[BEST FIX] Troubleshooting ‘No audio output device is installed’ Errors in Windows 10

I have to say, Windows 10 is a pretty great upgrade from its predecessors, and a lot of people have jumped on the bandwagon. The launch has been quite smooth overall, but there have been a few bumps along the way. One common issue that keeps cropping up when switching to Windows 10 is an error message that says ‘No audio output device is installed’.

I encountered this problem myself when I upgraded my test machine from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. Even though I had the Realtek audio driver installed, it just wouldn’t cooperate with Windows 10. Luckily, I was able to find a simple solution to restore my audio.

How to Fix ‘No audio output device is installed’ errors in Windows 10

First, let’s check if Windows 10 has recognized your audio device. Then we can check and update the drivers if needed. There’s also a quick audio setting you can try to get Windows 10 to acknowledge your audio card.

If you have the Anniversary Update version of Windows 10, here’s what you do:

1. Click on the speaker icon in the bottom right corner of your screen, next to the clock.
2. Click the up arrow in the top right of the small window that appears.
3. Check if your audio device is listed.

There’s no strict rule for this step. Sometimes, the audio device will be listed but not working. Other times, it won’t be listed at all. If yours is listed, click on it and test the audio again.

Next, let’s update the drivers. If you don’t have the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, you’ll need to start here as well.

1. Right-click on the Windows Start Button and select Device Manager.
2. Select Sound, video and game controllers.
3. Select your audio device, right-click, and choose Update Driver Software.
4. Select Automatic and let Windows do its thing. If it doesn’t find a newer driver, visit the manufacturer’s website and download the latest driver. If you’re using onboard audio, visit your motherboard manufacturer’s website and do the same.

Once the drivers are updated, restart your computer and test the audio again. If that doesn’t work, we can try to force Windows to recognize it.

1. Right-click on the Windows Start Button and select Device Manager.
2. Select Sound, video and game controllers.
3. Select your audio device, right-click, and choose Uninstall.
4. Click the computer icon at the top of Device Manager and scan for hardware changes. Let Windows attempt to detect your audio hardware and link a driver to it.
5. If Windows doesn’t pick up the hardware through a scan, restart your computer. You should see a ‘Detecting new hardware’ dialog box. If you don’t, manually update the driver once more, restart, and test the audio again.

If you’re having trouble with your audio equipment and it’s listed with a driver installed, try this simple trick to get it up and running again.

1. First, right-click on the Start Button in Windows and choose Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel, select Hardware and Sound, then click on Manage audio devices.
3. Find your audio device in the list, then right-click on it and select Properties.
4. In the Properties window, go to the Advanced tab. Set the Default Format to either 24bit/44100 Hz or 24bit/192000Hz. Click OK and test your audio again.

One of these methods should fix any ‘No audio output device is installed’ errors in Windows 10. If you have any other methods that work, we’d love to hear about them. Just leave a comment below!