No audio device found but there is in Control Panel

spapakons · 05 Jun 2021

Hello,

I have a strange issue at my main system (see my specs). The taskbar icon for sound is the speaker with the red X and it reports that no input or output audio device is found. Running the troubleshooter finds no problems. In Device Manager the sound card and all audio inputs/outputs are there without any exclamation mark. What is going on? How can I make the sound card work again? I tried to restart the Windows Audio service, nothing changed. I even tried to reinstall the Realtek HD audio driver, nothing changed. Any ideas about this weird issue?

Thank you in advance.

No audio device found but there is in Control Panel-sound-settings.png

No audio device found but there is in Control Panel-control-panel-audio-inputs-outputs.png

No audio device found but there is in Control Panel-control-panel-sound-devices.png

dalchina · 06 Jun 2021

Hi, this is a fairly thorough checklist for starters:
"No Audio Output Device is Installed" Error Windows 10

Did you receive any update or upgrade or make any change around the time this happened?

Noted your PC coould be from around 2011.

spapakons · 07 Jun 2021

Unfortunately, this is not due to missing drivers. As you can see in the screenshots in my original post, all drivers are installed OK, but no audio input or output device is available, including HDMI ones. I suspect this is due to some local user policy. Another weird symptom was that I had to press CTRL+ALT+DEL to login, while I had never configured that. I also searched for malware, nothing suspicious found, except for several cookies. I loaded the local policy utility, but I don't know where to look and what to change.

Please help me fix that, I don't want to format!!! Thank you in advance.

PS: No restore points are available to go back, whatever malware did that deleted all restore points!

HeM · 07 Jun 2021

spapakons said:

...Please help me fix that, I don't want to format!!!...

Hello

You may open Sounds (right click on speaker icon) => Playback and Recording tabs and see what happens.
Perhaps your devices are for some reason disabled.

obamabindriftin · 08 Jun 2021

I have the exact same problem with the same symptoms. I tried re-installing the drivers manually, doing sfc scans and other methods and none of them worked. I'm running Windows 10 Edu build 20H2 (I updated to latest build and then reverted, problem is persisting).

dalchina · 08 Jun 2021

I know the Device Manager shows you have audio drivers. But maybe either not the correct one or there's a problem with its installation.

Try downloading the latest one available specifically from your manufacturer for your PC or MOBO where that's feasible.

If you've not already done this, now choose to uninstall the driver, and choose to delete that driver (check box) and restart.

Make sure Windows isn't going to replace it- disconnect the internet temporarily.
Now install the driver you've downloaded.

Note that you might need to use an older driver than Windows delivers, so if that works, you'd need to protect it from being replaced.

-------------------------------------------------------
Otherwise

In another thread with a similar problem, the user eventually resolved it by performing an in-place upgrade repair install which keeps all progs and data.

For that you need an iso file of the same major build as you have now- freely available, tutorials available.

spapakons · 08 Jun 2021

I have already done several attempts to reinstall the drivers either automatically or manually (Realtek 2.79). The drivers are installed successfully but no input or output devices are found! There is no device (speakers/ microphone etc) when I click n the sound icon at the taskbar, so I cannot enable them from there. The only solution is to fix whatever needs to be fixed in local user policies or registry. Nothing else works, already tried. I even installed 21H1 again (inplace upgrade to fix any errors), nothing changed.

Thank you in advance.

PS: Anyone that has any experience with registry or local policies, please help. I don't want to format my system that is otherwise OK. Doing so means at least a week's effort and I would rather avoid it.

dalchina · 08 Jun 2021

You can reset all group policies to default, if that's a concern. Tutorial available.

spapakons · 08 Jun 2021

Hello!

I tried these commands:

RD /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers" && RD /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"

gpupdate /force

Found here:

How to reset all Local Group Policy settings on Windows 10 | Windows Central

Nothing changed...

HeM · 08 Jun 2021

spapakons said:

...Nothing changed...

Hi,

Although, as you've mentioned you've tried that, I'd suggested to do it again, but this time carefully:

With no internet connection, go to Device manager and uninstall any audio driver checking also "Delete" box. Then, go to Control panel/Programs and Features and uninstall any audio driver you see, apps which have any audio driver installed (like Apowersoft) and any Antivirus app.

Make sure all above have been removed, restart and then connect to internet and let Windows download and install automatically whatever it likes.

That's what I'd have done if I were you and I wish you luck...

ΥΓ: Μην απελπίζεσαι