Как включить микрофон и отключить его сочетанием клавиш клавиатуры в Windows 10

Для отключения звука из динамиков, на некоторых клавиатурах имеется специальная клавиша. У тех клавиатур, которые не оснащены такой, по-прежнему имеется ряд функциональных кнопок, применяющихся в качестве элементов управления мультимедийными устройствами. Подобная горячая клавиша, предназначенная включить микрофон и потом выключить его, как мы знаем, по умолчанию не существует.

Обычно так происходит потому, что микрофон не всегда находится в работе. Он включается только тогда, когда к нему обращается какое-либо приложение. В этом случае ожидается, что пользователь будет использовать кнопку включения/отключения внутри приложения. Но это, к сожалению, не работает достаточно быстро. Поэтому у нас есть вариант, как назначить нужное пользователю сочетание клавиш для управления микрофоном.

Включить микрофон

Будем использовать приложение MicMute по ссылке:

для загрузки и последующей установки на ПК с Windows 10. Размер установочного файла около 549 Кб.

Инструмент запускается в системном трее и добавляет свой фирменный и хорошо узнаваемый значок. Кликом правой кнопки мыши по нему, вы сможете получить доступ к подробным настройкам, а также увидеть текущее состояние. Черный — выключен, красный — включен и работает.

У MicMute есть следующие полезные функции :

• режим передатчика (push-to-talk);
• отображение устройств работы со звуком;
• настройка сочетания клавиш;
• оповещения с уведомлением или подачей звукового сигнала;
• отключение микрофона при старте системы;
• автозапуск с ОС;
• автоматическая проверка обновлений;
• показ окна программы.

Окно программы не отличается от меню настроек, поэтому переходить в него не вижу смысла. Но на него стоит посмотреть для общего ознакомления.

Приложение легко обнаруживает обычные клавиши на клавиатуре, а также работает и со специальными, при их наличии. Назначить можно любое. Для этого воспользуйтесь опцией «Настройка сочетания клавиш».

Каждый раз, когда включить микрофон и потом выключить, вы будете получать соответствующее уведомление в правом нижнем углу Рабочего стола. Но, как было обозначено выше, эту опцию можно легко деактивировать в настройках.

Если понадобится запускать MicMute вместе с операционной системой, вы должны будете активировать опцию автозапуска. Несмотря на то, что приложение не обновлялось уже около 4-х лет, оно до сих пор безупречно работает в Windows 10. Спасибо за внимание!

How to mute the microphone with a keyboard shortcut?

Without using third party software, how can a microphone mute shortcut be setup to mute a microphone on and off.

I do see under record devices>properties for mic> levels> a mute button there that would work. how can I trigger that with a keyboard shortcut if I need to turn mute and unmute quickly on voip calls. The button will work but I need to be able to access it without going into the properties for the mic each time.

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Without using third party software, how can a microphone mute shortcut be setup to mute a microphone on and off.

Do you have a Microsoft keyboard or mouse? Then you could write macros for them. Ditto for other major manufacturers. Otherwise, I think you might be restricted to using SendKeys() in a script. For example, one keyboard shortcut sequence that would do what you want would be to open Mobility Center and click its Mute button (Win-x b, Alt-M)

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Without using third party software, how can a microphone mute shortcut be setup to mute a microphone on and off.

Do you have a Microsoft keyboard or mouse? Then you could write macros for them. Ditto for other major manufacturers. Otherwise, I think you might be restricted to using SendKeys() in a script. For example, one keyboard shortcut sequence that would do what you want would be to open Mobility Center and click its Mute button (Win-x b, Alt-M)

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Then the first thing to check is: do you have a Mute key on it? Or failing that, get into Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center and see if you can assign Mute to one of your other keys. Creating a macro for this would be a last resort and without Mobility Center I’m not sure of a clean way to do it.

Heh. I don’t see a specific Mute command in there and although I can create a Mute and Unmute macro for any of my programmable keys (Mute is not a programmable key and I don’t know why I would do that), it has at least made clear where I need to look to see what it does. Hint: look up at the top left corner. But this does show that there is probably a cleaner way of programming a Mute than I was thinking (e.g. using the Sound icon’s right-click functions in the Taskbar.)

Also, check to see if you have Mobility Center anyway, just not as convenient a way of opening it. Program name is (apparently): mblctr.exe

Here’s a better tool: Volume Mixer. Apparently we can start it with: sndvol.exe. Good to know. Thanks for making me find that! ; )

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Then the first thing to check is: do you have a Mute key on it? Or failing that, get into Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center and see if you can assign Mute to one of your other keys. Creating a macro for this would be a last resort and without Mobility Center I’m not sure of a clean way to do it.

Heh. I don’t see a specific Mute command in there and although I can create a Mute and Unmute macro for any of my programmable keys (Mute is not a programmable key and I don’t know why I would do that), it has at least made clear where I need to look to see what it does. Hint: look up at the top left corner. But this does show that there is probably a cleaner way of programming a Mute than I was thinking (e.g. using the Sound icon’s right-click functions in the Taskbar.)

Also, check to see if you have Mobility Center anyway, just not as convenient a way of opening it. Program name is (apparently): mblctr.exe

Here’s a better tool: Volume Mixer. Apparently we can start it with: sndvol.exe. Good to know. Thanks for making me find that! ; )

My keyboard has a mute key but that mutes the sound. I am trying to mute the microphone. I don’t see a way of mapping or creating a macro.

How to mute microphone on Windows 10 with keyboard shortcut

Jan 16, 2020
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Keyboards have a dedicated key to mute sound from speakers. Even if they don’t come with special keys still have the function (fn) row of keys which double as controls for managing media. One of those keys will be able to mute the speakers.

A similar key does not exist for muting the mic. This is generally because the mic isn’t always on. It only turns on when an app accesses it.

That’s why users are expected to use the mute button within the app. That obviously works, but it’s not quick.

How to mute microphone on Windows 10

You likely have to click the button with the mouse and that’s not as fast as a keyboard shortcut. So here’s how you can mute and unmute the mic with a keyboard shortcut on Windows 10.

RELATED: Need to mute/unmute the mic with a keyboard shortcut on macOS?

How to mute microphone with keyboard shortcup

To mute/unmute the mic with a keyboard shortcut, we’re going to use a free app called MicMute. Download and install it.

The app runs in the system tray and adds a mic icon to it. You can access the app’s settings and configure the keyboard shortcut from this icon, and it will also show you the current state of the mic.

Black means the mic is Off, and red means it is On.

The app has some useful features e.g., it can mute the mic immediately when it starts, it can list the detected audio input devices, and it has a ‘Push to talk’ mode where the mic only works if a button is held down.

To configure the shortcut to mute/unmute the mic, right-click the app’s icon in the system tray and select ‘Setup shortcut’.

A small window will open. Click inside it and tap the key or keys you want to use to mute/unmute the mic. The app can detect ordinary keys on a keyboard, and it can also work with special keys on the keyboard.

I was able to bind the speaker mute/unmute button on my keyboard to this app and when I tap it, it now mutes and unmutes the speakers and the mic at the same time.

Each time the mic is muted or unmuted, you get a desktop alert. If you don’t want to get the alerts, you can disable them from the app’s settings.

This app has not been updated since 2015 but it works flawlessly on Windows 10 1909.

Quick Tip: If you like the app, you should probably set it to run at startup.

Parting words

Windows 10 shows a mic icon in the system tray when an app is accessing the mic and the icon could have been more functional. If you click it, it doesn’t mute the mic.

Instead, it opens the Settings app to the mic settings which, while useful, could have been best left as a context menu function.

1 Comment

Hi. I have a mic plugged into the PC Mic 3.5 jack input and the mic is always live. I hoped the MicMute app would be a great solution, but even when it shows black, it doesn’t mute the mic. Is there further configuration? Cheers

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Mute the microphone system-wide with a global hotkey on Windows

MicSwitch is a free program for Microsoft Windows devices to mute the microphone on the device it is run on using a global hotkey.

Instead of having to rely on the functionality provided by voice chat and audio chat applications, which often works only in the program that provides the shortcut, it ensures that the microphone is mute when the key is activated.

The developers main intention with MicSwitch was to create a system-wide solution that is superior to the options provided by programs such as Discord, Skype, or Ventrilo.

MicSwitch allows you to mute/unmute your system microphone using a predefined system-wide hotkey which will affect any program that uses microphone (no more heavy breathing during Skype conferences, hooray!)

MicSwitch supports additional features such as an overlay, audio notifications and more.

Microsoft introduced video conferencing hotkeys in its PowerToys application recently as well which does include a toggle for the microphone that works globally.

The program needs to be installed on the target system before it can be used and requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.1. It starts automatically after installation and will run a check for updates. Note that it is not configured to run at system start by default, but you can toggle the «run at start» setting to make sure it is.

As far as options are concerned, you can change settings for each microphone individually. MicSwitch supports multi-microphone setups, which may be useful for streamers predominantly.

There is no default hotkey set on first run, you need to set one or two hotkeys that work as global shortcuts to toggle the microphone state. It supports two audio modes, push to talk and toggle, which can be configured in the preferences window as well.

Another option that is provided in the preferences window is the ability to change the audio notifications that play when you mute or unmute the microphone.

A quick test done on a Surface Go device confirmed the functionality of MicSwitch. The muting worked when using the hotkey regardless of forefront application.

MicSwitch displays a small always-on-top indicator on the screen at all times that reveals the state of the microphone. There is no option to disable it but it can be moved and its opacity can be changed.

Closing Words

MicSwitch is a useful program for Microsoft Windows systems as it adds a reliable global shortcut to mute and unmute the microphone. Some users may dislike the always visible microphone indicator that cannot be hidden; an option to hide it would improve the application further.

Now You: Do you mute / unmute your microphone regularly?

About Martin Brinkmann

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Comments

I need this for my mobile phone.

I really need MicSwitch. I had many issues with it however. The installer seems to run in background so it’s hard to say when it’s done. The hotkey didn’t seem to work. After reinstalling it, it is no longer working. When I double click the icon on desktop Windows asks me to allow it. When I click “yes” nothing happens. I cannot get the app started anymore and my mic is no longer working.

This is indeed a good program. Since WFH started I was searching for a similar one, checked multiple options, AHK, Mic mute and finally Power toys. All had some good and bad. Going to try this.

I have some queries on Push to talk option, with this option is it possible to Mute permanently and use “space bar” to speak temporarily and go to mute again as in Zoom Cient.

We are using MS Teams so this can be configured this option will be fantastic.

“Do you mute / unmute your microphone regularly?”

I try to keep my mic muted by default and unmute it when needed. It’s no substitute for a hardware cut-off switch, but not a lot of laptops come with those.

I couldn’t find any microphone volume controls on my laptop other than in classic Control Panel > Sound > Recording tab > [select device] > Properties > Levels. (Super-convenient, right? You can get there faster by running %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL mmsys.cpl,,1 but that’s *still* not very convenient.)

So, I used Nirsoft Utilities’ SoundVolumeView to extract the SoundVolumeView command-line argument for toggling my microphone array between muted and unmuted (super-easy, as in two clicks), and then I edited *that* argument a little to make some “mic volume up 2%” and “mic volume down 2%” command-line arguments (also very easy). And then I used AutoHotkey to make keyboard shortcuts for running the new commands.

Anyway, now my “dedicated” microphone-volume keys are the same as my “dedicated” speaker-volume keys, but with an Alt modifier key. They all work fine, but unlike speaker volume/status, I don’t get an onscreen or Notification-Area status indicator for the microphone, because neither Microsoft nor my laptop manufacturer supplied one. I’m tempted to try MicSwitch for the onscreen display, but it doesn’t look like it does volume up and volume down, so I think I’m going to stick with my current approach for a while longer, especially since it seems to be pretty stable and glitch-free.

Don’t most keyboards have a mute Mike function? I use a laptop that could be a reason?