Very few things are more annoying (and potentially disrupting) things than having your computer not play audio when you need it to or would expect it to do so. If you are searching for a solution for the no audio device is installed problem, you have come to the right place.
This problem affects Windows users more often than many people realize. If you have experienced this problem you would have noticed that the sound icon has a red x sign on it indicating that it is unable to play sound.
Why does this error happen? When does a PC suddenly stop playing sound where it shouldn’t? Well, there could actually two different things causing this error.
One of the possible causes behind this error could be that the device drivers installed on your Windows PC have become out of date. Or, in other words, your Windows computer does not have the latest drivers available. This means that there would a break down of communication between Windows and your computer.
Another possible cause for this error could be that, for some reason, Windows has disabled audio for the device you are using.
Whatever the actual cause of this problem, the issue remains that no matter what you are doing on your computer, no audio will come out of the speakers until the problem has been fixed.
Is There a Solution to This Problem?
The good news is that, no matter how annoying this problem is, there is a solution to it.
In fact, there are three different solutions to it. In this article, we will go through the three possible solutions in great detail so that by the end of it, you should be able to fix the problem by yourself. No prior technical knowledge is needed so literally anybody who uses a Windows computer should be able to fix the error as long as he or she reads this tutorial.
Because, as we have seen, there can be different causes for this error, it is impossible to have just one solution that would do the trick.
In this tutorial, we will present the three different possible solutions in an order that makes sense. It is up to you, which method you begin with. One of them will do the trick for you and it does not necessarily need to be the first one on our list.
“The devices that our kids use are shipped from the factory with every possible audio, visual or vibration alert switched on. Each new app, website, tweet and message adds another layer of intrusion – each intrusion is cynically designed to get a response, and each response creates an appetite for another intrusion.” – Beeban Kidron
Therefore, you can pick where to begin either randomly or based on your intuition, prior knowledge or suspicion as to what may be the cause for the error in your particular case.
You might just be lucky and stumble upon the method that would do the trick to you straight away. Obviously, as soon as you come across the right method for you, you can stop reading this tutorial. These are three different methods and not three different steps in fixing this error.
Having said all of that, what we do strongly suggest is that you read the whole tutorial through first (even if you just skim read it) before you attempt any of the methods described therein. Why? Because you want to make sure that you understand what is involved in each of the different methods if, nothing else, to avoid frustration.
We are now in a position to go through the three different methods to fix this audio error.
Possible Fix Number 1:
The first possible fix would involve re-enabling your device. If you do not know how to do this, here are the steps that you would need to follow in order to do so:
- Grab your Windows computer.
- Then, press the following two keys at the same time: the Windows logo key and the R key. This action will cause the Run dialog box to display on your screen.
- Once the Run dialog box displays on your computer screen, type in the following command: “devmgmt.msc” [no quotations marks]. This action will cause the Device Manager to display on your screen.
- Then click on the OK button. This action will cause different categories to display on your screen.
- This step has many versions depending on your Windows computer. One of the versions is going through the list of categories until you locate the following category: “Sound, video and game controllers”. Another version of this step would involve clicking on the Action menu on the task bar. Then, choose the Add Legacy hardware; once the Add Hardware wizard displays on your screen, click on the next button. Next, check on the following option: “Search for and install the hardware automatically (Recommended). If prompted, click on the next button. Once the Add hardware window displays on the screen, choose the option that has the name of the manufacturer of your sound card (for example, Realtek). Then click on the Next button, wait until the installation is complete, and click on the Finish button once the installation has finished.
- Next, expand the Sound, video and game controllers category.
- Right click on the name of the audio device.
- Select the Enable option.
There could be different reasons why this method may not work for you. But, that is why the remaining two possible fixes are here. There are different reasons why this first method might not work for some users:
If you could not complete this method because the Add Hardware wizard does not display, do not worry; simply move on to the possible fix number 3 in this tutorial. If, however, the problem that you encounter is that your audio device is enabled, then you should go on to the possible fix number two.
Possible Fix Number Two:
So, if the first possible fix did not work, then you should try this other method.
This second method would require manually uninstalling the device driver and then reinstall it again. If you do not know how to do this, then simply follow these steps:
- Grab your Windows computer.
- Then, press the following two keys at the same time: the Windows logo key and the R key. This action will cause the Run dialog box to display on your screen.
- Once the Run dialog box displays on your computer screen, type in the following command: “devmgmt.msc” [no quotations marks]. This action will cause the Device Manager to display on your screen.
- Then click on the OK button. This action will cause different categories to display on your screen.
- Next, go through the list of categories until you locate the following category: “Sound, video and game controllers”.
- Locate your audio device.
- Once you have located your audio device, click on it.
- Then, right click on it and select the Uninstall option.
- Finally, restart your Windows PC.
If you have followed these steps to the letter, then Windows will re-install the sound driver automatically.
Just wait until your computer restarts fully and then check if the problem has subsided. If the problem continues, then try out the next method.
Possible Fix Number Three:
The last method involves updated all your audio device drivers. If you know how to do this, you could go ahead and do it, one driver at the time. As a word of warning, only attempt this if you are completely confident that you know how.
If you do not know how to do this or if you are not confident that you can recognize what drivers you need to update, your best option would be to get a hold of a third party program that would do this for you.
Head over to Google or any other search engine and look for Driver updates. There are different options but we do not want to recommend one in particular over all the others. Some of them have premium features, but even most of those have either a free version or, at least, a free-trial period.
Once you have found one, download it and install in on your Windows computer. Then, you will need to get it to scan your drivers (most systems are extremely easy to use and intuitive). Once it has scanned all your drivers, you can just choose to update all the drivers.
If you choose this method, you need to prepared to wait because scanning, and updating all the “broken” or out-of-date drivers will take some time.
This has been No audio output device is installed solution. If you have any feedback on this article or would like to share your own experience in dealing with this problem, please leave us a message in the comments section!
