Are you planning to play a multiplayer game with your friends tonight, but they can’t hear your voice? In this guide, we’ll tell you what to do if your microphone isn’t working in Steam.
There are various reasons why your microphone may not work, and here we will look at some possible solutions to this problem.
Make sure the microphone is listed as the default device. If you have multiple recording devices connected to your system, the wrong one may be selected. To fix this, right-click the speaker icon in the taskbar and select Sound Options.
In the window that opens, scroll to the “Input” category and select your microphone.
You can also click on the line with the microphone name to go to the settings and check its functionality using the “Start test” button. This will make sure that there are no problems with the microphone. If the test does not work, try checking the microphone on another PC or connect it to a different port: sometimes the ports on the front panel of the PC case are not working.
Make sure the microphone is selected as the voice device in Steam. You need to do the steps from the previous step in the Steam application. To do this, open the application, click on the inscription “Steam” in the upper right corner and select “Settings”.
Go to the Voice category, click the drop-down next to Voice Input Device, and select your microphone. Steam usually uses your system settings, so if your microphone is set as the default device in Windows, it should be used in Steam, but sometimes things can go wrong, so it’s best to double-check.
In the same window, you can set other settings for voice communication : set the voice transmission volume, perform a microphone test, select a key to mute speech, turn on or off noise reduction, automatic voice adjustment, and so on.
Sign out of your Steam account on other devices. If you use Steam on multiple platforms at once, voice chat may not work on your PC. To fix this, go to the application settings, select the “Security” category, and click the “Sign out on all devices” button. You will have to log back into Steam after this.
Set firewall permissions. Windows Firewall is probably preventing Steam from performing some actions, including voice chat. You need to set permissions in the OS. Press Win+S and type “Windows Defender Firewall” in the search bar, then open the firewall that will appear in the list.
In the next window, click the “Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall” link.
Scroll down to the Steam application and check the boxes next to it to allow actions, then click the OK button.
After this, restart the Steam application.
Reset your microphone driver. Your microphone may not work in Steam due to a driver issue. To resolve this issue, right-click the Start button and select Device Manager.
In the window that opens, find the category “Sound, game and video devices”. Expand the list and select the microphone, then click the button with the red cross in the top panel to remove the driver and reboot the PC. After rebooting, the OS will automatically find and install the device driver. If this does not happen, you will have to install the driver manually.
After the reset, it is advisable to go to the Windows sound settings again and check the use of default devices, as well as set the microphone volume level.
So, we have covered all the typical cases of microphone problems in Windows and Steam, as well as their solutions. We hope that our guide will help you deal with this problem.