built in microphone disappeared after reboot

Question

After reboot my system cannot find the microphone device built into my laptop. I am using windows 11 Pro.

Answer 1

Hi, thank you for sharing that information. I'm glad to hear that everything is now working well.

Answer 2

None of the above worked.

I finally traced the problem to last nights Dell update which included a new version of the RealTek laptop installed microphone driver. Apparently the old driver was either not deleted or the registry not updated correctly creating multiple instances of the driver.

I finally figured this out due to the multiple instances that piled up in Device Manager when I tried again and again to install updated drivers. I was able to uninstall all but the latest version of the driver and reboot. The problem was resolved.

It did not affect the speaker drivers. The speakers work fine with the multiple driver instances. I'm not digging any further. It is over 13 years since I retired as a Windows Server administrator managing the transition from real to virtual machines.

Answer 3

Hi, I'm Bernard. I'm happy to help!

Based on your input, it seems that there is an incompatibility with the audio driver. Moreover, kindly follow the steps below for us to sort out the issue:

Method 1. Run the Audio Troubleshooter:

Press the Windows Key + R, then type in:

msdt.exe /id AudioPlaybackDiagnostic

Then hit OK and follow the prompts to run the Audio Troubleshooter.

Method 2. Roll back the Microphone driver:

-Press the Windows key + X

-Go to Device Manager

-Expand Audio inputs and Outputs

-Look for your Microphone

-Right-click and click Update Driver

-Select Browse my computer for drivers

-Click Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer

-Choose an old driver or another driver name, then select it and hit Next until it installs.

Method 3. Roll back the audio driver:

-Press the Windows key + X

-Go to Device Manager

-Expand the Sound, video and game controllers

-Look for Realtek (R) Audio or High Definition Audio

-Right-click and click Update Driver

-Select Browse my computer for drivers

-Click Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer

-Choose an old driver or another driver name, then select it and click Next until it installs.

-Restart the PC and check.

Note: If the issue persists, please download and install a Microphone and Audio driver from your manufacturer's website.

Answer 4

Try this Windows 11 path in order:

1. Check microphone privacy settings:
   • Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Microphone.
   • Turn on Microphone access.
   • Turn on Let apps access your microphone.
   • If the problem is in a specific app, make sure that app is enabled in the list.
   • Turn on Let desktop apps access your microphone.
2. Check whether Windows still sees the built-in mic as an input device:
   • Go to Start > Settings > System > Sound.
   • Under Input, look at Choose a device for speaking or recording and select the internal microphone if it appears.
   • Open the device properties by selecting > next to it, then run Start test under Microphone test and speak.
   • If the recorded sample plays back, the microphone is working.
3. Make sure the laptop mic is not muted:
   • If the laptop or headset has a physical Mute button or mic-mute key, make sure it is off.
4. Run the built-in sound troubleshooter:
   • Go to Settings > System > Sound.
   • Scroll to Advanced.
   • Under Troubleshoot common sound problems, choose Input devices.
   • For more options, select All sound devices under Advanced.
5. If the microphone does not appear at all, reinstall the audio driver:
   • Right-click Start and open Device Manager.
   • Expand Sound, video and game controllers.
   • Right-click the audio device and select Uninstall device.
   • Check the box to remove or delete the driver software for that device, then select Uninstall.
   • Repeat for other audio devices if needed.
   • Restart the PC.
   • After restart, Windows should reinstall the audio device automatically.
   • If it does not, open Device Manager, right-click Sound, video and game controllers, and select Scan for hardware changes.
   • Then right-click the audio driver and select Update driver.
6. If the mic appears but the level is too low:
   • Go to Start > Settings > System > Sound.
   • Under Input, select the microphone.
   • Under Input settings, increase the Input volume and test again.

---

• Fix microphone problems
• Fix microphone problems
• Fix microphone problems
• Fix sound or audio problems in Windows