I had reason to disable the built-in MIC on my Windows 8.1 Dell Latitude E5550 laptop. I did the usual thing and went to the control panel and selected SOUND clicked the recording tab, found the MIC and chose properties and select to disable this device (Do not use). Voila the MIC disappeared.
This was all good until I realized I may want it back at some time and may not remember how I got rid of it. I decided to bring it back to be sure. It wasn’t there! It also was not in the device manager any longer. I had expected to see it with the RED X denoting – disabled like some old versions of Windows did. That is not the case. Disabled in Windows 8.1 also means invisible. Here is how I brought it back.
A quick search led me to a Microsoft community article that showed me how to do this and I had no idea I could do this. I will test it in earlier Windows version soon.
Perform the tasks mentioned below to set Microphone as default device and then enable it.
1. Go to Start and click on control Panel.
2. Click in Sound, then a new window will open.
3. In the new windows click on the tab “Recording” and right-click in the window and click on Show Disabled devices.
4. Now check if the microphone is listed there and highlight the microphone and click on “Set as Default” device.
5. Now right-click on it and choose enable.
Doing this will enable the built-in Microphone.
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