Error -9996 invalid device

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Hello,

I’m using Audacity v. 3.1.3, on Windows 10, on a HP tablet. I only have one USB socket which I use for my USB mouse.

For years, for language learning purposes, I’ve used Audacity’s WASAPI mode to record the sound of videos which I play on speaker. From one day to the next, this suddenly stopped working and I now get an ‘-9996: invalid device’ warning when I press ‘record’.
My settings:
Audio host :Windows WASAPI
Recording device: Speakers (Intel SST Audio device) (WDM) (loopback)
Recording channels : 2 (stereo) [the only other choice is mono, which I’ve tried too, doesn’t work either]

I’ve tried playing with the sample rate, it’s currently at 48000 but I’ve tried 44100, doesn’t work either.

I’ve read other threads dealing with the same issue but haven’t found any answer to this problem.

Thanks a lot if you can help.

2

I know it is counter-intuitive, but do you have permission to use the microphone? See: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/turn-on-app-permissions-for-your-microphone-in-windows-10-94991183-f69d-b4cf-4679-c98ca45f577a