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After plugging in headphones/microphone set, my desktop speaker no longer plays sound? WINDOWS 10

So sound then plays from headphone only - How can I get the sound from both headphone and desktop speakers (I did follow steps at http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-pictures/audio-playback-through-headphones-and-speakers/faf2cb4a-b853-44a6-a7ee-37abaeb327c5 But it did not work on my pc?)

Also when I plug my headphones in, my pc speakers are no longer detected in the Sound / Playback box. There is also no “Stereo Mix” in that box. I will do a screenshot

I should add that previously, I have not had any problems, when I first got the headphones and plugged them in, they just started working alongside my desktop PC Speakers, I did not have to enable anything or muck around in the system tray, same when I upgraded to Windows 10, no problems, no muss, no fuss.

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Stevoisiak
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user650471
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  • Something about your system did change. It might be a software driver setting. Mine has an option to automatically switch it but usually that doesn't mean the speakers disappear. Check your drivers and maybe install the ones which are meant for your system instead of the windows default ones. Did you recently get the anniversary update? Had several people that needed to reinstall audio drivers after it. – Seth Oct 10 '16 at 06:25
  • There's a hardware switch inside the socket which tells the OS a headset has been inserted. The OS can be told to ignore that switch. It's in the Realtek control panel, rather than the system sound panel [not on a windows machine right now so can't tell you exactly where] – Tetsujin Oct 10 '16 at 06:30
  • Yes, I did get the anniversary update, but I was experiencing some other problems (like unable to access Microsoft updates / certain websites / skype not working) so the only thing available on the Microsoft help page was that update, after downloading it made no difference to the problems I was experiencing – user650471 Oct 11 '16 at 22:06
  • experiencing so just after that I did a whole system restore (it took 2-3 days to reinstall and update everything and 12gb download data -talk about time wasting) but now I have access to Microsoft / Skype and to almost all web pages (bar the ABC Classic FM radio Listen page(?)) So when I click on my audio driver it says it is up to date. I feel I should just give up on my head set and only plug it in when I need to, as I do not seem to be able to get any definitive answers. (On another note, I still occasionally get weird flashing / blinking phenomenon when I using outlook or word?) – user650471 Oct 11 '16 at 22:07
  • "I do not seem to be able to get any definitive answers." Did you even look at the Realtek Control Panel as I suggested above? – Tetsujin Oct 12 '16 at 07:37
  • Related: [Why can't I use my internal microphone at the same time as my headphones?](https://superuser.com/q/455362/358766) – Stevoisiak Aug 10 '18 at 16:03

1 Answers1

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This is most likely a hardware feature. You can't use both connectors at the same time. It's only one sound card after all as well.

The only options I could think of:

  • Use an y-cable or adapter to split the signal from either port for speakers and headphones. You'll hear the same on both.

  • Add a dedicated sounds card to hear different things, e.g. game sounds on speakers, voice chat on headphones.

Mario
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