Skype Microphone Not Working on Windows 10? 8 Ways to Fix It.
Skype was probably the world’s first successful cross-platform video conferencing application that really went viral. It’s a shame that even after so many years it continues to slow down Windows computers and cause all sorts of problems. Skype has always been associated with some other problems. Case in point: a microphone. Many users have faced Skype microphone not working issue on Windows 10 PC.
To test if your microphone is working properly in Skype, you can make a test call in Echo, it will record your message and play it back to you. If you can’t hear your voice, your microphone may not be working. In this post, we’ll go over some of the settings you must enable for it to work, and some troubleshooting steps to help fix the problem.
Let’s start.
Also Read: How to Record Skype Video Calls – The Complete Guide
Skype microphone not working
1. Re-install
Why? When you install Skype for the first time, you are asked to provide some necessary permissions to help Skype work properly. One of these permissions is microphone access.
I know what you are thinking. There is no need to reinstall Skype to grant the required microphone permissions. True. But reinstalling the application can also remove bad and corrupted files from the system. A fresh installation can fix quite a few software problems. This is why this is the first step.
Don’t worry about your contacts and other data as they will all appear after you sign in again with your Microsoft account.
2. Installation directly
Microsoft has done a lot right with Windows 10, and the Windows Store is one of them. All software owned and developed by Microsoft is now available in one location that is reliable and pre-installed on all licensed Windows PCs. The fact is that many users report that installing software directly from the developer’s site solves the problem with the microphone. To do this, go to the Skype website at the link below and select Skype for Windows, not Skype for Windows 10 from the drop-down menu.
Install it and see if the microphone works in Skype.
Also read: How to get blur mode in Skype
3. Microphone permissions
It is also possible that even after you gave Skype the necessary permissions to use and communicate through the microphone, due to an error or change in the settings, it was disabled in the Windows settings themselves. To check, press Ctrl + I on your keyboard and select Privacy.
Select “Microphone” in the left pane of the window and scroll a little to find a list of all applications that need to use the microphone. Find Skype in the list and make sure it’s turned on.
Check if the Skype microphone is working on your laptop.
4. Skype audio settings
As with Windows 10 settings, Skype has audio settings that you need to check to make sure volume, speakers and the correct microphone are selected. To do this, open Skype in Windows 10 and click the menu icon to go to Settings.
Select “Audio & Video†from the left panel and you will see various options. Make sure the correct microphone device is selected. Sometimes there are several of them. For example, my laptop has Realtek High Definition Audio and a default communication device. Do not select the default as it will not work in most cases.
Notice the line of blue dots? This line will move to the right whenever the microphone hears and registers sound. To test, say something from a normal distance from the laptop and see if the line moves. If it moves, your Skype microphone is working properly. If not, keep reading.
To be more secure, select the Automatically adjust microphone settings option. This will tell Skype to manage the settings to the optimal level. Alternatively, if it was already selected and the microphone didn’t work, you can try deselecting this option. Maybe Skype was not handling correctly?
5. Audio players
Drivers are a necessary component of every software that you install on your Windows computer. The driver’s job is to allow software to connect and communicate with a hardware device, in our case a sound card. If the drivers are out of date or the files are corrupted, it can cause the microphone to malfunction in Skype. Open Device Manager by searching the Windows Start Button menu. Find and double-click the Sound, video and game controllers option.
Your sound card should be listed here. Scroll down a bit to find and select the same sound card you selected in the Skype settings above and right-click it to select the Update Drivers option.
It will take a while and I recommend that you close Skype and restart your computer once before checking if your Skype microphone is working properly.
6. Restart Windows Audio Service
For every software or application installed on Windows, there is a corresponding service that runs in the background and does most of the work. For microphone and other audio services, this is the Windows Audio service. Make sure it is running, and if not, run it. To do this, press Windows Key + R on your keyboard to open the Run command line. Type services.msc and press Enter.
Find Windows Audio in the list and right-click it to launch. If it is already running, the option will be grayed out. In this case, you must click on the Restart option. This should give a boost to everything.
If the service was not running at the time of the check, it may not start by default when the computer is restarted. We do not want this, because it would mean that you have to go through all the stages again. So, click “Properties” in the same menu. On the General tab, select Automatic from the Startup Type drop-down menu.
When finished, click Apply and OK. Make sure the Skype microphone works on your Windows 10 computer.
See also: Looking for alternatives to Skype? Here are 5 programs you should try
7. Exclusive control
Skype isn’t the only software on your computer that needs to use a microphone. In addition to Skype, there may be a number of other services. Sometimes, some apps go further and take exclusive control of the microphone, preventing other apps from using it. Sad. In our world, this is called a monopoly, which is always bad for end users.
To check, open the Control Panel and go to the next settings screen.
Control Panel Sound Recording tab. There, double-click the Microphone option to open the pop-up window. Select the Advanced tab here and make sure both options are not selected in exclusive mode.
- Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device.
- Give priority to applications in exclusive mode.
8. Configure bluetooth devices
Are you using a Bluetooth device to chat with Skype? It can also be a solution if the default microphone on your laptop is not working for some other reason. In this case, try Bluetooth headphones or headphones. If that doesn’t work either, search for “Manage Audio Devices” in your Windows search. In the Playback tab, you will see the connected Bluetooth device is listed twice.
The first option is the hands-free function, which must be disabled if you want to use the microphone of the connected headphones. If it’s not disabled, right-click the Bluetooth headphone speakerphone option and select Disable to disable it. Please note that the second list must remain included.
It is also possible to make the connected Bluetooth device the default device. This way, you don’t have to go through all the troubleshooting steps the next time you open Skype to chat with friends and family. To do this, in the same menu, you will find the “Set as default device” option. If it’s available, click on it and enable it.
Skype microphone is not working
Skype is great software, but not without flaws. The microphone problem is nothing new, however some of the solutions mentioned in this guide are. Therefore, be sure to follow all the steps mentioned in the guide to fix the problem. If you find a solution that works but has not been posted in this post, please share it with us and we will list it with due respect.