Welcome back, in today’s video I’ll be showing you how to set up headphones and a
microphone which might be part of a headset on a Windows 11 PC or laptop.
The method should work for any headset or headphones and microphone combination.
You should be able to follow this video to set up any device whether it is connected
via a USB, a 3.5mm connector or another type of connection.
The video should also help fix minor issues with your headphones or microphone, for example
if they are not selected.
Check my channel if you have any other problems as I’ll have videos that help fix headphones
or microphones that aren’t working in Windows.
Remember to leave a like and feel free to subscribe if the video helps, let’s get
into the method.
Before setting up the devices, we need to focus on the connections.
Make sure the headphones and microphone are connected to the right port, it’s easy to
get them the wrong way round if you are using the 3.5mm ports.
Also make sure they are inserted fully and that the ports are compatible for example
with USB 2 and USB 3, although this is unlikely.
In order to set up headphones and a microphone in Windows 11, we need to set up both parts
separately.
We’ll start by setting up the headphones or the sound output device.
To do this, go to the main settings page.
You can get there a number of ways, but we’ll be searching for it in the search bar.
In the settings, go to the system settings from the options on the left although you
should be already in there by default.
In the system settings, click on the option called sound.
Within the sound settings, find the section called output.
It should be right at the top.
Under here, it should say something like choose where to play sound.
Below this, you should see the list of headphones or sound output devices connected to your
PC.
If you have multiple, select the one you want to use by checking the box to the left of
its name.
If you don’t see your device here, scroll down and click on all sound devices.
Now find your device from the output section, click on it and then choose allow on the next
page.
It should now appear back in the input section of the main sound settings page.
From here, you can also quickly adjust the volume of the headphones with the slider.
Click once on your headphones to customize some of the settings.
First, you might be able to rename your headphones to something that helps you differentiate
them with the others.
Click rename under its current name to do this.
Also, within here, you can change some more settings, such as the quality format, the
main volume and the volume for the left and right channel separately.
There might also be other settings to customize in here like the option to turn on enhanced
audio or spatial sound.
You can search for the latest drivers at the top of the page which is quite helpful too.
Go back to the sound settings page, as we’ll now set up the microphone or sound input device.
Within the sound settings, scroll down until you are in the section called input.
Under here, it should say something like choose a device for speaking and recording.
Below this, you should see the list of microphones connected to your PC.
If you have multiple, select the one you want to use by checking the box to the left of
its name, just like you did with the headphones.
If you don’t see your device here, scroll down and click on all sound devices again.
Find your device from the input section, click on it and then choose allow on the next page.
It should now appear back in the input section of the main sound settings page.
From here, you can also quickly adjust the input volume of the microphone with the slider.
Click once on your microphone to customize some of the settings.
You can rename your microphone like you did with your headphones at the top.
Also within here, you can change some more settings, such as the quality format and the
input volume for just this microphone.
You can test your microphone to see if it is working properly and there could be other
options in here in the future or depending on the exact microphone and its connection
type.
You can also search for drivers again at the top.
That’s the basic set up for headphones and a microphone, but there is a different way
to do it that might help if for some reason the previous method isn’t working.
It might also give us extra options to choose and customize such as a bass boost for headphones
or a mic boost for the microphone.
To try this method, first go to the control panel.
You can get there by searching for it in the search bar.
In the control panel, click on hardware and sound.
Now click on sound and it should open a separate window.
In the new window, first go to the playback tab.
You should see all of the headphones, speakers and other output devices in here.
If you don’t see it, right click on an option and choose show disabled and show disconnected
devices.
To enable your headphones in here, right click on them and then click on enable.
You can set it as the default sound output device in here too with the button.
To customize the headphone’s settings from here, double click on your headphones or right
click on it and then go to properties.
In the properties window you can try and update any drivers by going to properties again,
this time for the controller, then to the driver tab and then click on update drivers
if you can.
Back in the main properties window, each tab will have a few options to choose.
The levels tab allows you to change the volume and the enhancements tab which may or may
not be there depending on your headphones could include things like the bass boost.
There will be other tabs that will have more ways to customize the sound, but these will
differ with each pair of headphones.
You can now follow most of these steps but for the microphone.
The microphones on your PC will be in the recording tab so click on that.
Make sure your mic is enabled here, and then go into the properties like we did for the
headphones.
In the properties window you can try and update the drivers and look in each tab for extra
customization options.
The levels tab will allow you to change the input volume and you might be able to adjust
the mic boost in here to.
In the advanced tab you might have more ways to customize the microphone such as the quality
format.
You can close this window once you are happy with the settings.
And so that is how to set up headphones and a microphone which might be part of a headset
on a Windows 11 PC or laptop.
Click the card on screen now to watch a video of mine showing you ten easy ways you can
speed up your Windows PC.
Those methods should work on nearly all versions of Windows.
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Thanks so much for watching and I will see you in another video!