Problem with Windows 10 ver. 21H1 -- all audio input/output devices missing in Sound settings, red X on volume icon

Hello Nikolai

I have the same problem as you and i hope i can help you and some others with this temp solution i found

What happens :

Device will ask for reboot and will says failed to update the windows and rolling back the update. and when user logins in to laptop Sound is missing.

Tried:

BIOS update to 10.1.1, Audio update . Re-installed Audio and created another windows login account and same issue with that too. Uninstalled the May-21 Windows update and still same issue.

TEMP fix:

1. Remove the USB headset from the Laptop and wait for 30 sec and connect back to laptop.
2. Right Click on the Sound icon (bottom right corner) and select OPEN SOUND SETTINGS
3. Then go to right side of the panel and click on “ EASE OF ACCESS AUDIO SETTINGS “
4. Then go to right side of the panel and click on “ SOUND SETTINGS “
5. Now you should be able to see the Audio device is now detected
6. Slide the Nob to test the sound and it should work.

Note: im still looking for the correct solution, but at least this help me to move on regardless the problem is still on, if you restart your pc, it will fail again.

Good luck. I hope this can help you.

Hi, I really don't know how and why... In Settings-Ease of Access-Audio I randomly changed settings such as device volume, mono audio, etc, then clicked on Change device or app volume. In the 'Sound' page both drop-down lists (Output and input device) showed my devices, the red icon in the tray area disappeared and I finally heard the sound of my pc again...

Thanks for the quick reply!

I wish it was that easy... If it was, I would not ask here. I am afraid none of that helps, and was all already done.

IF the Realtek audio card was the only problem, then my HDMI Audio would work, and my microphone i.e. input audio device would work too.

Right now, I have a blank screen for both Input audio devices, as well as Output ones.

Can you please suggest something else?

On audio card, GPU level and audio card drivers/GPU drivers level -- including HDMI audio -- everything is fine.

No problem devices in Device Manager, and no device is missing, they are all there.

From the 1 time I could fix this, I know there is some system device that sits between the Realtek audio card+HDMI audio that makes all of this fail, including even input devices -- not just output (speakers/HDMI).

Hi Nikolai, I'm Benedict, an Independent Advisor. I'm here to help you.

Please try updating manually the audio driver in Device Manager > Sound, video and game controllers > Realtek(R) Audio

• Locate the said driver in Device Manager
• Right click on the driver and select "Update Driver".
• Next select "Browse my computer for drivers"
• Click on "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer".
• Make sure the option "Show compatible hardware" is checked.
• Select High Definition Audio Device and click Next.
• If the audio doesn't still work, repeat the steps above but now select Realtek High Definition Audio driver and click Next.
• If that doesn't still sort the issue, try uninstalling the driver and restart your computer.

If the issue still persists, try checking the sound settings if disabled that typically located in BIOS > Advanced settings > Onboard or Device Configuration > Audio controller.

If that doesn't still help, try searching for latest audio driver or Realtek/audio controller driver and BIOS update from your PC's manufacturer support website. Download them, if any. Install the said driver first and if the issue still persists, try updating the BIOS by following the guide on how to install BIOS update from the said support website. If BIOS has been successfully updated and the issue still occurs, try installing the said driver again and see if that would now sort the issue.

Please see if that helps.

Regards,

Benedict P.

I got annoyed by doing the workaround manually.

As it (in my case) is enough to open the ease of use audio settings it's easy to script.

It just opens the settings, waits some seconds to make sure it really got fully opened and then closes the settings again.

You can either set this up with Task Scheduler to run on user login or add it as a link to the (common) startup folder. (Use win+r, shell:startup to quickly open it. For common it is shell:common startup)

.bat version

start ms-settings:easeofaccess-audio

sleep 5

taskkill /f /im SystemSettings.exe

or Powershell (.ps1) (you need to set the ExecutionPolicy accordingly or use the bypass)

Start-Process ms-settings:easeofaccess-audio

Start-Sleep -Seconds 5

Stop-Process -Name SystemSettings

Maybe someone can find out what exactly happens on opening the settings so we can directly trigger that.

I also tried stopping/starting audiosrv but it didn't help.