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My microphone is vislible and shown as default in sound settings but the windows sound recorder does not work "An audio recording device was not found" and Skype echo voice test does not work.

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The symptom reported — the microphone appears in Sound settings but apps show "An audio recording device was not found" — means Windows is listing a capture device at the UI level while the capture endpoint is unusable. Likely layers to check are the driver stack, Windows audio services, device properties (levels/format/exclusive mode), jack detection or hardware failure. ’s pointer toward driver/hardware causes is on target; the steps below expand that into a practical, non-destructive troubleshooting order.

  1. Sound control panel → Recording tab: right-click the blank area and enable "Show Disabled Devices" and "Show Disconnected Devices". If the mic appears, enable it and set it as the Default Device and Default Communication Device. Open Properties → Levels (not muted) → Advanced → set the Default Format to 16 bit, 44100 Hz (or 48000 Hz) and temporarily uncheck "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device".
  2. Device Manager: inspect "Audio inputs and outputs" and "Sound, video and game controllers". A yellow mark or "Unknown device" means driver trouble. Create a System Restore point, then uninstall the audio device (optionally delete driver software) and reboot so Windows reinstalls, or install the vendor driver from the PC/motherboard or audio-chip maker. Avoid untrusted driver-updater utilities.
  3. Services: verify "Windows Audio" and "Windows Audio Endpoint Builder" are running and set to Automatic (services.msc).
  4. App-level checks: explicitly select the microphone inside Skype or the recorder app. Test with a different recorder (built-in Sound Recorder/Voice Recorder or Audacity).
  5. Hardware isolation: test the microphone on another machine or phone, try a different mic or a different jack (front vs rear), and check any audio-manager app (Realtek etc.) for jack-detection settings.
  6. Final isolation: a cheap USB mic or USB audio adapter will confirm whether onboard audio or drivers are the fault. Booting a Linux live-USB can also prove hardware independence.

Keep a restore point before driver changes and prefer official vendor drivers. This sequence isolates UI/settings, driver/service, and hardware layers so the root cause can be identified without guesswork.

Member Avatar for rproffitt

That can be annoying. It's usually a driver issue then a failed card or device. Here's what I use to inventory the PC to save a lot of time. Read
https://www.piriform.com/docs/speccy/using-speccy/publishing-a-speccy-profile-to-the-web

Do try the PC maker's drivers first then if you can't sort it, consider some USB SOUND CARD. Examples at Amazon are under 10USD.
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Electronics-External-Sound-Cards/zgbs/electronics/3015427011

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