Steam Games No sound or audio on Windows PC

Is audio not working on Steam games for you? Here is a full guide to resolve the no sound issue on Steam on your Windows 11/10 PC. Steam is a popular service amongst gamers to download, purchase and play a variety of games. However, some Steam users have reported that they were unable to hear the sound while playing the games. This no sound issue can deteriorate your gaming experience.

If you are facing the same issue which I am sure as you opened this page, we are going to show you different methods that will enable you to fix the Audio not working on Steam Games issue. However, before trying the methods below, it is recommended to check whether you are experiencing sound issues only with Steam or other apps as well. If you are not able to hear sound at all on Windows, check the guide to resolve the issue. Otherwise, check out the methods listed here.

Before we list down the actual fixes, let us try to understand the scenarios that may trigger this issue.

Why won’t my Steam games have sound?

There can be plenty of reasons triggering no sound issue on Steam on your PC. The reasons may vary for each of the affected users. After analyzing user reports, here are some of the common causes that may arise this issue:

You might get this problem if there is some third-party sound manager on your PC that is conflicting with your default audio manager.
If you are experiencing this issue only on a particular Steam game, it is possible that the respective game files and cache are corrupted and you need to verify and replace them.
Many users reportedly experienced this issue due to the Realtek HD Audio driver and were able to fix it up by changing it to a Generic Audio driver. You may try doing that if the scenario applies to you.
Windows updates that you have recently installed can also be at fault and hence causing no sound issue on Steam games.

Now, you can try the following solutions to get rid of this issue.

Sound or Audio not working on Steam Games in Windows 11/10

You can follow the methods below to resolve the audio not working on Steam games issue on your Windows PC:

Run Steam as an Administrator.
Update the Audio Driver.
Uninstall Conflicting Programs like Sonic Studio III or MSI Audio.
Switch to Generic Windows Audio Driver.
Verify the Integrity of Game Cache.
Reinstall Steam.
Use System Restore Point.

Let us discuss the above methods in detail now!

1] Run Steam as an Administrator

The no sound problem on Steam can also be triggered if you are running the app without the necessary rights. So, you might just need to run the Steam app with administrator rights to resolve this issue. Simply right-click on the Steam program and then use the Run as administrator option.

If you want to always run Steam with administrator rights, you can follow the steps below:

Open the Steam directory and right-click on the Steam executable file.
Select the Properties option.
Go to the Compatibility tab.
Enable the Run this program as an administrator option.
Press Apply > OK button to save changes.

You can now run Steam with administrator privilege permanently.

2] Update the Audio Driver

If you are using an outdated audio driver, you might experience sound issues while playing games on Steam and otherwise also. Hence, consider updating your audio drivers using the Windows Update feature or free driver update software. After updating the audio driver, check if the audio issue on Steam games is resolved.

3] Uninstall Conflicting Programs like Sonic Studio III or MSI Audio

A lot of users have experienced this issue on Steam due to a third-party sound manager installed on their PC, such as Asus Sonic Studio 3, Nahimic 2, Sonic Radar 3, Alienware Sound Center, MSI Audio. This is because sound managers like Sonic Studio III can redirect sound from applications to distinct audio outputs. In that case, you might not be able to hear sound on Steam games.

If this scenario applies to you, uninstall the conflicting sound manager program from your PC and then check if the problem is resolved.

4] Switch to Generic Windows Audio Driver

Some affected users reported that they were able to fix the issue after changing their sound driver to the Generic Windows Audio driver from Realtek HD Audio. This is just purely based on what worked for some users. You can try this fix and see if the issue is resolved. Here are the steps to switch audio driver to a Generic Windows Audio Driver:

Firstly, open the Run dialog box using Windows + R hotkey and type mmsys.cpl in the Open field and press the OK button. This will open up the Sound window.
Now, in the Playback tab, select the active device and then press the Properties button. Then, click the Properties button besides Controller Information in the General tab.
After that, in the new window, move to the General tab and tap on the Change Settings button.
Next, from the High Definition Audio Device properties window, navigate to the Driver tab and press the Update Driver button.
Then, you need to select the Browse my computer for driver software option and then press the Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer option.
Now, make sure the Show compatible hardware checkbox is enabled, and then choose High Definition Audio Device and tap Next.
Finally, confirm the installation and reboot your PC.

Hopefully, the audio not working on Steam issue will be fixed now.

If this doesn’t help, try some other fix from this guide.

Read: Generic Audio Driver Detected in Windows.

5] Verify the Integrity of Game Cache

If you are encountering no sound issue with a specific game on Steam, the main culprit might be corrupted game files or an insufficient game cache. In that case, verifying the Integrity of Game Cache will help you refresh and replace the corrupted game files on Steam. Try doing that and see if the issue is fixed or not.

Here are the basic steps to check and verify the integrity of the game cache in Steam:

First, launch the Steam game client and click on the Library tab from the top.
Now, select the Games option.
Next, right-click on the game you are experiencing no sound issue.
After that, select the Properties option
Then, navigate to the Local Files tab and tap on the Verify Integrity of Game Files button.
Lastly, let the verification process complete successfully and then see if the issue is fixed.

See: Fix Steam Error Code 105, Unable to connect to server

6] Reinstall Steam

If, unfortunately, none of the above methods worked for you, then you can try reinstalling the Steam client and starting afresh. To resolve this issue, close down all Steam-related processes from the Task Manager, completely uninstall Steam, download the latest installer of Steam, and install Steam on your PC. However, before doing that, you can back up your game files to preserve your games.

Read: How to fix Steam Error Code 83 on Windows PC

7] Use System Restore Point

If you started noticing this issue just off recently, then you might be able to fix it up by using System Restore Point. System Restore works wonders for many and might just for you as well. So, just roll back your PC to a previous state where you didn’t face any sound issue on Steam. See if this fixes up the issue for you.

Read: How to Install Steam and Manage Steam Games

That’s it! Hope this article helps you fix the audio not working issue on Steam games on your Windows PC.

Can you voice chat on Steam?

Yes, you can voice chat with your friends and other gamers in your community on Steam. In your Steam client, you can click on the friend’s name with whom you want to voice chat. And then, simply click on the Start Voice Chat option. It also lets you start a voice chat using the microphone icon present inside a chat window.

If you want to make a voice chat to a group, open the group chat window and then press the Add Voice Channel button present in the left-side panel. When the voice channel is created, all the users in the group can join your voice chat.

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