Bluetooth headphones connected but no sound? Windows 11

Keep the volume low while testing. Replay the same short clip after each change, and stop when it works.

Choose the output

Open Settings → System → Sound. Under Output, select your headphones. Being connected over Bluetooth does not necessarily make them the selected audio output. Microsoft’s Bluetooth audio guidance covers this check.

Check Windows volume and the headphones’ own volume control, if they have one. Unmute the player too. Microsoft’s general sound checks cover these separate controls.

Try your clip in two apps—a browser and a media player, for example.

• Both work: you’re done.
• Only one works: follow the app checks next.
• Neither works: skip to reconnecting.
• Headphones aren’t listed under Output: skip to reconnecting; there is no output to select yet.

Check the app’s output

Leave the affected app open and playing audio. Go to Settings → System → Sound → Volume mixer. Find the app, check its volume and mute control, and select the headphones as its output where that option is available.

Windows can route an individual app to a different device from the system default. See Microsoft’s app-audio instructions.

Replay the clip. If another app still works through the headphones but this one does not, keep troubleshooting the affected app. Re-pairing is not the next useful test: you’ve established that the headphones can play audio from this PC.

Music works until you join a call

First, distinguish silence from lower sound quality. They are different symptoms.

Leave the call and close the calling app. Play your clip again. If sound returns, reopen the app. If it has separate speaker and microphone choices, keep the headphones as the speaker and try another available microphone, such as your laptop’s built-in mic. Restore your original microphone choice if this does not help. If you have no other microphone, skip this test.

This narrows the problem; it does not prove the headset is faulty.

For Bluetooth LE Audio devices, Microsoft documents a conditional setting under Settings → System → Sound → your output device → Format: Format when microphone is active. If present, trying mono can help with compatibility problems during microphone use. Note the previous setting so you can restore it.

If the control is missing, don’t hunt for it in unrelated settings. Stereo during microphone use requires supported hardware and drivers, plus Windows 11 24H2 or later with the relevant updates. Microsoft lists the LE Audio requirements and limitations.

Reconnect when no app can play sound

Before removing the headphones, find their pairing instructions so you can reconnect them.

1. In Settings → Bluetooth & devices, open the headphones’ menu and remove the device.
2. Put the headphones into pairing mode, following their manufacturer’s instructions.
3. Choose Add device in Windows and pair them again.
4. Return to Sound settings, select the headphones as the output and replay your clip.

If that fails, use the Bluetooth troubleshooter in Get Help, linked from Microsoft’s no-sound troubleshooting page. That page also covers Bluetooth driver updates if the earlier checks fail.

Don’t switch off all Bluetooth connections if you depend on a Bluetooth keyboard or mouse and have no other way to control the PC. Save your work before any restart.

Still silent? Collect a useful result

If you have another device available, test the headphones on it. Then note:

• Whether the headphones appear in Windows’ output list.
• Whether any app can play sound through them.
• Whether opening a call changes the result.
• Whether they work on the second device.
• Your headphone model, PC model and Windows version.

Share those results with the PC or headphone manufacturer’s support team. They help separate a Windows-only problem from a headset problem without assuming either is broken.

Avoid changing several settings at once. A working result is more useful when you know which change produced it.