Your computer may be configured with multiple options for camera, microphone, and speakers. In a virtual meeting, the meeting software will have a place to select the appropriate camera, microphone, and speaker.
Occasionally, you may find that your audio/video are not working in a meeting and the likely cause is the meeting software does not have the appropriate devices selected. This can be especially problematic for users who have a laptop that is docked/undocked frequently.
The preferred setting is "Use System Setting" or "Use Windows Default" because this allows the operating system to choose the most appropriate device, but this does not always work. In these instances, manually setting the devices is the best option.
The supported video conferencing software solutions for our campus are Webex and Microsoft Teams. Instructions for updating the settings in these applications can be found below. For unsupported applications like Zoom, the same issue can occur and there will be a similar process to update the audio/video settings somewhere in the app's settings.
You may not recognize the available devices based on the display name in the application. There are usually only a couple of options so if you do not know which device is which, generally the best method is to pick options until you find the one that works.
Changing Audio and video settings in Webex
Changing Audio and video settings in Microsoft Teams
If you are unable to hear audio, be heard by other members, or your camera is not working in a Webex meeting, the audio and video settings can be changed by following these steps:
- In a Webex meeting, click on the ... icon in the toolbar. The icon is circled in the image below.
- In the pop-up menu that appears, click Switch Audio
- In the Audio connection pop-up menu, click the gear icon circled in the image below.
- The Meeting Settings menu will open to the Audio tab. Here, the active speaker and microphone can be selected and tested.
- Speaker or Headphones can be selected using the drop-down box under Speaker, and tested using the Test button.
- The active microphone can be selected using the drop-down box under Microphone, and tested using the Test button.
- To change camera settings, click on the Video tab on the menu sidebar.
- The camera can be selected using the drop down box below the camera preview view. The view will be updated whenever a camera is selected.
The default camera, speakers, and microphone can also be selected outside of a Webex meeting:
- On the main Webex app screen, select your account icon at the top left corner of the screen to bring up the drop down menu. Click Settings
- The Meeting Settings menu will open. From here you can adjust the speaker, microphone, and camera on the Audio and Video tabs.
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If you are unable to hear audio, be heard by other members, or your camera is not working in a Teams meeting, the audio and video settings can be changed by following these steps:
- In a Teams meeting, click on the ... icon in the toolbar near the top of the window.
- In the drop down menu that appears, click Settings
- In the second drop down menu that appears, click Device Settings.
- The Device Settings sidebar menu will appear. The drop down box under Speaker can be used to change the active speaker or headphones device. The drop down box under Microphone can be used to change the active microphone. The gauge below the microphone drop down box will show if the microphone is currently detecting audio. The drop down box below Camera can be used to change the active camera.
The default camera, speakers, and microphone can also be selected outside of a Teams meeting:
- On the main Teams app screen, select the ... icon near the top right corner of the screen. This will bring up a drop-down menu. Select Settings.
- The Teams Settings menu will open. On the left sidebar, click Devices to open the Device settings menu.
- The audio output device can be selected using the drop down box under Speaker
- The microphone can be selected using the drop down box under Microphone
- Camera settings can be found by scrolling down in the Devices menu. A camera can be selected using the drop down box under Camera
Note: To test these settings, use the Make a test call button in the Devices menu below the Audio Devices settings.
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