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Windows 11 mutes all audio devices if there is no active user session
My company produces audio DSP software that runs as a Windows background service. A fairly common customer use case is to use the PC for audio DSP while there is no active user session in the UI. We have observed that Windows 11 mutes all audio devices (including the built-in headphone jack) if no users are logged in to the UI. Is there a setting or registry value that could be changed to allow audio to pass whether or not a user is logged in? Note that we have not observed this issue on PCs running Windows 10, this appears to be unique to Windows 11.
We are aware of the SysInternals AutoLogon tool, which can be used as a workaround, but this may not be appropriate in some customer use cases with strict IT security policies.
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Hi, for that kind of DSP service, I’d be careful assuming this is just a simple audio setting. Windows audio is heavily tied to the interactive user session, especially for endpoint devices. A background Windows service may keep running, but the audio endpoint can behave differently when no user is logged on. If AutoLogon is not acceptable, I’d test whether the service can run under a dedicated service account with the needed audio permissions, and also check with the audio driver vendor because some drivers intentionally disable output without an active session.
