Windows 10: Enable or Disable Microphone in Windows

How to: Enable or Disable Microphone in Windows

How to Enable or Disable the Microphone in Windows


When you are not using the microphone (mic) on your PC, you may want to disable it for privacy and security reasons, as it can get hacked and the hackers would be able to hear everything you say.

This tutorial will show you different ways on how to enable or disable the microphone on your Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 PC.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Enable or Disable Microphone in Settings (Device properties)
• Option Two: To Enable or Disable Microphone in Settings (Manage sound devices)
• Option Three: To Enable or Disable Microphone in Device Manager
• Option Four: To Enable or Disable Microphone in Recording Devices
• Option Five: To Enable or Disable Microphone in Registry Editor

OPTION ONE [/i] To Enable or Disable Microphone in Settings (Device properties)
*note This option is only available in Windows 10.
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the System icon.

2. Click/tap on Sound on the left side, select your microphone under Input on the right side, and click/tap on the Device properties link. (see screenshot below)



3. Check (disable) or uncheck (default - enable) the Disable box for what you want. (see screenshot below)



4. You can now close Settings if you like.





OPTION TWO [/i] To Enable or Disable Microphone in Settings (Manage sound devices)
*note This option is only available in Windows 10.
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the System icon.

2. Click/tap on Sound on the left side, and click/tap on the Manage sound devices link under Input on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3. Click/tap on your microphone device under Input devices, and click/tap on the Enable (default) or Disable button. (see screenshots below)





4. You can now close Settings if you like.





OPTION THREE [/i] To Enable or Disable Microphone in Device Manager
*note You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do this option.
1. Open Device Manager.

2. Do step 3 (enable) or step 4 (disable) below for what you want to do.


3. To Enable Microphone
A) Expand open Audio inputs and outputs. (see screenshot below)

B) Right click or press and hold on your microphone device, click/tap on Enable device, and go to step 5.





4. To Disable Microphone
A) Expand open Audio inputs and outputs. (see screenshot below)

B) Right click or press and hold on your microphone device, and click/tap on Disable device.



C) Click/tap on Yes to confirm, and go to step 5.



5. When finished, you can close Device Manager if you like.





OPTION FOUR [/i] To Enable or Disable Microphone in Recording Devices
1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Sound icon.

*note If you like, you can open Run (Win+R), enter the control mmsys.cpl,,1 command into Run, and click/tap on OK to directly open Recording devices.

2. Do step 3 (enable) or step 4 (disable) below for what you want to do.


3. To Enable Microphone
A) In the Recording tab, right click or press and hold on an empty area in the box of recording devices, and make sure you have Show Disabled Devices checked.



B) Right click or press and hold on your microphone device, click/tap on Enable, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)




4. To Disable Microphone
A) In the Recording tab, right click or press and hold on your microphone device, click/tap on Disable, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)









OPTION FIVE [/i] To Enable or Disable Microphone in Registry Editor
*note You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do this option.
1. Press the Win+R keys to open Run, type regedit in Run, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.

2. Navigate to the key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshot below step 3)
*Arrow HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MMDevices\Audio\Capture
3. Expand open the Capture key in the left pane, and open the Properties subkey of each long number GUID (ex: "{371f9413-b87e-4e6d-b12f-c28596a675de}") until you find your microphone device (ex: "Microphone Array/Creative VF0800") shown in the right pane. (see screenshot below)



4. In the right pane of the GUID key (ex: "{371f9413-b87e-4e6d-b12f-c28596a675de}") for your microphone device, double click/tap on the DeviceState DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot below)



5. Enter the Value data from the table below for what you want to do, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)




[table][tr][td]Value data[/td] [td]Description[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]1[/td] [td]Enable[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]10000001[/td] [td]Disable[/td] [/tr] [/table]

6. When finished, you can now close Registry Editor if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Change Default Sound Input Device in Windows 10
• How to Allow or Deny OS and Apps Access to Microphone in Windows 10
• How to Listen to Microphone through a Playback Device in Windows
• How to Turn On or Off Camera and Microphone in Application Guard for Microsoft Edge in Windows 10
• How to Disable Integrated Camera or Webcam in Windows
• How to Enable or Disable a Sound Output Device in Windows
• How to Rename Sound Input or Output Device in Windows 10

:)

 

Easy enable/disable microphone?

My bro just got a microphone and I was wondering if there's an easy way to enable or disable it. I know you can right click on the volume icon, click on select recording devices then select the microphone, then click properties, then click on levels, and mute it - but that's just way too many steps, I'm looking for a more obvious and much easier way to do it.

 

Easy enable/disable microphone?

Hmmm... wonder if windows has a keyboard shortcut to do that, will research and get back.

There are quite a few keyboards out there that have volume control and mute right at your fingertips.

Edit: check this out "NirCmd" - look at the link for available arguments, there should be one for mic volume

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...-hotkey-to-mute-the-system-volume-in-windows/

Edit2: it's "changesysvolume" - use "microphone" as the second argument - look it up on the NirCmd refernce page.

Edit3: Lookie here, 1st answer has a .bat way to do it. Super key to pause, mute mic, and mute speakers in windows

 

Enabling Microphone Settings on Windows 10.

Hi sid071,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

I understand your concern. This setting might have disabled the Microphone in the computer.

I would suggest you to follow the steps mentioned below and enable the Microphone.

1. Press Windows and
   R key together on your Keyboard.
2. Type Control and hit enter.
   
3. Click on Hardware and sound > click on sound
   on the right pane.
4. Choose Recording tab and find the Microphone on the devices list.
   

• If you can’t find it:
  Right click on an empty space and select, “Show disconnected devices” and “Show disabled devices”.
  
• Select “Headphone” and click on “Properties” and make sure that the Headphone is enabled.
  

5. Select the Microphone and click the button Set Default. (Ref fig 1)







Fig 1: Enable Microphone.

If you would like me to provide additional advice, simply respond to this thread. I will get notified and I’ll reply to you as soon as I can.

Hope it helps.

Roohi Taj S

Microsoft Community - Moderator

 

Built in microphone not working

Hi,



Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I understand your concern and will assist you to resolve this issue.

I suggest you to follow the steps below and check if it helps

Method 1: I suggest you to set microphone as default device and check.

• 
  Right click on the volume icon in the system tray and then click "Recording devices"
  
• 
  Right click on the blank space in the popped up window and then select "Show Disabled Devices" and "Show Disconnected Devices".
  
• 
  Right click on Microphone and then click "Enable".
  
• 
  Highlight the microphone and then choose "Set as Default Device".
  
• 
  Click Apply and OK.
  

Step 2: Make sure that the Microphone is not disabled.

• 
  Make sure that the Microphone is not disabled. Follow the steps given to check that:
  
• 
  Right click on the volume icon and select “Recording devices”.
  
• 
  Now, Right Click on an empty space and select, “Show disconnected devices” and “Show disabled devices”.
  
• 
  Make sure that the Microphone is not disabled.
  

And also update the audio drivers from the manufacturer web site and install.

Hope this helps. If the issue remains unresolved, please get back to us and we would be happy to help

 

How to enable microphone?

Hi Tolik,

I suppose you have disabled the Microphone in your laptop.

Click on Windows and R buttons and open the run box.

Type in Control and click on Enter

Then tap on Hardware and sound

Tap on sound on the right panel

Select Recording tab and search for the Microphone on the devices list.

- In case you cannot see Microphone in the device list, right click on an empty space and click on, “Show disconnected devices” and “Show disabled devices”.

- Click on “Headphone” and then “Properties” and ensure that the Headphone is enabled.

Choose the Microphone and tap on the Set Default button.