Right click on speaker icon in taskbar. Select "Sound settings". In Advanced section, you will find troubleshooter. Select Output devices. Follow instructions.
How to resolve earphones not detected as output device in Windows 11?
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(67.2, 44%, 16%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EM%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Mire
35
Reputation points
Earphones are connected to a laptop running Windows 11, but they are not recognized as an output device. The sound settings show the earphones as "disconnected," and the option to "set as default" is grayed out. Efforts to uninstall and reinstall the audio driver have been made, but the earphones are still only recognized as an input device, with sound continuing to play through the laptop speakers.
Windows for home | Windows 11 | Devices and drivers
4 answers
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ppavle 5,280 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator2025-07-16T18:19:58.5766667+00:00 -
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(38.4, 95%, 13%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EKC%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Karthikeyan Chandrasekaran 0 Reputation points2025-07-22T03:56:04.5333333+00:00 This is not helpful as the Troubleshooter gave me this article for an answer and that answer is to use Troubleshooter :(
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ppavle 5,280 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2025-07-22T08:19:30.3833333+00:00 When you start troubleshooter, don't go to the bottom of the page with "more help". Click on "Yes" to give consent to run automated diagnostics. Follow the instructions there please.
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![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(220.8, 55.00000000000001%, 31%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ELB%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
linda banks 0 Reputation points2025-11-21T16:54:24.7566667+00:00 followed instructions but still will not work
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![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(3.2, 95%, 10%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ERV%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
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![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(3.2, 28.999999999999996%, 10%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ERB%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Romona Bethany 0 Reputation points2026-04-06T15:34:00.38+00:00 I agree with all others who say they have followed these instructions, but it yields no results. My bigger frustration is that this happened after I've already had the headset connected to my work computer for at lest 2-3 weeks prior. Now they refuse to connect. Furthermore, when I do an output sound test, I can hear the test sound through the headset. Nevertheless, the sound is still coming from speakers during a virtual meeting or while attempting to watch a video privately at my work computer. Sound will not come through to my wireless headset.
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Robert Voorspoels 0 Reputation points
2026-01-20T20:09:13.25+00:00 Till now I followed every instruction, but nothing solved the problem. My earphones work great on smartphone's and sometimes visibel but doesn't connect. The problem is weird.
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ppavle 5,280 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2026-01-20T20:49:55.0366667+00:00 It is. Do you have a chance to try it on another PC? Are they USB or Blutetooth? What is the model?
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![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(288, 61%, 37%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EGA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Gaurav, Ashish 0 Reputation points2026-01-24T17:49:00.8366667+00:00 I am facing same problem, no matter what i do, the bluetooth device is not recognized for output..it only uses speaker..while my bluetooth headphones connect to all other devices. Tried different bluetooth headsets those also don't work..so problem is with the laptop. I have microsoft surface laptop.
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Gaurav, Ashish 0 Reputation points
2026-01-24T17:51:33.0266667+00:00 Here is the screenshot..bluetooth device shows up in Input but not in output..i tried to remove device pair it again from output device but it does not work
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Robert Voorspoels 0 Reputation points
2026-01-20T20:04:56.6033333+00:00 I followed the instructions but nothing came out of it. My earphone isn't recognized