How to use Windows Update on Windows 7
- Click on the Start menu and select Control Panel.
- Click on System and Security and Windows Update.
- Choose the Check for Updates link.
- Wait for the results. Look for audio drivers either in the main view or under the Optional Updates category.
- Click the Install button!
Turn on the computer and check if the sound driver is installed in the computer. Click “Start”, “Control Panel”, “System”, “Hardware” and “Device Manager”, and then check under “Sound, Video and Game Controllers”. If there is a yellow question mark beside the name of your sound device, you need to install the driver.
Open the Control Panel. In the Control Panel, if viewing by Category, click the Hardware and Sound option, then click Sound on the next screen. If viewing by icons, click the Sound icon. In the Sound window, click the Sounds tab.
Double-click the Realtek HD Audio Manager system tray icon. Click the small folder icon (see the image below). Check that the 'Disable front panel jack detection' box is cleared. Now insert the jack plug of either a microphone or headphone into the corresponding front panel socket of your computer.
ASIO is the recommended audio driver on Windows. There are a variety of audio drivers available for Windows such as ASIO, MME/Direct X, Realtek, Direct Sound and Direct Capture. We recommend ASIO as the best audio driver for the following reasons: ASIO is a professional level audio driver for Windows.
Latest Drivers in Audio and Multimedia
- Realtek UAD Driver 6.0.8900.1-3.
- VIA Vinyl HD Audio Driver 11.1100e for Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP.
- Creative Sound Blaster 4 Driver 3.01.0050.
- Realtek AC 97 ALC650 Audio CODECs Driver 6305 for Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7 (32/64 bits)
You can find and download the latest driver on Realtek website. After you go to the website, use “audio” to start the search. Then select and download the correct driver corresponding with the model of your Realtek sound card and the version of Windows. Then double click on the downloaded file to install the driver.
Use Device Manager to check if the audio device is disabled, and then install an available driver update.
- In Windows, search for and open Device Manager.
- Double-click Sound, video and game controllers.
- Right-click the audio device, and then select Update Driver.
Easily switch audio devices on Windows
- To switch Playback devices, left-click the Audio Switch icon in the system tray and select it from the list.
- To switch Recording devices, hold Ctrl and left-click the Audio Switch icon.
- To hide specific audio devices from the list, right-click the icon > Settings > Devices.
The “No audio output device” error can be due to a corrupted or incompatible sound card driver. So, reinstalling the sound card's driver might fix the issue for some users. Follow the guidelines below to reinstall the audio card driver. Click Device Manager on the Win + X menu to open that window.
Method 2: Manually uninstall & reinstall the device driver
1) Still in Device Manager, once again expand Sound, video and game controllers, right-click on your audio device, and click Uninstall to uninstall the driver. 2) Restart your PC. After restarting, Windows should automatically re-install the sound driver.msc and press Enter to open Device Manager. 3) In the Sound, video and game controllers section, right-click on your audio device, then click Uninstall. 4) Reboot your Windows 7. Windows should reinstall the audio driver automatically.
Go to Start > Control Panel > hardware and Sound > Device Manager. Expand the device tree under Sound, video and game controllers. Make sure there isn't a yellow warning icon on any of your audio devices under the tree. If you have the option to stop Windows from installing the audio driver again on reboot, stop it.
