Top 7 Ways to Fix Windows 11 Can't Detect Headphones

Connecting your favorite pair of headphones allows you to isolate yourself from surrounding noise and focus on the task at hand. Although your Windows PC is quite good at detecting various accessories, sometimes it may not detect your headphones for various reasons.

Since so many factors are involved in connecting your headset to your PC, troubleshooting methods vary from user to user. If the usual tricks like restarting your PC or switching to a different pair of headphones didn’t make any difference, then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we have described some solutions that will help you to end your Windows 11 headphone detection problem. So, let’s get started.

1. Clean the audio jack

Since you can’t cover your PC’s headphone jack, it can easily accumulate dust and debris over time. So, if Windows 11 fails to detect your wired headphones, you can start by cleaning your PC’s headphone jack. You should avoid using cotton because it may leave lint.

2. Reconnect the headset

You may have done this already, but don’t skip this step. If you’re using wired headphones, unplug them, wait a few seconds, then plug them back in. However, follow the steps below to disconnect and reconnect your headset using a Bluetooth headset.

Step 1: Press Windows key + A to open the Quick Settings panel. Right-click the Bluetooth icon to open Settings.

2nd step: Use the three-dot menu icon to disconnect your Bluetooth headset.

Try reconnecting your headphones to see if Windows can detect them now.

3. Check Playback Device

Next, you will need to check the playback device set on your PC to see if your headphones are not disabled from there. Read on to find out how.

Step 1: Right-click the sound icon in the taskbar and select Sound Settings from the resulting menu.

2nd step: In the Sound Settings window, scroll down and click More Sound Settings.

Step 3: Under Playback, you will find all paired devices. If your headset is disabled, right-click on it and select Enable.

4. Run the Audio Troubleshooter

If Windows still can’t detect your headphones even after turning them on, you can turn to the audio troubleshooter for help. It will inspect your PC for any audio-related issues and fix them. Here’s how to run it.

Step 1: Press Windows key + S to open Windows Search, type troubleshoot settingsand select the first result that appears.

2nd step: Go to Other troubleshooters.

Step 3: Click the Run button next to Play Audio and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the troubleshooter.

5. Update audio driver

Your PC’s audio driver helps Windows identify and interact with connected audio devices. Naturally, if there is a problem with the audio drivers installed, Windows 11 may not detect your headphones. You can try updating these audio drivers manually by following the steps below to fix it.

Step 1: Click the Search icon in the taskbar, type device manager, and click the first result that appears.

2nd step: Expand “Sound, video and game controllers”, right-click on the audio device and select “Update Driver” from the list.

From there, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the driver update.

6. Check for Bluetooth issues

If you are having this particular problem only when connecting your wireless headphones, then the problem may be with Bluetooth on Windows 11. In this case, just restart the Bluetooth service or update the Bluetooth drivers to fix the problem most of the time. If that doesn’t work, you can check out this guide on fixing Bluetooth on Windows 11.

7. Update Windows 11

Regular software updates are essential for any device. And your Windows 11 PC is no exception to this rule. If a bug is causing the problem in Windows 11, updating to the latest version will help you.

Press Windows Key + I to open Settings to check for updates. Use the left pane to visit the Windows Update tab and check for updates.

Download and install any pending updates from here and see if that fixes the headphone detection issue on Windows 11.

Plugged in or unplugged

Although such cases are rare, any connection issue with your headphones can be frustrating to say the least. Hope the above-mentioned solutions helped you to fix headphone detection issues on Windows 11 permanently.