Can't record streamed audio after installing Win 10 to new HDD

I recently had a hard drive fail, in addition to serious deterioration of that Win 10 O/S. I installed Win 10 Home (64 bit, Version 10.0.19044, Build 19044) to a new WD HDD, and began the laborious process of reinstalling many of my previous programs. I can play all of my mp3 files with no issues, and I can listen to podcasts and streams from the Internet. The problem comes if I try to record audio. Using a program like Audacity or Audiograbber, all I get is background noise from the room and nothing of what I intend to record. I've been recording music like this on my laptop for over a decade, and not encountered this before. I've been searching the Web using every description I can think of to no avail. Can anyone suggest what might be wrong here?

66gary81 said:

The problem comes if I try to record audio. Using a program like Audacity or Audiograbber, all I get is background noise from the room and nothing of what I intend to record.

Two things I check after a clean install:

1. Control Panel > Sound > Recording Tab > set 'Stereo Mix' as default device


2. Start > Settings > Privacy > Microphone > set 'Allow desktop apps to access your microphone' ( ON )

Thanks for the suggestion. I already did the "allow desktop apps..." adjustment, but there is no "stereo mix" option in Sound. Hmm. Is that something I can add in?

66gary81 said:

Thanks for the suggestion. I already did the "allow desktop apps..." adjustment, but there is no "stereo mix" option in Sound. Hmm. Is that something I can add in?

Might be the audio drivers haven't been updated to what they were before.

Audacity Tutorial - Recording Computer Playback on Windows

Thanks all! I fixed it. Once I used the search criterion "stereo mix missing" I was led to the same conclusion. Dynabook/Toshiba had a Realtek driver for my machine, and now I can select stereo mix. I'm about to try listening to some jazz I just finished recording.