How do I fix "No audio devices are installed"?

Question

How do I fix "No audio devices are installed"?

Krystal Mondillo 20

I have no sound on the computer, I can no longer use the microphone, the speaker in the bottom right toolbar has an x over it and when I go into sound, it says "no audio devices are installed." What do I need to do?

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Answer accepted by question author

CCtheCompuGuy 160

I know it sounds cliche but if this just happened recently you may want to do a full restart of your computer. This can happen when Windows Update updates a driver component of your audio chipset. It often needs a reboot to complete or put the last part of the changes fully into place. When you get back from the restart if it is still not working or changed you can check if your Windows update attempted an update that failed. A big question here is how long has it been this way?

Krystal Mondillo 20 Reputation points

2026-07-04T05:17:14.7866667+00:00

Sometimes that simplest answer is the one you both don't even consider, nor bother to try. Thank you so much, as I have a backlog of notes to dictate and the microphone not working was making that impossible. It did not even occur to me to try a hard reset. It has only been not working since Thursday, when my co-worker made some changes and updates to it for me, and I just didn't even think about that. Thank you again!!!
CCtheCompuGuy 160 Reputation points

2026-07-04T05:48:30.63+00:00

Glad to hear it did the trick.

1 additional answer

Your answer

Krystal Mondillo 20 Reputation points

2026-07-04T05:17:14.7866667+00:00

Sometimes that simplest answer is the one you both don't even consider, nor bother to try. Thank you so much, as I have a backlog of notes to dictate and the microphone not working was making that impossible. It did not even occur to me to try a hard reset. It has only been not working since Thursday, when my co-worker made some changes and updates to it for me, and I just didn't even think about that. Thank you again!!!
CCtheCompuGuy 160 Reputation points

2026-07-04T05:48:30.63+00:00

Glad to hear it did the trick.

Answer 1

CCtheCompuGuy 160

Also would be useful to know what brand(ie Dell, Lenovo, Acer, HP etc) of computer it is and if it is a laptop or a desktop computer.

Krystal Mondillo 20 Reputation points

2026-07-04T05:20:33.8633333+00:00

You are absolutely right. I was so caught up in my frustration I didn't even bother to give the details. The problem is resolved by the simplest method, but I was working with an HP Elitebook laptop provided by my work, so many solutions I had looked up were not feasible because I didn't have administrative rights to the computer. Luckily it was a simple fix, and thanks for trying to help!