No Sound When I Plug In Headphones After Windows 8 Download

Anonymous
2012-10-28T03:23:59+00:00

When I play a sound through the speakers, I can hear it perfectly. However, when I  plug in my earphones, I cannot hear anything. What do I do to fix this problem?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2013-04-19T14:03:13+00:00

I had the same problem, I solved it by disabling the Fast Startup functionality in Control Panel:

  1. Go to Control Panel->Power Options->Choose what the power buttons do
  2. Uncheck Turn on fast startup
  3. Perform full shutdown by calling the shutdown /s /t 0 in console or create shortcut with this command and run it
  4. Turn on the computer, now the headphones should work ok :)

Was this answer helpful?

100+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2012-10-28T17:40:20+00:00

Hi FlatbushPush718,

Thank you for posting, I understand that your headphones are not working on your windows 8 computer.

Note: Please check if the headphones you are trying to use is working on any other audio devices.

Incase if the headphones are working on the other devices

you may try the following steps in order to resolve this issue.

This may happen when you have the external speakers set to default. We need to set the headphones as default.

Perform the task mentioned below to set headphones as default:

  1. On the start screen of windows 8 press the ‘Windows key + X’ key on the keyboard and then click on control panel and then Hardware and sound option.
  2. Click in Sound, then a new window will open up.
  3. In the new windows click on the tab "Playback" and right click in the window and click on Show Disabled devices.
  4. Now check if headphones are listed there and right click on it and choose enable.
  5. Highlight that headphones and click on "Set as Default".

Check if the headphones work now, In-case if you are still facing issues please reply with more details about the make of headphones for further assistance.

Thank you

Was this answer helpful?

70+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

48 additional answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2013-04-12T09:25:51+00:00

    thanks for the advice, but this did not enable the headphones, they still display a telephone icon over the graphics of the headphones

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2013-03-15T19:01:28+00:00

    IS not working at all. I also try out keroppi637 suggestion, no option is working fine. Can Windows 8 developer team fix this bug as soon as possible? This is quite annoying and it doesnt seems like a single user issues, it is affecting Windows 8 users particularly.

    I even try out installing Realtek driver, it does not work either.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2012-12-20T20:03:04+00:00

    I've also been having trouble with my headphones not having any sound when I plug them in. I found a fix which may work for some of you (assuming we're having the same problem).

    Go to your Playback Devices window as mentioned above. If your headphones are not plugged in, the headphones device should still be visible but "Not plugged in". If you can't see it, follow the steps above to enable it as it might be disabled.  And the "Speakers" should be set as your default device.

    After plugging in your headphones, the headphones status should immediately switch itself to be the default device.  

    First make sure your volume on your headphones is turned up (on your laptop and through the windows Volume mixer.

    Now back to your playback devices window, right click on your headphones and click "Test". If you see the little volume bar moving but you hear no sound, right click the headphones again and go to the properties.  Click to the "Advanced" tab.

    Go ahead and try clicking the "Test" button again and you still won't hear anything.  But change the default format to ANY other sample rate. Now go ahead and click "Test" again.

    You might be prompted with a message that says the device is being used by another application. If so, go ahead and click "Yes".

    You should hear the test notification ring!  Go ahead and set the default format to any sample rate you choose and click the "OK" button. Headphones should be working now!

    If you didn't hear any sound when clicking that Test button, keep trying out different sample rates until you get sound.  This may not work for everyone, but it works for me. I have to do this almost every time I plug headphones in so it's real frustrating, but at least I know what the solution is!

    Happy listening! :)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments