How to Enable Stereo Mix in Vista

It takes less than a minute to enable stereo mix in Vista. Simply follow this easy guide:

1) Right click the volume control icon in your taskbar and choose Recording Devices. If you don't have that icon, go to your Control Panel instead, click Hardware and Sound -> Sound and navigate to the Recording tab.

2) Right-click inside the window and make sure Show Disabled Devices is checked. Some new devices should appear. Right-click on the device called Stereo Mix. Depending on your sound card, it might also be called What U Hear or Soundcard Out.

3) First, right click on it and choose Enable. Then, right click on the stereo mix icon again and press Set as Default Device. Congratulations - you're done!

Now you can make in-game movies with audio, or capture your screen together with a voice recording using your microphone. Wave out mix simply outputs the same thing you hear - that's why it's called "What U Hear" on Creative Sound Blaster cards.

Sometimes the "What U Hear" device does not appear in the list despite checking "Show Disabled Devices" as described in the guide above. This common stereo mix problem can often be solved by installing the correct drivers for your soundcard.

If you have an integrated sound card, refer to the manual and driver CD of your motherboard. If you have a stand-alone sound card, use the CD you got with it. Alternatively, search the manufacturer's website for the newest version of audio drivers.

Sometimes the sound drivers provided by the motherboard manufacturer do not work correctly. In that case, try to acquire the drivers from the producer of your sound chip. For example, if you have an ASUS motherboard with an on-board Realtek HD Audio chip, try downloading the drivers directly from Realtek's website rather than ASUS.

Microsoft drivers are known to have no stereo mix feature. Do not use them!

If you are unable to find the correct drivers, a program like Driver Robot might help.

If you are positive that you have the correct drivers and still don't see Stereo Mix / What U Hear in your device list, this could mean one of the following:

• Your driver, despite working correctly, doesn't have the stereo mix feature (refer to the information above).


• Your sound card simply doesn't support waveout mix.


• Your PC manufacturer has disabled the feature on purpose. This is mostly done to prevent piracy, since theoretically you can use stereo mix to record streaming audio.

Even if this feature is unavailable on your PC, there is a working stereo mix alternative. A small third party application called Virtual Audio Cable can mimic the capabilities of the built-in waveout mix in Windows. Download it directly or visit the homepage first and read more.