No Sound in Windows? How to Fix It (Output Device, Drivers and Audio Service)

It is frustrating when you play a video and there is suddenly no sound. Most of the time, the sound is going to the wrong device, or a driver or the audio service got stuck for a moment. Work through these checks from the easiest one.

1. Start with mute and the output device

• Click the speaker icon on the right of the taskbar and make sure the volume isn't at 0 or muted.
• Click the > button next to the volume slider to see the list of output devices. Check that the speakers or headphones you are using are selected.
• If you connected a monitor over HDMI or recently used Bluetooth earbuds, the sound is often going to the monitor or earbuds that are turned off.
• In Settings → System → Sound → Volume mixer, check that a single app's volume hasn't been turned down to 0.

2. Run the Windows troubleshooter

• Go to Settings → System → Troubleshoot → Other troubleshooters and click Run next to Audio.
• Windows checks device settings, services and drivers automatically and fixes what it can.

3. Restart the audio service

• Press Win + R → type services.msc → Enter.
• Find Windows Audio in the list, right-click it and choose Restart.
• Sound often comes back without restarting the PC.

4. Reinstall the driver

• Right-click the Start button → Device Manager → open Sound, video and game controllers.
• Right-click the device that has a yellow warning sign or no sound and choose Update driver first.
• If that doesn't help, choose Uninstall device and restart the PC. Windows reinstalls the default driver.
• On a laptop, the audio driver from the manufacturer's support site usually works best.

5. Turn off audio enhancements

• Go to Settings → System → Sound → click your output device and set Audio enhancements to Off.
• If the sound went strange after an update, this feature is sometimes the cause.

If your recording has no computer sound

• Recording programs usually capture the sound of the current default output device. Before recording, check in step 1 that the device you are listening on is the default.
• Before a long recording, make a 10-second test recording to confirm the sound is there.

Reference: Microsoft Support – Fix sound or audio problems in Windows