Audacity couldn't find any audio devices

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

I have been using Audacity 2.1.2 for a few months and it was working just fine. Then suddenly today I fired it up, and it advised me it couldn’t find any audio devices. I checked Preferences:Devices and there were none listed, and none in the dropdowns either. I do have a Turtle Beach mic and the usual sound card and speakers installed or attached.

I checked this forum but couldn’t find any information about this exact case. Having recently used Corel Video Studio to successfully edit a video, including using the microphone to record voiceover, I knew the problem wasn’t with my computer.

I did notice that there was a new version of Audacity available, so I uninstalled 2.1.2 then installed 2.1.3. After I did this Audacity worked just fine.

If anyone has an idea what might have happened to cause this, and what the fix (besides reinstalling Audacity) might have been, it might be nice to post it here.

Thanks!

2

One of the more likely possibilities is that some application grabbed exclusive access to your sound card. Rebooting the computer would reset the sound system.

3

Yes, I thought of that, and rebooted. Didn’t help! :frowning:

4

Did you look in the Windows Sound Control Panel to see if the device was available?

5

No, but the speakers were working OK. I wish I had looked.