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is it possible to set a virtual microphone which captures the windows audio? The goal is to record audio with google docs. Thank you.

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  • As far as I'm aware, this was a feature taken out of Windows quite a while ago. I used to do this to copy songs from websites like SoundCloud when downloads weren't enabled. If I remember correctly, this ability was taken away.
    – nightsurfer
    Commented Oct 11, 2016 at 18:19
  • It works for me, Windows 10 in 2020.
    – David d C e Freitas
    Commented May 6, 2020 at 21:01

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Try this:

Go into the "Sound" control panel applet, (e.g. Start -> Run -> mmsys.cpl)

select the "Recording" tab,

Then right-click on and enable the "Stereo mix" device.

(If "Stereo Mix" isn't being shown, then right-click in the white space or on one of the listed devices and ensure that "show disabled devices" is enabled)

You should now be able to set that Stereo Mix as a source for recording. i.e. it should show up now as an alternative "input" or "microphone" device in the app you are using.

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  • I want to turn it off. Disabling Stereo mix did not solve it for me. Turning on acoustic echo cancellation in Realtek Audio helped. I am using headphones. Not speakers.
    – Souradeep Nanda
    Commented Jul 7, 2019 at 11:14
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    What if Stereo Mix is not even among the disabled devices?
    – aviator
    Commented Mar 5, 2021 at 17:29
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    @aviator If Stereo Mix isn't among the disable devices, you probably have an old audio driver supplied by your motherboard or computer's manufacturer. Download and install the latest Realtek codes from here, and Stereo Mix may then appear: realtek.com/en/component/zoo/category/…
    – Phil Goetz
    Commented Jul 6, 2022 at 21:30
  • that stereo mix does not work with browser audio capture.
    – Priyank
    Commented May 2, 2023 at 16:15
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    Tested with same Intel HDAudio device on Windows 11 as my previous comment, this time with Realtek Audio Driver version 6.0.8703.1 (provided by Gigabyte here). After reboot, now the "Stereo Mix" device is shown. Again, this test was done using the Realtek driver, RTKVHD64.sys version 6.0.8703.1 (provided by Realtek via Gigabyte's support website). Conclusion: The "Stereo Mix" feature is provided by the OEM Realtek drivers, but not the default Microsoft drivers provided by Windows Update.
    – TrinitronX
    Commented Jan 9 at 17:04

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