Why Is My Microphone Not Working? Step-by-Step Fixes

A microphone that “stopped working” almost never means the hardware failed overnight. In the vast majority of cases it’s a settings problem — the wrong input device selected, a revoked app permission, or a mismatch between your operating system’s default microphone and the specific app you’re using. This guide works through the fastest checks first, then platform-by-platform fixes for Windows, Mac, Zoom, Teams, Google Meet and Discord.

2-minute checklist (try this first)

1. Check for a physical mute. Headsets and standalone mics often have a mute button or in-line switch — easy to miss, the single most common false alarm.
2. Confirm the right input device is selected system-wide. Open your OS sound settings and check the default microphone is actually the one you’re trying to use.
3. Check the app’s own device selection. Zoom, Teams, Discord and your browser can each independently pick a different microphone than your system default.
4. Check app-level mic permission at the OS level. A revoked permission looks and behaves exactly like a broken microphone from inside the app.
5. Try a different USB port or cable for wired/USB microphones — rules out a connection fault in seconds.
6. Test it in a neutral tool to confirm the fix actually worked before trusting it in a real call.

Fixing microphone issues on Windows

Open Settings > System > Sound > Input and confirm the correct microphone is selected as the input device, then speak and watch the volume bar move as you talk. If nothing moves, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone and confirm both “Microphone access” and “Let apps access your microphone” are turned on — a Windows update occasionally resets this toggle silently. If the device doesn’t appear in the list at all, open Device Manager, look under “Audio inputs and outputs” for a yellow warning icon, and try “Update driver” before assuming the microphone itself has failed.

Fixing microphone issues on Mac

Go to System Settings > Sound > Input and confirm the correct microphone is selected, watching the input level bar as you speak. Then check System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone and make sure the specific app you’re using has the toggle switched on — macOS asks for this permission the first time each app tries to use the mic, and denying it once by accident is a common, easy-to-miss cause.

Permission issues specifically — rather than device selection — are common enough to deserve their own deep dive: see Microphone Access Denied? How to Allow Mic Permissions if the steps above point to a permissions problem.

Zoom microphone not working

Inside a Zoom meeting or in Settings > Audio, check the microphone dropdown and click Test Mic — you should see the input level move as you speak. If the dropdown is empty or the wrong device is listed, close Zoom completely and reopen it, since Zoom sometimes only detects a newly connected microphone after a fresh launch. If the test still shows nothing, the issue is very likely the OS-level permission described above rather than Zoom itself.

Microsoft Teams microphone not working

Go to Settings > Devices in Teams and explicitly reselect your microphone from the dropdown, even if it already looks correct — Teams can silently fall back to a different device after a call ends. If your mic works in every other app but not in Teams specifically, check that Teams has microphone permission separately from your system-wide setting, since some organisations manage Teams permissions through a separate policy that overrides personal settings.

Google Meet microphone not working

Click the three-dot menu inside a Meet call, choose Settings > Audio, and confirm the correct microphone is selected. Because Meet runs in the browser, also check your browser’s own site permissions — in Chrome, click the padlock icon in the address bar and confirm “Microphone” is set to Allow for meet.google.com specifically, separate from any OS-level permission.

Discord microphone not working

Open User Settings > Voice & Video and confirm the correct input device is selected, then check the Input Sensitivity slider — if it’s set too high, Discord may never register your voice as loud enough to transmit, which looks identical to a broken microphone. Also confirm Discord has microphone access in your operating system’s privacy settings, since app-level and OS-level permissions are checked separately.

When it actually is a hardware problem

If your microphone fails the same way in multiple, completely unrelated apps and websites — not just one — and you’ve confirmed it isn’t muted and is plugged into a working port, the hardware itself is the more likely culprit. Common physical causes include a frayed or damaged cable, a failing USB port (test a different one on the same computer), or, for wireless headsets, a depleted battery or an unpaired Bluetooth connection. At that point, testing with a completely different microphone in the same setup is the fastest way to confirm whether it’s the device or something else entirely.

Wrap-up

Work through the checklist in order: physical mute, system input device, app-level device selection, permissions, connection, then a neutral test. The overwhelming majority of “microphone not working” cases resolve in the first three steps, because a settings mismatch is far more common than an actual hardware failure.