You can’t use your microphone. In the Sound settings, you see the error message saying “No input devices found”. Don’t worry. This is a common problem occurring to Windows 10 users. To fix the problem, you can try the following methods.
Try the four methods below one by one and see if you can find the one that works for you.
Method 1: Change the privacy settings
Method 2: Update the audio driver
Method 3: Roll back the audio driver
Method 4: Reset Windows
Method 1: Change the privacy settings
The problem can be due to the inappropriate privacy settings. So check and change the privacy settings if necessary. To do so:
1) Press Win+I keys to open the Settings window.
2) On the Settings window, select Privacy.
3) In the left pane, select Microphone. Then in the right pane, click on Change to see if the toggle for ‘Microphone access for this device‘ has been set to Off. If it’s Off, click the toggle to turn it on.
In the meantime, make sure the toggle for ‘Allow apps to access your microphone‘ is set to On.
4) Scroll down to the ‘Choose which apps can access your microphone‘ section, and make sure all the apps you need can access the microphone.
5) Once done, check to see if the “No input devices found” issue is resolved.
Method 2: Update the audio driver
Outdated audio drivers can cause the “No input devices found” issue. You can try updating the audio driver and see if it helps.
You can try updating the audio driver via Device Manager. To do so:
1) Right-click on the Start menu button and select Device Manager. Then the Device Manager window will pop up.
2) In Device Manager, expand the category “Sound, video and game controllers”. Right-click on the audio device entry and select Update driver .
3) Select Search automatically for drivers, then Windows will search your computer for a newer driver and install it on your computer.
Tip: If the error still occurs, you can use Driver Easy to help update the audio driver. Driver Easy can scan your system to detect any outdated or missing drivers on your computer and allow you to update drivers with a few clicks. Go to the vendor’s website to download Driver Easy.
After updating the driver, restart your computer and check to see if the “No input devices found” issue is resolved.
Method 3: Roll back the audio driver
Some Windows 10 users have reported they encountered the problem after installing a new Windows update or a new driver. If you’re in the same situation, you can roll back the audio driver to fix the problem. Here’s how to do it:
1) Right-click on the Start menu button and select Device Manager.
2) Once the Device Manager opens, expand the category ‘Sound, video and game controllers‘ and then double-click on the audio device.
3) At the Driver tab, click the Roll Back Driver button then the driver will be rolled back to the previous version.
Tip: If the Roll Back Driver button is grayed out, it means there’s no previous version driver for you to roll back. If that’s the case, this method doesn’t work for you. You can move on to the next method.
4) Click OK to save the changes. Then check to see if the problem persists.
Method 4: Reset Windows
The last resort to the problem is to do a reset of Windows 10. Windows 10 allows you to easily reset your machine to the factory default state to fix any problems caused by third-party software, file corruptions, incorrect system settings, etc.
Important: Once you decide to reset Windows, you can choose to keep your personal files or erase them. However, all apps, settings and other stuff will be wiped off.
You can follow these steps to do a reset on Windows 10:
1) Open the Settings window again.
2) Select Update & Security.
3) In the left pane, select Recovery. In the right pane, under Reset this PC, click on Get started.
4) You can select either Keep my files or Remove everything.
If you select Keep my files, your apps and settings will be removed except to your personal files. If you select Remove everything, everything will be removed including your apps, settings, personal files and photos.
5) Follow the on-screen instructions to reset your Windows.
6) Once done, you’ll be prompted to restart Windows for the changes to take effect. After that, check to see if the “No input devices found” issue is resolved.
Hopefully you can fix the “No input devices found” issue with the above methods. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below. I’ll get back to you ASAP.