There can be many factors by which your laptop’s microphone is not working. This could be the hardware issue of your laptop, it could be the missing driver in your Windows 10, it could be some third-party software manipulating laptop’s microphone. But the main reason why this problem occurred is if you have updated your Windows 10 to the new Windows 10 Creator update version (1803). Every Windows update has offered some kind of problem apart from how much stable the Windows 10 has become. So, in this article, I will guide you on how to fix Microphone in Windows 10.
Before I walk you through the step-wise guide, make sure that you are running Windows 10 with version 1703 or higher from System About settings. There are three methods that I will show you which you have to follow step by step to fix microphone in Windows 10.
So, let’s start with the step-wise guide.
Method 1: Microphone Settings
Step 1: Open Setting
Click on the Windows Start icon to open the Start Menu as shown above.
Now click on Settings option as highlighted above.
Step 2: Open Microphone settings
Click on the Privacy icon to open the microphone settings as highlighted above.
Now click on the Microphone option from the navigation menu pane located at the left side of the window as highlighted above.
Step 3: Microphone Settings
On the right side of the navigation pane you can see some settings of Microphone and under the heading of Microphone, there is a toggle button which might be turned off click on the toggle button to turn it On as shown above.
Similarly, you can see the apps listed, each app has a toggle button against them, click to enable or disable the microphone for each app as highlighted above.
Okay now if the problem persists move on to the next method.
Method 2: Microphone recording device setting
Step 1: Open Sound properties
Right-click on the Speakers/Sound icon from your taskbar as shown above.
Now select the Recording devices option from the menu.
Step 2: Show Disabled devices
Now you can see a Sound properties dialog box will pop up as shown above.
If Microphone doesn’t show up in the list, right-click on the empty space and select to enable the Shown Disabled Devices option as shown above.
Step 3: Enable the Microphone
After the Microphone appears, right-click on it and choose the Enable option from the menu as shown above. After enabling it you can see the green checkmark on it as shown below.
Now, click to select the Microphone and go to its properties by clicking on the Properties button as highlighted above.
Now, in Microphone Properties, select the Levels tab as shown above. Drag the Microphone volume slider to its highest value and Microphone Boost slider to the +10.0 dB as shown above.
Click on OK button to proceed.
Now click on Apply button for the changes to take place and then click on OK button to close the Sound window.
If the problem still persists, continue to the next method.
Method 3: Check driver from Device Manager
Step 1: Open Device Manager
In Window’s search bar, type in Device Manager, as shown above, now you can see the Device Manager option under the Best match as highlighted above. Click on the Device Manager option to proceed.
After Device Manager Windows appear, click on the Audio inputs and outputs arrow as highlighted above. This will enable two more options.
Right-click on the Microphone option and select the Properties option from the menu.
Open up a Driver tab from where you can check details about your driver. I would suggest you to first select the Roll Back Driver button if the button is enabled, this might solve the problem if not then click on the Update Driver option, choose the search automatically for updated driver software option after the installation is complete click on close button and then click OK as highlighted above.
Hope this fix the microphone in Windows 10. If the problem still persists, then there can be a hardware issue in the sound card which can be repaired from the laptop repair shop.
