Audio devices disappear after failed update

Anonymous
2021-06-13T03:17:53+00:00

My computer (i7-6700K, ASUS Z170-Deluxe, 16MB ram) was working fine until it tried an update to KB50003637. During the update, it BSODed with a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA error, after which it notified me that the update had failed and attempted to return to its previous state. However, when Windows restarted, I was getting a red X over the speaker icon on the taskbar, along with "No audio output device is installed" and "Speaker Setup (UNKNOWN)" messages when you hover or right-click on the icon, respectively. Running the Audio Troubleshooter only tells me they're sorry that they couldn't fix my problem. I've been using the standard on-board Realtek High Definition audio, and first tried reinstalling the driver, but the problem continued. I checked Device Manager, and both the "Audio inputs and outputs" and "Sound, video, and game controllers" sections had the Realtek device listed, along with the comment that "The device is working properly." I then tried a installing a USB DAC (LH Labs Geek Out 450) I've had sitting around for some time, along with its driver software. Same problem: that device is "working properly," but Windows itself still gives the red X and "No audio output device is installed," etc. messages. Now, this USB DAC has an ASIO driver as part of the software, and apps that can use ASIO (Foobar2000, JRiver Media Center) can be configured to use it via ASIO, and can play audio through it just fine -- but, at the same time, according to Windows, I don't have any audio devices, so none of the programs that don't have ASIO support (the vast majority of them) can't play audio on my computer at all.

Needless to say, I made repeated efforts to reinstall the drivers, with no success. I also repeatedly uninstalled the devices and restarted, but, after the restarts, I had the same devices in place, all "working properly" according to device manager, but unavailable through Windows. I also tried stopping and restarting the "Windows Audio" and "Windows Audio Endpoint Builder" in Services, but that didn't have any effect either.

I checked out the details on each of those drivers in device manager, and found both of them were reporting that the devices could not be migrated because of "due to partial or ambiguous match."

The Realtek device had the following error message in "Events":

Device HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0900&SUBSYS_1043868F&REV_1000\4&27952083&0&0001 was not migrated due to partial or ambiguous match.

Last Device Instance Id: TUSBAUDIO_ENUM\VID_2522&PID_0007&KS\00000040
Class Guid: {4d36e96c-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
Location Path:
Migration Rank: 0xF000FFFFFFFFF132
Present: false
Status: 0xC0000719

while the LH Labs Geek Out had:

Device SWD\MMDEVAPI{0.0.0.00000000}.{8cb2f8d3-e308-4d89-b3e6-84c96dc89425} was not migrated due to partial or ambiguous match.

Last Device Instance Id: SWD\MMDEVAPI{0.0.0.00000000}.{1b978cd4-4584-49a4-a00b-b64c043eccc1}
Class Guid: {c166523c-fe0c-4a94-a586-f1a80cfbbf3e}
Location Path:
Migration Rank: 0xF00000000000F100
Present: false
Status: 0xC0000451

Can this give any clue on how this problem can be fixed? I've tried every "standard" step for such problems, and am completely at a loss right now. Is there a way I can get back my audio without having to take the drastic step of a clean install?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | 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.

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-06-25T08:42:45+00:00

    It worked, thanks! Now we wait for Micro$oft...

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-06-24T11:16:09+00:00

    I have the exact same issue. I have no fix for the problem itself but found a temporary workaround that might help targeting the problem.

    check my youtube link and give feedback if that also worked for you: (Sorry for windows to be in german but you can probably guess what I was clicking.)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJZaesOqoZk

    unfortunately you'd need to repeat the process after every restart, but atleast it kindaaa works (for me).

    let me know!

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-06-18T05:24:51+00:00

    All problems should go away with a fresh install, unless something you reimport is causing the problem. So monitor closely after each install of Updates, apps, settings changes, etc. to see if the problem returns, if so System Restore to before it.

    To clarify, for browsers you sign into like Firefox and Chrome it's fine to sign in to sync your data as they are stable. Edge is not yet as stable, so you cannot count on it's sync yet Therefore I'd manually back up your Favorites first from Edge as shown here: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/143983-how-.... It still doesn't sync passwords so I'd rebuild those from scratch.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-06-18T05:15:51+00:00

    As I suspected...it's completely borked (BTW, on coming back to this account after trying the new one, it now opens up immediately asking me what application I want to use to open a file, although it gives no clue as to which "file" would come up during startup.  Well, at least that problem should go away with a fresh install.  I wonder what else might improve; I just hope setting up my working environment doesn't give me any issues...

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-06-18T03:23:26+00:00

    I would set up your passwords from scratch rather than importing them. I suggested to back them up in case one gets lost. But it's better to not reimport AppData like that as it's a corruption path into a clean install.

    Now as to to testing a new account, this is why I ask for results of steps to be reported back because the error you reported indicates serious corruption. When it happens on a brand new account it means the install itself is corrupted. Asking what app you want to open a Troubleshooter with is pure corruption.

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