Having trouble getting started on new computer

[barbarawr]

I used Audacity with Windows XP and then with Vista, but I am not getting anywhere with Windows 7. I have no input devices to choose from, so I went to Start > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound then looked at the "Recording" tab. My only two choices were microphone and line in, both of which said they weren't plugged in. So... does that mean I can't record anything from the computer itself? Not knowing what else to do, I went to Device manager and looked to see what I had for my Sound, Video, and Game Controllers. I've got Realtek High Definition Audio. It says it's working properly and when I clicked on "update driver" it told me I had the most current one.

I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit, and it's a Compaq if that helps.

Any ideas?
Thank you!
Barbara

[kozikowski]

It's the first thing new computer owners want to do and it's the very last thing on the Windows/Microsoft To-Do list.

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recor ... e_computer

Or you can cut right to the chase...

http://www.applian.com/freecorder4/download.php

Koz

[barbarawr]

Thanks, but I CAN actually do it with Audacity now. My brand new computer had my sound card disabled for recording!! Once I started doing searches for "hidden" and "disabled", I found a post somewhere that told me what to do and it solved my problem!

I clicked on Start > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound then, on the Recording tab, I right-clicked on the big box that had my 2 unplugged input choices in it, and ta da - there was no check mark next to "disabled devices". I put a check next to it and there was my disabled sound card. I said to enable it and now I'm all set.

Phew! Thank you!

[kozikowski]

You got lucky. Many people find they have no "hidden" features and have to resort to software to make it all work.

Koz