New
#1
Automatically swap sound between speakers and headset?
Hi all, and apologies for the long post. I'm trying to thorough.
I currently have a Razer Kraken Pro Z analog headset (separate plugs for headphones and mic) plugged into the front audio and mic ports on my desktop. I have stereo speakers plugged into the back stereo port on my motherboard. I also have a Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro sound card in my computer that currently has nothing plugged into it because of my problem below. The audio/mic combo cable from my case that controls the front audio and mic ports is plugged into the front audio pins on my motherboard, not the Creative sound card. I am running Windows 10 64-bit.
I recently installed the Windows 10 Anniversary patch (I was one of the people who forever had patch instillation errors) and since then it’s been a constant struggle having audio play from the correct device without having to either unplug the speakers or the headset and changing what the default audio device is in the control panel. Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 pre-update all automatically switched the audio to my headset/headphones if the speakers were turned off, and would automatically turn the sound off in my headset/headphones if my speakers were turned on. This is no longer the case. Additionally, post-update my mic no longer works on my headset and my computer no longer seems to recognize the Microsoft HD webcam I have.
How can I have an analog headset plugged into the front audio and mic ports of my desktop, have speakers plugged into the speaker port on either my mobo or the Creative sound card, AND have Windows 10 automatically switch the audio (sound from speakers when speakers are turned on, otherwise sound from headset when speakers are turned off) without having to tinker with the default devices in the control panel every time I want to use either device?
I’ve tried:
— Setting the speakers as the default audio device and the headset as the default communication device in the control panel. All this does is permanently disable sound from the other device. Typically, the headset must be set to the default audio device, not default communication device, if I want to hear any sound from it. This isn't always the case though as sometimes the headset will randomly work as the default communications device.
— Using my Creative sound card as the default sound chip. The speakers were plugged into this card and the front audio/mic combo cable from my case was plugged into the front audio pins of this card. Nothing was plugged into or connected to the mobo’s audio ports and pins. In this configuration the sound would not automatically swap, requiring me to constantly reset default devices in the control panel depending on which I wanted to hear sound from. I think the mic worked by I don’t remember since I’ve been messing around with this problem for months.
— Ditching the Creative sound card entirely and instead connecting the front panel audio/mic combo cable to the front audio pins on my motherboard and plugging the speakers into the motherboard’s back audio port. Still no automatic sound swapping and no mic functionality. This is my current configuration.
— Having the speakers connected to the Creative sound card and the headset connected to the front panel audio on my motherboard via the front audio/mic combo cable. I have also tried having the speakers connected to my motherboard audio and my headset connected to my Creative sound card via the front audio/mic combo cable. Both still required me to constantly reset default devices.
— In all of the configurations, I’ve gone to control panel and set my speakers as the default audio device and my headset as the default communication device. Again, no automatic audio switching and the headset mic often doesn’t work.
I realize I could probably end this madness by ditching the speakers and using only the headset. I don’t want to do this because my girlfriend, her daughter and I use the speakers to listen to music or hear the audio on math practice videos, and I use the headset when I play Overwatch or other games so that I don’t bother them. Additionally, they’re both very tech illiterate and will in no way be able to remember or do the control panel default audio devices nonsense.
Thanks!
Quote