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

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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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  1. Anonymous
    2014-12-09T06:28:45+00:00

    Mine is the same problem, i have disabled it and i cant find the microphone device in the RECORDING SECTION. to enable it again, what do i do?

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-12-07T18:33:07+00:00

    Than you.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-08-05T17:45:58+00:00

    Thank you microsoft a lot .i was playing with mic tab .i just unknowingly disabled the mic & i searched a lot in the device manager .i cud not able to find out how to re enable the mic .thanks for the steps .this solution worked and i cud now hear my voice .

    thank you

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-06-17T11:52:24+00:00

    Windows 8 solution

    Right click the speaker symbol on the tray ( right bottom corner) and select "recording devices" .

    Now just right click!

    If your mic is listed there. Make it default((right click)

    If you mic is not listed there just right click on the blank area. I shows disabled devices. Make it enabled . That is it!!

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