No Sound on Windows 11? Work Through These 9 Checks
Written for Windows 11 and proofread against vendor documentation (2026-09-23). Not yet performed on a device. How we check.
If our sound test played nothing, the fault is almost always the output device Windows picked or a muted slider, not the speakers. Work down this list in order. The first three checks account for most cases and take under two minutes.
1. Check which device Windows is playing to
Windows 11 keeps a separate volume for each output, and it switches output on its own when you plug in a monitor, a dock or a headset.
- Click the speaker icon in the taskbar, then the arrow next to the volume slider.
- Pick the device you are actually listening to: Speakers, your headset, or the monitor if the sound goes through HDMI or DisplayPort.
- Play the left and right tones again after each change.
A monitor with no built-in speakers still appears in this list. If it is selected, nothing will play.
2. Raise the app’s own slider
- Settings → System → Sound → Volume mixer.
- Your browser has a row of its own. Raise it and clear the mute icon.
- The master slider at the top and the browser row are independent; either one at zero is silence.
3. Push the plug all the way in
On a desktop, the green jack at the back is the output; the green or pink jacks at the front are often unconnected inside the case. Push until it clicks, and try the rear jack if you are using the front one. On a laptop, the single jack is a combined headset port: a four-pole plug seats deeper than a three-pole one.
4. Run the audio troubleshooter
- Settings → System → Troubleshoot → Other troubleshooters → Audio → Run.
- It resets the audio service and reapplies the default format, which fixes the “device is in use” class of failure on its own.
5. Turn off exclusive mode
An app that takes exclusive control of the output can leave everything else silent, and it does not always hand it back.
- Settings → System → Sound → More sound settings opens the old Sound control panel.
- Playback → your device → Properties → Advanced.
- Clear Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device, then Apply.
6. Restart the Windows Audio service
- Press Windows + R, type
services.msc, press Enter. - Find Windows Audio, right-click, Restart. Do the same for Windows Audio Endpoint Builder.
- Both should show Running and Automatic.
7. Reinstall the audio driver
- Right-click the Start button → Device Manager.
- Open Sound, video and game controllers.
- Right-click your audio device → Uninstall device. Leave the “delete the driver” box unticked.
- Restart. Windows reinstalls a working driver by itself.
If sound returns but is crackly, get the current driver from the laptop or motherboard maker’s support page rather than from a driver-updater tool.
8. Test the speakers somewhere else
Plug the same speakers or headphones into a phone. If they work there, the fault is in the PC; if they stay silent, the hardware is at fault and no setting will bring it back.
9. When to stop and replace
Replace the speakers when they are silent on a second device after a cable swap, or when one side crackles as you move the cable near the plug. A set of powered desktop speakers that has been silent on two devices is not worth further time.
After each change, run the sound test again. It will tell you whether both channels play and whether they are the right way round.
If you are not on Windows 11
The same order applies everywhere: output device first, then the app’s own slider, then the cable, then the driver. macOS keeps the output picker in System Settings → Sound → Output, and phones switch output automatically when Bluetooth connects, so disconnect the Bluetooth device before you test a wired one.