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Enable Input Monitor on Windows Vista

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Contents

What is the Input Monitor Used For?

If you want to listen to an external audio source, like and MP3 player, through your computers speakers, then you'll need to enable input monitoring. Usually this is done by un-muting line-in or the microphone in "Volume Control."

On Windows Vista, the input monitor is muted by default. The problem is that Vista may not display the option of unmuting line-in or the microphone in the GUI.

SigmaTel and SoundMax are just two of the brands, usually on Dell computers, that I've seen many a discussion on that exhibit this problem.

SigmaTel High Definition Audio

Right click on the speaker in the system tray (lower right-hand corner) and select "Playback Devices" to check if the Input Monitor function is accessible.

You can either create a reg file with the text below, or create the binary value yourself.

Here are the contents of the .reg file you can import to fix the problem:

Windows  Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000\Settings\filter\SpeakerHp]
   "EnableInputMonitor"=hex:01
  

Input Monitor is now visible, can be toggled, and works after adding the "EnableInputMonitor" key to the registry and rebooting.

References:

• Possible fix for LIne-in issue with SigmaTel driver in Vista
• Hearing Line-In input on Vista on Dell laptop
• How to Enable Input Monitoring

SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio

I noticed that Input Monitor was available after Windows Update (Important & Recommended) on 3/4/2008. It might have been there before, but I had not checked for several months.

See:

• Sound > Playback > Speakers Properties > Levels tab

See:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000\AD1983
  InputMonitor REG_BINARY 01

This is what I exported from my system:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000\AD1983]

"InputMonitor"=hex:01

After changing "InputMonitor"=hex:01 to hex:00, as a test of disabling the appearance of "Input Monitor," I rebooted.

When I went back into:

• Sound > Playback > Speakers Properties > Levels tab

"Input Monitor" was replaced by "Line In" and "Microphone."  Both were muted.

After un-muting "Line In," input monitoring worked.