Change audio devices on the fly

By Ed Bott

Unbeknownst to you, your desktop PC might have multiple audio devices available for playback. That can happen, for example, if your monitor has built-in speakers but you have also connected external speakers from an onboard sound card.

Things get even more complicated when you connect a webcam, a microphone, or a headset.

In these configurations, Windows makes its best guess as to which devices you want to use for playback and input. If you can't hear audio, or if your microphone doesn't seem to be working, you might need to manually change the default device.

To switch to a different playback device, right-click the Speaker icon in the notification area and then click Playback Devices. The green checkmark indicates the current default device. Select a different device from the list and click Set Default to change devices. To specify a headset for use only with communication apps, choose Default Communication Device from the Set Default dropdown menu. To assign a microphone, use the Set Default button on the Recording tab.

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