You fire up your computer and crank the tunes, but instead of the music blasting from your speakers, it’s playing very quietly from your Bluetooth headphones across the room. If your PC isn't playing sound from the correct speakers, there's a quick fix—and a way to prevent it from happening in the future.
Quickly Change Your Output Device
When you have multiple sound devices plugged into your computer at once, Windows has to pick one from which to play sound—and it doesn't always pick the most obvious choice. For example, if you have a set of speakers hooked up to your computer and you plug in a new monitor over HDMI or DisplayPort, it may start playing audio from the monitor's dinky built-in speakers, rather than the desktop speakers you have plugged in.
Thankfully, switching output devices is much easier in Windows 10 than it was in the old days. Just click on the sound icon in the bottom-right corner, click the text at the top of the pop-up that appears, and you should be greeted with a list of available output devices. Select the one you want, or—if you aren't sure which listing corresponds to what set of speakers or headphones—try different options until the right one works.
If you're on Windows 7 (you shouldn't be), you'll need to skip to the next section on setting your default speakers, since it doesn't have this quick-select icon.
If you're on a Mac, you can hold the Option key and click the sound icon in the menu bar to reveal a list of plugged-in output devices. Select the one you want, or try different options until sound comes out of the correct speakers.
Set Default Speakers, Disable Those You Don't Use
If you have multiple output devices connected to your PC but don't plan on using some of them—like the speakers built in to your monitor—you can disable them in software so Windows doesn't automatically switch to them.
Right-click on the sound icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen, then select Sound Options (or, if you're on Windows 7, search for Sound in the Start menu). In the Playback tab, you'll see a list of all connected sound devices. You can set your default speakers by selecting them from this list and clicking the Set Default button.
Then, to remove any device you don't want, right-click on it and choose Disable. Windows shouldn't switch to that output anymore, and it won't appear in the Sound menu on the taskbar. If, at any time, you decide you want to use that device, you can return to this menu, right-click it, and re-enable it.
Sign up for Tips & Tricks newsletter for expert advice to get the most out of your technology.
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
One of the most common problems with Windows 10 is no sound. Particularly immediately after upgrading from a previous version of Windows. So if you’re experiencing this problem, rest assured, you’re not alone. More importantly, it’s usually a pretty easy problem to resolve.
Here are three simple fixes you can try. You don’t necessarily have to try them all. Just start at the top of the list and work your way down.
How to Fix No Sound Issue on Windows 10
Method 1: Check cable and volumes
If you don’t hear sound from your external audio devices, like speakers and headphones, you can check if their cable is broken. You can plug them to in another computer and see if they work in another computer. If they work in another computer, the problem is probably caused by the cable.
If the audio device has been muted, you won’t hear sound from it. Check if your speaker or headphone has been muted by accident.
Method 2: Check your speaker settings
- Right-click the sound icon at the bottom right corner of your desktop and click Playback devices.
- In the Playback tab, ensure there’s a green tick on Speakers. This indicates that your speakers are the default playback device.
If your Speakers are NOT already set as the default, this is doubtless your problem. To fix, just click them, click Set Default, then click OK and test whether you have sound.
If your Speakers are set as the default playback device, and you’re still not hearing any sound, you should experiment with different sound formats. To do this, click Speakers then Properties. - Go to the Advanced tab, and in the Default Format section, select a different sample rate and bit depth, then click Test. Repeat this process until you find a format that works, then click OK. If you don’t find a format that works, proceed to Method 2 below.
Method 3: Uninstall your audio driver
If your sound driver has somehow been removed, corrupted or become incompatible with Windows 10, you won’t be able to hear any sound from your speakers. (This quite often happens after an upgrade to Windows 10 from an earlier version of Windows.)
The simplest way to check if this is what has happened is to uninstall your audio driver:
- On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and X (at the same time) to invoke the quick-access menu.
- Click Device Manager.
- In Device Manager, expand Sound, video and game controllers, right-click on your sound card, and click Uninstall.
- If you’re asked to confirm the uninstall, check the Delete the driver software for this device box and click OK.
- Restart your computer and check to see if the problem is resolved. If it’s not, move on to Method 3 below.
Method 4: Update your audio driver
If experimenting with different sound formats and uninstalling your audio driver didn’t bring back your sound in Windows 10, it’s likely that you’re using the wrong audio driver.
There are two ways you can get the right audio driver: manually or automatically.
Manual driver update – You can update your audio driver manually by going to the manufacturer’s website and searching for the most recent correct driver for your sound card and your variant of Windows 10.
Automatic driver update – If you don’t have the time, patience or computer skills to update your audio driver manually, you can, instead, do it automatically with Driver Easy. Driver Easy will automatically recognize your system and find the correct audio driver for your sound card and your variant of Windows 10, and it will download and install it correctly:
- Download and install Driver Easy.
- Run Driver Easy and click Scan Now. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.
- Click the Update button next to a flagged audio driver to automatically download and install the correct version of this driver (you can do this with the FREE version of Driver Easy).
Or click Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system. (This requires the Pro version which comes with full support and a 30-day money back guarantee. You’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All.)
- Restart your computer and check to see if you now have sound.
Method 5: Disable audio enhancements
Audio enhancements can cause audio issues. To fix no sound issues in Windows 10, you can try to turn off audio enhancements.
To do so, follow these steps:
1) Open Control Panel.
2) View by Small icon, and select Sound.
3) Select one Default Device and select Properties.
In the example below, the default device is Speakers / Headphones.
4) On the Enhancements tab, select the Disable all enhancements check box. Then click OK.
5) Check to see if the sound issue is resolved.
Note if you have multiple default devices, you may need to repeat the steps above for each default device until the sound issue is resolved.
Method 6: Restart audio services
Follow these steps to restart audio services.
1) On your keyboard, press the Win+R (the windows logo key and the R key) at the same time to revoke the run box.
2) Type services.msc in the run box.
3) Right-click on Windows Audio service and select Restart.
4) Restart your computer and check to see if the problem is resolved.
We hope one of these methods resolves your Windows 10 audio problem. Please feel free to leave your comment below if you have any questions.