Why does launching a game mute all desktop sounds?

[ii_ocim]

Whenever I launch a game on my pc, for some reason it mutes all desktop apps like Discord, youtube, or Spotify while the game application is open even tho there are indicators that my microphone is being used and music/videos are playing

In my case, Stardew Valley, Valorant, Brawlhalla, Minecraft, and Assetto mute the desktop after any type of sound is produced in the interface/game. volume mixers are still on 100% but only play the game sound

After closing the game, sounds from Discord and Spotify continue and I can hear audio from the desktop, etc

I'm also not sure if this is a Steam problem or just my computer audio being weird

I’m using a wired connection headset too bruh bc a lot of forums have the same issue but with bt headsets

If anyone has any solutions or suggestions I would gladly appreciate it thanks.

[ii_ocim]

Correction: Valorant and Minecraft run on separate launchers so must be my computer

[Iceira]

i know windows has a app sound setting now. right click volume and see if its set to Zero after as update maybe. ( the apps require to be open so you can see Volume level per app )
example "speaker" , "system sounds" , "Steam" , "discord"
yes it can happend they somhow get to Zero and , even i dont know why, never happend to me but other users.

ps.
plenty of user have notice discord or other app lost sounds that way, i cant say this is same but it could be.


other know issue , multi output device , and user have change in app own sounds and not use system default sounds and output device. some few apps has even own configuration.exe to set sounds.

make sure windows default sounds work first. that is best way to debug rest of the lost sounds.

[IAmArgo]

d

[Phénomènes Mystiques]

When audio is only working on one certain device, that is due to Exclusive Mode in the Sound Settings < Sound Control Panel < Device < Properties < Advanced tab.

Uncheck allow apps to take control.. blah blah...

This happens all the time in my studio because I use this PC for gaming and producing.

[Doriphor]

Did you find a solution? My wife has the same issue with her new laptop. It has THX sound so I thought that might be it? We tried disabling exclusive mode and it didn't change a thing.

[killy]

Try this, in Windows 11 go to: System > Sound > All sound devices > Click on your current output device > Change the "Sound Enhancements" setting to "Off"

No need to reboot or restart the game/app, it fixed it right away for me.

[picklepicklepickle]

Originally posted by killy:

Try this, in Windows 11 go to: System > Sound > All sound devices > Click on your current output device > Change the "Sound Enhancements" setting to "Off"

No need to reboot or restart the game/app, it fixed it right away for me.

This was driving me absolutely insane, thank you!!

[Mike]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.