If your microphone can’t pick up your voice even though the computer recognizes that it’s plugged in, you can try using the microphone on your phone to check if it’s a hardware problem. If your microphone works on your phone but not on your computer, you can try the methods below to fix the problem.
fix microphone problems
- update your audio driver
- set your microphone as your default device
- allow apps to access your microphone (windows 10)
- check your game settings
- check for windows updates
method 1: update your audio driver
A missing or outdated audio driver may prevent the microphone from picking up your voice. make sure your pc’s audio driver is up to date.
Reading: Headphone mic not picking up sound
There are two ways to update your audio driver: manually and automatically.
manual driver update: You can update your audio driver manually by going to the manufacturer’s website and searching for the latest correct driver. make sure you choose the driver that is compatible with your exact model of audio device and your version of windows.
Automatic driver update: If you don’t have the time, patience, or computer skills to update your audio driver manually, you can do it automatically with strong driver easy.
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driver easy will automatically recognize your system and find the correct drivers for it. you don’t need to know exactly what system your computer is running, you don’t need to worry about the wrong driver you’d be downloading, and you don’t need to worry about making a mistake when installing. driver easy handles it all.
- Download and install Driver Easy.
- Run Driver Easy and click Scan Now. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.
- Click the Update button next to your audio device to automatically download the correct version of its driver, then you can manually install it (you can do this with the FREE version).
Or click Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system. (This requires the Pro version which comes with full support and a 30-day money back guarantee. You’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All.)
Note: If you need assistance, please contact Driver Easy’s support team at [email protected].
Then you can use the built-in speech recognition tool to test your microphone:
- In the Windows search box, type Speech Recognition and click the matching result.
- Click Set up microphone, and follow the Microphone Setup Wizard.
- When you reach “Adjust the microphone volume”, please note if the volume bar moves from yellow to red.
- Is the Setup wizard complete? If your microphone works properly, congratulations! If not, you can follow Method 2 below to check your audio settings.
method 2: set your microphone as your default device
You can follow the steps below to check if your microphone is the default device on your computer (make sure your audio driver is up to date):
- Right-click the volume icon in the bottom-right part of your screen, then select Sounds.
-
Click the Recording tab.
Note: You can try speaking into your microphone to test if it’s working properly. If it is, you should see a green bar rising next to it while you talk:
- Right click on and disable every other input device except the one you want to use. (If you have any other output devices, repeat for the Playback tab).
- Click OK.
- Check if your mic works as expected.
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If the microphone not picking up voice issue persists in third-party software, you can try method 3 below.
method 3: allow apps to access your microphone (windows 10)
If the microphone problem occurs in a specific program, you can go to windows settings to check if that program can access your microphone. here’s how:
- Type settings in the search box, and click Settings.
- Click Privacy.
- In the left pane, click Microphone.
- In the right pane, click the Change button, and you’ll see your mic is turned on. Also make sure All apps to access your microphone is enabled.
- In the section of Choose which apps can access your microphone, verify that the program where you need to use mic is turned on.
- Test your microphone in that program.
method 4: check game settings
If you have everything set up correctly and your microphone still doesn’t seem to work in-game, you’d better check your game’s audio or voice chat settings.
Make sure the voice chat input/output device is set to default in-game. and try disable voice chat, then check audio settings on pc as mentioned in method 2 above, and then enable voice chat in the game again.
check if your microphone can pick up voice now.
method 5: check for windows updates
If the above methods don’t work for you, your microphone not picking up voice problem is probably due to system problems. then you can check for windows updates.
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- type update in the windows search box, then press enter.
- click check for updates in the pop-up window.
- Install all updates identified to fix the problem.
- microphone
- In the Windows search box, type Speech Recognition and click the matching result.