no sound after update

Question

have had microsoft update kb5079473 after it has installed it removes my sound drivers and when i try to use all of microsoft trouble shooting it tells me no drivers installed .but if i uninstall update then my sound drivers come straight back and there is no way of stopping it at this moment i have paused updates for 4 weeks.

thank you

Answer 1

I am glad you have resolved the problem by re-installing the drivers, many people are reporting this problem with that update, the best option may be to open the Feedback Hub app and report this to their Windows Developers there, so they may investigate the problem and provide a patch for that update.

Answer 2

KB5079473 is likely installing a newer audio driver that is incompatible with the device, which is why uninstalling the update restores sound.

Use the following steps to stabilize audio on Windows 11:

1. Reinstall or switch to the generic Windows audio driver
   1. Press Win + X → Device Manager.
   2. Expand Sound, video and game controllers.
   3. For the audio device (for example, Realtek/Intel/other):
      • Right‑click → Uninstall device.
      • Check Attempt to remove the driver for this device (or Delete the driver software for this device), then Uninstall.
   4. Restart the PC. Windows will reinstall an audio driver automatically.
   5. If sound is still broken, switch to the generic driver:
      • In Device Manager, right‑click the audio device → Update driver → Browse my computer for drivers → Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.
      • Select the High Definition Audio Device (the generic Windows driver) and finish the wizard.
2. If audio broke only after the update, roll back the audio driver
   1. Press Win + X → Device Manager.
   2. Expand Sound, video and game controllers.
   3. Right‑click the sound card/audio device → Properties.
   4. On the Driver tab, select Roll Back Driver and follow the prompts.
   5. Test audio. This uses the previous working driver even if the Windows update is installed.
3. If needed, restore from a system restore point created before the update
   • Windows creates a restore point when installing updates. Restoring to that point can revert both the update and the problematic driver. For detailed steps, see "Restore from a system restore point" in Recovery options in Windows.
4. Install the latest OEM audio driver and then re‑apply updates
   • Visit the PC or motherboard manufacturer’s support site and install the latest Windows 11 audio driver for the exact model.
   • After installing and confirming sound works, resume Windows Update and install all updates again. If the OEM driver is newer or better matched, it often prevents the bad driver from being pushed.

If the update continues to force an incompatible Realtek (or other) driver, keeping the generic High Definition Audio Device driver selected has been reported to resolve popping/no‑sound issues after Windows 11 updates.

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References:

• Fix sound or audio problems in Windows
• Audio issues after win11 25h2 update - Microsoft Q&A
• No audio with Windows 11 - Microsoft Q&A
• My audio inputs and outputs suddenly disappeared, how do i fix this? - Microsoft Q&A