I disabled my default microphone, how do I enable it again.

Anonymous
2010-05-09T13:44:01+00:00

Hi,

I recently got a laptop with windows 7. I bought a Microsoft web-cam and when I was playing with Audacity, I realized that the mic in the web-cam was better than the built-in mic my laptop had. So I went to control panel/sound and I disabled the built-in microphone and left only the web-cam microphone enabled. When I went back to Audacity it showed a message that said "Error while opening sound device. Please check the input device settings and the project sample rate". Did i do something wrong? How do I make my built-in mic go back to normal?

Thank you,

Laura

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Music, photos, and video

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2010-05-10T12:51:43+00:00

Hi Laura,

As you have disabled the built-in Microphone, first lets try to set the Microphone as a Default Device and enable the same.

Perform the task mentioned below to set Microphone as default device and then enable it.

  1. Go to Start and click on control Panel.
  2. Click in Sound, then a new window will open up.
  3. In the new windows click on the tab "Recording” and right click in the window and click on Show Disabled devices.
  4. Now check if the microphone is listed there and highlight the microphone and click on "Set as Default" device.
  5. Now right click on it and choose enable.

Doing this will enable the built-in Microphone.

Check if the issue persists  now.

Refer this link for additional information:

Tips for fixing common sound problems

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Tips-for-fixing-common-sound-problems

Regards,

Divya R – Microsoft Support.

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54 additional answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-06-11T18:27:05+00:00

    When I'm at the sound window ( I'm in a skype call with my friend by the way) it only shows that the microphone is recognizing sounds when my friend talks. I can hear through my headphones but it looks like my mic and headset have replaced eachothers. Please help if you know the sollution.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-03-11T11:45:17+00:00

    I clicked on the link "find and fix audio recording problems," but it did not reconnect the microphone, and I don't see a check beside the bluetooth microphone icon like I saw before. So what should I do now?

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-02-25T16:38:17+00:00

    Thanks a lot Divya. The fact that we have to right click on an empty menu is a bit disconcerting, but your help did the trick.

    Cheers.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-02-07T19:16:56+00:00

    Thank you thank you thank you!  I've been struggling with this issue and reading other people's solutions without any success.  You completely helped me fix my issue!!!

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