have a microphone mute key, often with a small light.
• Jacks: on a desktop computer, the microphone plug goes into the pink socket. A single combined headset socket on a laptop needs a headset plug with four contacts, or a splitter for a headset with two plugs.
• USB: plug the microphone straight into the computer rather than a hub or a monitor, and try another port.
• Another device: try the microphone on another computer or phone, and another microphone on this computer. That shows whether the fault is in the microphone or in this computer.

Still not working?

Restart the computer and install any waiting updates in Settings → Windows Update. If the microphone fails on every computer you try, it is likely faulty: check the maker's warranty or your retailer's return policy. If it works everywhere except this computer, contact your computer maker's support. In both cases, run the mic test again and copy its report into your message: it lists the device, its level and settings, and your browser and system.