SOLVED: In a suggestion from yesterday from DVDoug for the error 9996, and a solution for Windows 11 (which I run) and it simply says go to the settings/sound and test your microphone, so played what was on my table and it saw it in Windows, but for some reason, I got a 9999, which is the unanticipated host error and found a solution for that.
Essentially in the RUN command line, type in ms-settings:privacy-microphone into the line and hit enter and it took me to privacy and security section of settings and an option for let desktop apps access your microphone. For some reason, it was turned off. May have been a Microsoft update turning that off, or Audacity but once on, it now sees the output of the Scarlett just fine.
So now I can say, it’s solved and now can resume with playlist projects.