The just released preview of Windows 11 comes many new features and enhancements that may confuse some students and new users. These changes include, a redesigned user desktop, centered Start menu and taskbar, rounded corners windows, themes and colors and many more. If you’re used to using multiple speakers of headphones in Windows, you may often have to switch between these different output devices for sounds. While it’s easy to set the default speakers for every apps across the system, some apps allow you to choose your preferred speakers which overrides the systems’ default. The steps below show you how to set Windows default speakers and headphones so that sounds always come out from the correct device. To get started with setting Windows default speakers, follow the steps below:
How select default speakers in Windows 11
There are multiple ways to select Windows 11 default speakers. Using Windows systems settings, one can quickly select the system-wide speakers for all apps. Windows 11 has a centralized location for majority of its settings. From system configurations to creating new users and updating Windows, all can be done from its System Settings pane. To get to System Settings, you can use the Windows key + i shortcut or click on Start ==> Settings as shown in the image below: Alternatively, you can use the search box on the taskbar and search for Settings. Then select to open it. Windows Settings pane should look similar to the image below. In Windows Settings, click System, select Sound on the right pane of your screen shown in the image below. On the Sound settings pane, under Output where you see “Choose your output device,” choose the output device you want to make the default to play sound. In the highlighted image below, you can either select Speakers or Headset as your output device and Windows will also use the selected device to play sound. The changes you make above will apply for all apps. However, certain app may be customize to override this setting and choose a different output device.
How to switch output devices in Windows 11
Another way to quickly switch Windows output devices is via the taskbar. If you want to quickly choose between sound devices, click on the speakers icon in the taskbar. Then click on the right arrow as highlighted in the image below to show all sound devices. From there you can select the device you want to use for sound. To quickly switch back to Windows default sound device, reverse the steps above and select that. If you don’t see the connected playback device on the list, it maybe that the device is not recognized in Windows. Conclusion: This post showed you how to choose Windows default sound output device for apps. If you find any error above, please use the comment form below to report.
