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

This is just Great! :(

This worked yesterday, 1 time. Was very happy, could finally play a game with my 5-year old - with sound (one of the Asphalt games).

However, unfortunately I turn off my PC every evening, to then turn it on the next day morning.

Now, today I am doing the exactly same thing but the damn red X icon won't budge, and audio output and input devices do not show, again..

Like they say in the ad -- "Windows 10, different results every time!"

(NOTE: Actual ad uses the word "great". but Windows 10 is better than that. :) )

On a whim, I tried this with slight variations, MORE steps - it worked! :)

NEW and improved steps were:

1. Tinker with Audio devices in Device Manager -- disable the 2 AMD ones, uninstall Realtek audio drivers.
2. Re-enable those 2 disabled Audio devices, then Scan for hardware changes - seemingly no effect at all until this step.
3. Then I went to Computer Management, Services, and then located the Windows Audio service, and restarted it.

It warned me a 2nd service depends on Windows Audio so will be restarted too, so I accepted that.

2nd affected service name is AarSvc_ca1abf3 -- very clear, descriptive name, I know! :) -- which seems to be named (full name) as Agent Activation Runtime_ca1abf3.

And it runs via "C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe -k AarSvcGroup -p".

4. Finally, I did the Settings, Sound, Ease of Access tinkering workaround again -- now it worked, like it did yesterday!

EDIT: When working fine, Control Panel Playback devices and Recording devices look like this for me:

EDIT: And the new-Styled Windows 10 Settings Sound panel looks like this, link to Dropbox as image is large:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k4ygr7xkvbrlwxk/screenshot%202021-06-15%2018.20.42.png?dl=0

"Manage sound devices" screen looks like this: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dqt28dbhf7wmg6e/screenshot%202021-06-15%2019.27.42.png?dl=0

So, if you guys are unable to get the Ease of Access tinkering to take a 2nd time, please try the above way too.

Hope it helps you like it did for me! :)

Xeno,

I checked three different computers. None of them have the "Multimedia Class Scheduler" in services, yet I have no sound issues. I suggest that people might start listing what sound device they have and its driver version and date, to see if something might be in common with those who have issues.

JohnD

Same **** with my MB Asus Prime X299-A . System tried to install the 21H1 (sounds like real-life virus ID, btw) , but failed all the time , and ( IMHO) - this patch did its nasty work with audio devices anyway so Windows just cant find it , though they are installed fine and feeling themselves good in Device Manager. Now this patch ranked as non-mandatory and still remains highlighted in update center as failed . All stupid ( concur with Nikolay) regular recommendations from the web won't work , as MS team long stepped higher in their quest to complicate problems and annoy and anger users all over the world. Honestly , guys from top MS management : you should've impemented the medieval punishment system in the contracts , like beating employees ( especially those responsible ones ) with rods for such mistakes or at least fine them equally to damages/disturbances they inflicted or even imprison.

No wonder the latest versions of Windows system has no use at serious facilities such as power plants , for example. I know a few , they still use Windows 7 with limited pack of updates and non-exposure to the Internet. This says a lot, I must say!

I always though that the enemy that would rally up all nations worldwide will be from the outer space , but seems like I was wrong))).

I guess that this message will be considered as "abuse" and might be deleted , which would mean that there are no democracy in this world ... Pretty much sure , after fixing this issue, they won't even report with excuses to the worldwide community.

Ok, I don't get why you're mad when I didn't mention the article for a solution. Did you even read the rest of my post? lol. The useful part of the article was mentioning what the update did, and the things fixed in the Windows Update do seem to relate with the issues described in this post. Also I had noticed one of the services listed in the article was missing for me. The article doesn't explain how to fix that because, as far as I know, you can't restore missing services in Windows.

Anyway, thanks for that. I needed to hear someone yelling at me this morning.

Sorry, no, actually I did not mean you. :)
I just meant the moron article author, not your mention of this article. :)

Anwyay, glad you are happy -- you are quite welcome.

Ok, I don't get why you're mad when I didn't mention the article for a solution. Did you even read the rest of my post? lol. The useful part of the article was mentioning what the update did, and the things fixed in the Windows Update do seem to relate with the issues described in this post. Also I had noticed one of the services listed in the article was missing for me. The article doesn't explain how to fix that because, as far as I know, you can't restore missing services in Windows.

Anyway, thanks for that. I needed to hear someone yelling at me this morning.