You can hear everyone on the call and nobody can hear you, and the headset you are wearing works fine everywhere else. Teams has picked a different device.
An app chooses its own microphone and speaker, separately from Windows. It does not tell you when it changes its mind. That is the whole fault in most cases.
I counted the audio devices registered on this machine first, and Windows was holding twenty one of them.
The setting Teams actually uses
Start here, because it is right nine times out of ten.
Documented by Microsoft on its Teams microphone page: "In Teams, select Settings and more > Settings. Select Devices. Under Audio settings, make sure your mic is selected from the Microphone dropdown menu."
⭐ Teams keeps its own choice. Changing the Windows default does not change what Teams uses. That surprises almost everybody.
⚡ The same page has a Speaker dropdown. It goes wrong the same way when you can talk but not hear.
⚠️ A headset that connects after Teams is open often does not get picked up. Restart Teams. Do it with the headset already on.
Ours: twenty one devices, five of them live
The count that explains why the dropdown is confusing.
Ours, and Windows here was holding more than I expected. There were 14 playback devices and 7 recording devices registered, and of which only five were live, three for playback and two for recording.
⚡ One line counts yours, and it touches only the registry:
(Get-ChildItem "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MMDevices\Audio\Capture").Count⭐ Every headset and webcam you have ever plugged in leaves an entry behind. That is why a dropdown offers you devices that are not in the room.
⛔ So pick by name, not by position in the list. The order changes when hardware comes and goes.
Microsoft's own test, and its two limits
Worth doing before you join anything important.
In Microsoft's words: "Select Make a test call to test your settings. Follow the instructions from Test Call Bot and record a short message. The message will play back for you."
⚠️ Two limits Microsoft states outright: "The test call feature is currently available in English only" and "The test call feature is currently unavailable on Teams for web."
⭐ It plays your own voice back. That settles in ten seconds whether the problem is yours or theirs.
The cause Microsoft's page does not mention
The one to know about, and it is missing from the official guidance.
⚠️ We could not find anything on that page about another application holding the microphone. It covers the dropdown, unplugging and replugging, Bluetooth and muting, and stops there.
⛔ But an app that took your microphone in exclusive mode keeps it. Teams then shows the device, offers it in the list, and records silence.
⭐ Close every other app that uses audio, then try again. A browser tab in a meeting. A recording tool, a game, a virtual camera app.
⚡ The switch that allows this lives in the old Sound dialog. Exclusive mode, and the devices Windows hides from Settings entirely, is the screen to look at.
The other three from Microsoft's list
Quick, because they are quick.
On a missing device: "If your mic isn't in the Microphone dropdown menu, unplug and plug it back in."
On Bluetooth: "If you're having trouble using a Bluetooth mic, make sure it's charged and not connected to another device. Then try reconnecting."
On the obvious one: "If the mic icon has a line through it, you're currently on mute. Select Unmute mic to unmute."
⚠️ Bluetooth earbuds paired to a phone as well will silently keep the phone. Easily the commonest version of this.
When it is Windows rather than Teams
How to tell in one step.
⭐ Open Settings, System, Sound and speak into the microphone. If the level bar there does not move, Teams is innocent.
⚡ A level bar that does not move points at permissions or the driver. Levels, permissions and the order to check them.
⚠️ A level bar that moves while Teams stays silent points back at Teams, and at the app-level exclusive hold above.
⛔ Ours, and marked as ours: test in Windows first. Ten seconds, and it decides which of two very different investigations you are in.
Zoom, Meet and everything else
Same shape, different menu.
⭐ Every meeting app keeps its own device choice. Zoom under Audio, Meet in the browser's own site permissions, Slack under Audio and Video.
⚡ Fix one and the others can still be wrong. None of them share the setting.
⚠️ A browser adds a second layer, because the site needs microphone permission before the app can see any device at all.
⭐ Set the Windows default too while you are there. It is a separate setting again, and it is the one new apps inherit.
Status: checked against Microsoft's Teams microphone documentation, 25 August 2026, on Windows 11. Microsoft's page gives the Settings, Devices, Audio settings route, the Microphone dropdown, the Make a test call and Test Call Bot steps and their two stated limits, the unplug and replug advice, the Bluetooth guidance and the mute wording. The device counts were measured here. We could not find the exclusive-hold cause on that page.
Why can nobody hear me in Teams when my mic works elsewhere?
Because Teams stores its own microphone choice, separate from the Windows default. Open Settings and more, then Settings, then Devices, and check which device the Microphone dropdown is actually on. Changing the Windows default does not change it.
Why does my headset not appear in the Teams dropdown?
Microsoft's advice is to unplug it and plug it back in. If it is Bluetooth, make sure it is charged and not still connected to your phone. That is the commonest version. A headset connected after Teams opened often needs Teams restarted.
How do I test my microphone in Teams?
Use Make a test call, which records a short message and plays it back through Test Call Bot. Microsoft notes two limits: it is English only, and it does not work in Teams on the web.
Teams shows my microphone but records silence. Why?
Usually another application has taken the device in exclusive mode and will not release it. Close anything else using audio, including browser tabs in meetings and recording tools, then try again. Microsoft's own page does not cover this one.
The Short Version
- Teams keeps its own microphone and speaker choice, separate from Windows.
- Settings and more, Settings, Devices, Audio settings holds both dropdowns.
- This PC had 14 playback and 7 recording devices registered, only 5 of them active.
- Pick the device by name. List order changes as hardware comes and goes.
- Make a test call plays your own voice back. English only, and not on the web.
- Another app holding the mic in exclusive mode records silence, and Microsoft does not mention it.
- Bluetooth earbuds still paired to your phone will keep the phone.
- Test in Settings, System, Sound first to find out whether Teams is even involved.
Where to Next
Open Teams settings and read which device the Microphone dropdown is on right now. That single line settles most of these.
If it is right and you are still silent, close every other app that uses audio. Then try a test call again.
Then check the level bar in Settings, System, Sound. A bar that does not move there means the problem was never Teams.
Anyone whose microphone was being held by an app they had forgotten was running, name it in the comments. That list is worth having.
Isaac Smith is the founder and editor of PC Glance, a website that covers computers, laptops, and technology. He is a tech enthusiast and a computer geek who loves to share his insights and help his readers make smart choices when buying tech gadgets or laptops. He is always curious and updated about the latest tech trends.