Realtek Audio Driver enables the operating system to communicate with audio components on your system, be it internal or external speakers. But, lately, many users have been experiencing audio issues, such as audio glitches, audio cutting out, or no audio at all on their Windows 11 computers. All of these issues are equally irksome to experience.

Fortunately, since the issue seems to be with the driver and not the hardware itself, it is relatively easier to diagnose and resolve. Just follow the methods mentioned below and you will be done before you know.

That being said, you might have to try more than one solution listed in this guide to completely eliminate the issue from your computer.

However, before you proceed to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, take a look at the common culprits behind the issue.

Common Culprits Behind the Audio Issue

Listed below are some potential issues that could be the reason for the audio issue on your system:

  • Incompatible, outdated, or corrupted driver.
  • Misconfigured audio settings.
  • The output device is not connected (if trying to play audio using an external device).
  • The wrong audio output device is selected.
  • Disabled audio services.

Now that you know the possible reasons behind the voice issues you have been facing, let’s start with the fixes.

1. Make Sure the Correct Audio Output Channel is Selected

Many times, the wrong output channel is selected to relay the sound from your Windows device, which could falsely make you believe that the speakers on the device are not working properly. It only takes a second to check and, if it turns out to be the culprit, can save you tons of time.

First, click on the ‘Volume’ button present on the taskbar.

After that, click on the ‘Sound output’ button on the far right edge of the volume slider.

Next, ensure that you have selected the channel through which you wish to listen to the audio.

If the correct audio output is selected, proceed to other fixes.

2. Enable Audio Device from Volume Mixer

There is also a possibility that the audio device on which you wish to listen to sound has been disabled. Additionally, if you have toggled on many audio enhancements, there is also a high possibility of fixing the issue just by disabling the enhancements.

First, head to the Start Menu and click on the ‘Settings’ tile to continue. Alternatively, press the Windows+I keys together on your keyboard to open the app.

After that, ensure you have selected the ‘System’ tab from the left sidebar to proceed.

Next, from the right section of the window, click on the ‘Sound’ tile to continue.

Now, scroll down and click on the ‘More sound settings’ tile. This will open a separate window on your screen.

From the separately opened window, right-click on the component you are trying to listen to audio from and then select the ‘Enable’ option.

Note: You’ll see the ‘Enable’ option only for disabled components. All the disabled components will be greyed out.

In case the device was already enabled or you are still not able to listen to audio even after enabling it, you can try disabling the enhancements for the specific component.

To disable all enhancements, from the ‘Volume mixer’ window, select the component you are not able to receive audio from and then click on the ‘Properties’ button. This will bring a separate window to your screen.

Click on the ‘Enhancements’ tab and then click on the checkbox preceding the ‘Disable all enhancements’ option. Finally, click on the ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’ buttons respectively to confirm and close.

3. Run Audio Troubleshooter

One of the most basic yet effective fixes is to run the audio troubleshooter. The troubleshooter will help you diagnose as well as resolve the issue for you.

First, head to the Start Menu and click on the ‘Settings’ tile to continue. Alternatively, press the Windows+I keys together on your keyboard.

After that, ensure you have selected the ‘System’ tab from the left sidebar.

Next, click on the ‘Troubleshooter’ tile from the right section of the window.

Then, click on the ‘Other troubleshooter’ tile to proceed.

Now, click on the ‘Run’ button present on the ‘Playing audio’ tile to initiate the troubleshooting.

If the troubleshooter finds a problem, it’ll guide you on the next steps to take.

4. Update Windows

If you have not updated your PC for a quite while, there could be a high possibility that a simple update might be able to fix your problem.

First, head to the Start menu and click on the ‘Settings’ tile.

After that, click on the ‘Windows Update’ tile from the left sidebar to proceed.

Then, from the right section of the window, click on the ‘Check for updates’ button. Otherwise, click on the ‘Download & Install’ button to download the updates.

5. Update Realtek Audio Driver

There are 3 major ways you can update the audio driver on your Windows 11 device. You can either update it from the Settings app, use the Device Manager to search for the latest driver, or force update it.

To update the driver using the Settings app, head to the Start Menu and click on the ‘Settings’ tile.

Then, click on the ‘Windows Update’ tab from the left sidebar.

Next, click on the ‘Advanced Options’ tile from the right section to continue.

Then, click on the ‘Optional Updates’ tile to proceed.

Now, select the updates having ‘Realtek’ as a suffix or prefix by clicking on the individual checkboxes. Then, click on the ‘Download & Install’ button.

Once installed, restart your PC if not automatically restarted. Then check if it resolved the issue.

If you wish to update the driver using the Device Manager, head to the Start Menu and type Device Manager. Then, click on the ‘Device Manager’ tile to proceed.

After that, double-click on the ‘Audio inputs and outputs’ option to expand the section. Then, right-click on the ‘Speaker’ component and click on the ‘Update driver’ option. This will open a separate window on your screen.

Now, from the separately opened window, either click on the ‘Automatically search for drivers’ to let the Windows search for a driver. Otherwise, click on the ‘Browse my computer for drivers’ option to install the drivers manually.

You can also force update the driver, right-click on the ‘Speaker’ component and select the ‘Uninstall’ device. This will bring a prompt to your screen.

Then, click on the ‘Uninstall’ button to initiate the process.

After you have installed the driver, restart your device. After the restart, head to the ‘Windows Update’ tab from the Settings app.

Next, head to the ‘Optional Updates’ section.

Now, select available updates by clicking on the checkbox having ‘Realtek’ as a prefix or suffix ad then click on the ‘Download & Install’ button.

Once the update is complete, restart your PC and check if it has resolved the issue.

6. Enable Audio Services

Another potential reason for audio issues on your Windows 11 device could be disabled audio services. Fortunately, you can easily re-enable them using the Windows Services monitor.

First, head to the Start Menu and type Services to perform a search. Then, from the search results, click on the ‘Services’ tile to continue.

Now, locate and double-click on the ‘Windows Audio’ service. This will open a separate window on your screen.

Next, click on the drop-down menu following the ‘Startup type’ option and select the ‘Automatic’ option. Also, if the service is not currently running on your PC, click on the ‘Start’ button and then press the ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’ buttons.

7. Roll Back to a System Restore Point

If you have a reason to believe that a recent software upgrade or a third-party software installation might be the culprit behind the issue, you can also roll back to a system restore point.

Press the Windows+R shortcut on your keyboard to bring up the ‘Run Command’ utility. Then, type Control and hit Enter on your keyboard.

After that, locate and click on the ‘Recovery’ tile from the grid of icons.

Next, click on the ‘Open System Restore’ option from the list. This will open a separate window on your screen.

From the separately opened window, click on the ‘Next’ button.

You will then see the list of System Restore points you can roll back to. Click to select from the list and click on the ‘Next’ button.

You will now see the drives that will be rolled back using the chosen restore point from the ‘Drives’ section. If you also wish to see the files and programs it’ll impact, click on the ‘Scan for the affected programs’ option. This will open a separate window.

On the new window, you can view the programs that will be deleted and the ones that will be restored. (In our case there were no programs that were going to have an impact from the restore, hence the list in the screenshot below is empty). Click on the ‘Close’ button to close the window.

Finally, click on the ‘Finish’ button to start the System Restore process on your Windows 11 PC.

If the issue was the work of a recent update or any third-party software installation, you should no longer face the problem. However, in case you are still facing the error, hop on to the next solution.

8. Reset your PC

If no method has been able to fix the issue on your PC, the last resort is to reset your PC. Thankfully, you will not lose your personal files and folders. However, resetting your PC will remove all the programs that you have installed and also bring all the settings to their default configurations.

To reset your PC, head to the Start Menu, and click on the ‘Settings’ tile present under the ‘Pinned apps’ section. Alternatively, type Settings in the menu to perform a search.

After that, from the Settings window, make sure you have selected the ‘System’ tab present on the left sidebar.

From the right section of the window, scroll down to locate and click on the ‘Recovery’ tile.

Then, on the ‘Recovery’ settings screen, locate the ‘Reset this PC’ tile and click on the ‘Reset PC’ button present on the far right edge of the tile to proceed. This will open a separate window on your screen.

Now, from the separately opened window, click on the ‘Keep my files’ tile to proceed. In case you wish to remove all your personal files as well when resetting, click on the ‘Remove everything’ option.

On the next screen, you will need to choose a method for reinstalling the operating system on your machine. Since there could be an issue with the copy already present on your system, we’ll recommend you to use the ‘Cloud download’ option.

Note: ‘Cloud download’ will require an active internet connection and will consume upwards of 4 GB of data.

After that, Windows will list the settings that you have chosen. In case you wish to change any of it, click on the ‘Change settings’ option.

If you chose to change the settings, on the next screen, you can choose to not restore the apps and settings by clicking on the toggle switch present under the ‘Restore preinstalled apps?’ option to bring to the ‘No’ position. You can even switch from the Cloud download to locate the install by clicking on the toggle switch from the Cloud download to local install by clicking on the toggle switch present under the ‘Download Windows?’ option to change the install method. Once adjusted according to your preference, click on the ‘Confirm’ button to proceed.

After that, from the main window, click on the ‘Next’ button to continue.

In case your PC was updated recently, you will receive a message on the screen stating that you will not be able to roll back on resetting the PC. To continue, click on the ‘Next’ button.

After that, Windows will list out all the impacts resetting your PC will have on your system. Read them carefully and click on the ‘Reset’ to commence the resetting process.

Having audio issues is frustrating and annoying. Thankfully, using the methods mentioned above, you can easily diagnose and resolve the issue all by yourself.