No sound from speakers on Windows 11
Last updated: 2026-08-05
Run the speaker test above before touching settings. It plays each channel separately, which distinguishes three different faults that all present as “no sound”:
Nothing at all — Windows is sending audio somewhere else. Section 1. One side only — balance, cable, or a failed driver. Section 5. Both work here but not in one app — per-app volume. Section 3.
1. Your monitor probably stole the output
This is the single most common cause on a desktop, and almost nothing explains it.
When you connect a monitor over HDMI or DisplayPort, that cable carries audio as well as video. Windows sees a new audio output device, decides it is the default, and routes everything to it. If your monitor has no speakers — or has speakers you never use — you get silence, with the volume slider working perfectly and no error anywhere.
It typically happens after plugging in a monitor, after a GPU driver update, or after waking from sleep.
Press Win + R and run:
mmsys.cplThe Playback tab lists every output with live level meters. Play something. Whichever device shows moving green bars is where your audio is going. If that is your monitor, right-click your actual speakers and choose Set as Default Device.
Right-click in the empty area and enable Show Disconnected Devices while you are there — a speaker set Windows thinks is unplugged will not appear otherwise.
2. Bluetooth headsets
If a Bluetooth headset is paired and in range, Windows may route to it even while it sits in a drawer. Turn Bluetooth off and test again.
Related: if your Bluetooth audio suddenly sounds like a telephone, the headset switched to hands-free profile because something requested the microphone. That is correct behavior, not a fault.
3. One application is silent, everything else works
Windows keeps a separate volume for every application, and it remembers them.
Right-click the speaker icon → Volume mixer. Check the specific application is not muted or at zero.
Also check the app’s own output device setting. Discord, Zoom, OBS, Spotify, and most games each hold their own device selection, and they keep pointing at a device you unplugged months ago.
4. Front panel jack does nothing
Desktop front-panel audio is a separate header on the motherboard and frequently unplugged or mis-seated inside the case.
If your machine has Realtek audio, open its control panel and look for jack detection. Some builds ship with front-panel detection disabled, so plugging in headphones does nothing at all. Try the rear jacks — if those work, it is the front panel wiring, not the audio hardware.
5. Audio enhancements
mmsys.cpl → your device → Properties → Advanced → uncheck Enable audio enhancements.
Vendor DSP layers — MaxxAudio, Nahimic, Realtek effects — sit between the application and the hardware and can silence output on their own after an update. Worth ruling out before drivers.
6. Restart the audio service
Occasionally the audio stack itself hangs. Symptoms: the volume icon has a red cross, or output devices vanish entirely.
Win + R, then:
services.mscFind Windows Audio, right-click, Restart. Do the same for Windows Audio Endpoint Builder.
Faster than a reboot and it fixes this specific failure most of the time.
7. Driver
Last resort, as always.
Device Manager → Sound, video and game controllers → right-click your audio device → Uninstall device → restart.
If sound broke shortly after a Windows update, install the audio driver from your motherboard or laptop maker rather than letting Windows Update supply a generic one. The generic Microsoft driver frequently loses vendor-specific output routing.