How do i prevent steam from resetting my default sound input device?

[Pro100_Red_Mushroom]

My problem with Steam currently is that it somehow keeps resetting my default sound input device from Microphone (Hardware) to Speaker (PC sound) each time it launches.

Yes, i have checked it myself and Steam specifically seems to be causing this. If i change the mic settings, reboot, and check the mic settings again, they stay how they should. But the moment i launch Steam they switche back to Speaker. This does not happen with other programs on my device.
A full AV scan was already performed and yielded no threats and my habits of checking everything before running prevent most malware from being downloaded/executed, so that should be out of the question.

The old solution of going into Settings -> Microphone Settings doesn't work anymore since it was moved to friends list and the friends list microphone settings seem to just provide a way to change the input method as of the moment instead of on each startup like it's doing for me.

OS: Win10 21H1 19043.2006

[Pro100_Red_Mushroom]

Is there really no fix for this bug?

[Iceira]

Sense its possible its a USB device and not just a jack plug in soundcard or onboard, you might want to replug and update that are with driver that mean controller and that soundcard driver and maybe it brand headphones own sofware in top of this.

whats user keep forgetting is usb device is a plug and play system, and most from the past know this, they might need a unplug wait 10 sec reinsert them again so system re-autoconfigurated its ports and apply software already known in system.

be happy someone bother reply this to you. ( we laern all this 20 years ago with usb pronter and it was a hell to install and unplu and reply to get them to work bacj then, now you are could be caught in thing look like the are know what they are doing and is software and Driver actual working as it should, this dont ruleout own pc brand support page os custom vuild pc then its brand borad syupport support place..

and it dont explan as you said it seem to work in system, and it dont help then USB and its ports and cable, besure use right usb2 and not usb 2/3 combi ports , most of them is seen as hard drive usb 3 option for it's speed able.

im sure you know best sense i have no clue what you have as option. i just point out some option you might have to change.

if you need pdf manual in how and what ports option you had then go online to read them, you are not the first that need to look behind a pc and have no clue in what is what thenits all dark in back at pc. ( why bother menation this, been there done that and help other with it. ) prot and choise should be seleted with right option, i have 4 usb ( keyboard,mouse sound with headphones, and a satelit speacker to desktop sametime ) and you forgot prtinter if its not a network printer, and remote hard disk if needed. )

most forget the auto reconfiguration is possible at every usb unit.

gl with it.

ps.
technicaly steam dont change anything it use what system tell it ( system device )
could have said that, but i doubt you and other know that, then you wont have post here.
dont get us wrong here better ask and learn and all other that need to know, then things dont work.

[Iceira]

the very old ways

first you plug in that device and get unknown device then install software, then unplug device then replug it, then its not unknown anymore and sometime even now you need to install its software.

and then even reboot pc 1 or 2 times.

this is why its a plug and play and all depend on what system know about its past drivers and software, and thats why you check up on such now.

why reply this is so you learn not to trust what Microsoft give you, they have the Driver from Product Brand support, and that mean pc board or name support place and that sound unit brand product.

and i could have said Microsoft dont make other Brand Driver, they have no rights to do so. they recive them from our Brand product support.

[Pro100_Red_Mushroom]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Iceira W10:

Sense its possible its a USB device and not just a jack plug in soundcard or onboard, you might want to replug and update that are with driver that mean controller and that soundcard driver and maybe it brand headphones own sofware in top of this.

whats user keep forgetting is usb device is a plug and play system, and most from the past know this, they might need a unplug wait 10 sec reinsert them again so system re-autoconfigurated its ports and apply software already known in system.

be happy someone bother reply this to you. ( we laern all this 20 years ago with usb pronter and it was a hell to install and unplu and reply to get them to work bacj then, now you are could be caught in thing look like the are know what they are doing and is software and Driver actual working as it should, this dont ruleout own pc brand support page os custom vuild pc then its brand borad syupport support place..

and it dont explan as you said it seem to work in system, and it dont help then USB and its ports and cable, besure use right usb2 and not usb 2/3 combi ports , most of them is seen as hard drive usb 3 option for it's speed able.

im sure you know best sense i have no clue what you have as option. i just point out some option you might have to change.

if you need pdf manual in how and what ports option you had then go online to read them, you are not the first that need to look behind a pc and have no clue in what is what thenits all dark in back at pc. ( why bother menation this, been there done that and help other with it. ) prot and choise should be seleted with right option, i have 4 usb ( keyboard,mouse sound with headphones, and a satelit speacker to desktop sametime ) and you forgot prtinter if its not a network printer, and remote hard disk if needed. )

most forget the auto reconfiguration is possible at every usb unit.

gl with it.

Problem here is that it's definitely NOT the USB/Audio ports nor the drivers at fault. I thought about it too initially and checked. All of the drivers are updated and all of the devices are recognised. I've also checked the ports themselves prior to posting and they were all fine -- everything was plugged in the correct way and worked 100% as intended. Plus the microphone is plugged in through a jack instead of a USB port, so there shouldn't be any autoreconfigurations here. And the audio always gets transfered without any hiccups.

Diposting pertama kali oleh Iceira W10:

ps.
technicaly steam dont change anything it use what system tell it ( system device )
could have said that, but i doubt you and other know that, then you wont have post here.
dont get us wrong here better ask and learn and all other that need to know, then things dont work.

I know that programs pull the info from system settings but Steam seems to change it somehow. It's the only program that's giving me this strange behaviour.
I've got other programs that use microphone and they don't switch the default audio input device when they're launched or used or when the microphone itself is used, yet Steam and ONLY Steam does do that, and i'm baffled as to why this happens only with Steam. There's something that specifically Steam does that switches it for no reason.

So, if i had to give a case example: i can use some program that uses microphone (like Discord) fine but the moment i launch Steam (it wasn't running prior to this moment) then suddenly the default system device for audio gets switched as mentioned in my post and the program i was using before that (Discord, but can be other programs too) will also be forced to change to the new system default that Steam enforced.

[Pro100_Red_Mushroom]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Iceira W10:

the very old ways

first you plug in that device and get unknown device then install software, then unplug device then replug it, then its not unknown anymore and sometime even now you need to install its software.

and then even reboot pc 1 or 2 times.

this is why its a plug and play and all depend on what system know about its past drivers and software, and thats why you check up on such now.

why reply this is so you learn not to trust what Microsoft give you, they have the Driver from Product Brand support, and that mean pc board or name support place and that sound unit brand product.

and i could have said Microsoft dont make other Brand Driver, they have no rights to do so. they recive them from our Brand product support.

I mentioned my OS to immidietly rule out that i don't use a Linux system since i know some distributions always have some issues with audio and device recognition and need additional adjustments in the system itself.

[Iceira]

yeah, then you are in trouble, you can ask steam support, lets see what they say then, if they did something.

ps.
other stupid test, is on other pc . more a does it work there.
sounds like you did all things as you should do , and know the past way even only system and port check is left with other hardware just incase you have a port that is bad connected or cable, odds are slim its even that , but you know why you test with other headphones and spare pc, more a what if other things, who has not seen bend cable near plug in and things down this road thats so hard to proof.

from pet or bird take a bite in a cable. ( atleast that can explan bad connection cable maybe )
and i bet you know why i wrote this.

test with discord and skype echo test, if they work then steam support is only way and hope you get lucky and they know the problem.

[Iceira]

ehh this is not a laptop by the way ?, they can auto switch between headphones and internal speaker as they are plugged in or not. ( work as intended ) they can auto mute internal speaker if they see headphones. ( this can give issue if steam is set to specific device and not what default system is atm. and even fail if game is running and unplug it.

logic for experience user and yet, you forget it then you dont have hands-on here.