The device is being used by another application (HDMI)

HDMI son las siglas de High-Definition Multimedia Interface. You can get an idea what HDMI is used for just from the name. An HDMI is used to connect multimedia interfaces. People generally use HDMI cables to connect televisions to their computers. HDMI cables can also be used to connect other devices, but you get the point. Provides a very convenient way to view your media on other large screens or devices. However, you may face the problem of “lack of sound” when connecting the HDMI cable. You may also see an error message that says

«The device is being used by another application. Please close any device that is playing audio on this device and try again »

This problem can be caused by several things. First thing is a faulty controller. In fact, many cases were resolved by reverting to a previous driver. In other cases, updating the drivers also solved the problem. Another reason could simply be the one presented in the error message, namely, caused by another application using the audio device.

But, no matter what is causing this problem, can be solved in a few minutes. There are a few things that can be done to fix this problem. Just follow the methods below.

advice

Before doing anything else, you may want to use the built-in troubleshooter that Microsoft provides. Could solve the problem. It doesn't take long, so there's nothing wrong with trying. These are the steps to fix the sound problem.

• Hold down the Windows key and press R

• Control type. exe / name Microsoft.Troubleshooting and hit Enter

• Click Hardware and Sound

• Click Play Audio

• Click Next

• Wait for them to scan it. It will ask you to select the device that is causing the problem. So select the one you need to fix the problem and click Next

• Now follow the additional instructions on the screen. If there are any settings that can be changed, the troubleshooter will tell you.

Method 1: Allow applications to take exclusive control Option

If you see this error message, the first thing to do is do what the error message tells you. The error message clearly tells you that the device is being used by another application. Therefore, simply closing other apps that might be using sound and disabling the option that allows other apps to take control of your device should solve the problem. Y, in fact, solve the problem for many users.

First, you should look at the applications that are using the audio device. Then, you must close those apps. Finally, you must disable the option that allows another app to take control of the device. So these are the steps to perform all these tasks.

1. Hold down the Windows key and press R

2. Type sndvol and hit Enter

1. This will show you the apps that are using the audio device. I should close these apps. Note: If you don't see any devices here, skip this step and continue to the next. Presione CTRL, SHIFT and Esc simultaneously (CTRL + SHIFT + ESC) to open the task manager. Now, select the applications that are using the audio device and click End Task. Repeat this step of the Final Task for all the applications that were using the audio device.

1. Right click on the speaker icon in the lower right corner and select Playback Devices

1. Select the audio device, right click and select Note: In the screenshot, i am selecting my default audio device. You need to select the device that does not have the sound problem.

1. Click on the Advanced tab

2. Uncheck the option that says Allow apps to take exclusive control of this device.

1. Click ok

2. Reboot your system

Now, check whether the problem is solved or not.

Method 2: restart the audio service

Sometimes, simply restarting the Windows audio service will solve the problem for you.

1. Hold down the Windows key and press R

2. Type services.msc and hit Enter

1. Find and double-click Windows Audio

1. Click Stop in the Service Status section.

1. Wait a bit. Click Start after the service has stopped.

1. Click ok

Now check if the problem is solved or not.

Method 3: roll back controllers

If you recently installed an updated sound driver, so that could be the culprit for this. It is not uncommon for a newly released driver to have a bug or compatibility issue causing the device to misbehave.. Therefore, reverting to the previous version will solve the problem.

1. Hold down the Windows key and press R

2. Type devmgmt.msc and hit Enter

1. Double click on the sound driver, video and games

2. Find and double click on your audio device. Note: If you see an AMD high definition audio device, select it. This is because it is known to have caused some problems. However, if you don't have an AMD high definition audio device, select the one that caused the problem.

3. Click on the Driver tab

4. Click Revert Driver … and follow the instructions on the screen. Note: If the Revert Controller… button is gray, means you can't go back to the previous version.

If you have reverted to the previous version, restart your computer after the process has finished and check if the problem is solved or not.

Method 4: desinstalar Windows Update

Note: you should follow this step if you suspect the problem is due to a Windows update. If you haven't updated your Windows for a long time and the problem has just started, it makes no sense to uninstall updates. Skip this method.

Many times, Drivers can be updated via a Windows Update or a Windows Update can be the cause of this problem. If you recently installed a Windows update, the problem is most likely resolved by uninstalling that specific Windows update. The update we are looking for is Windows update KB2962407. If it does, uninstall this windows update and everything should be fine. If it's not an update you recently installed, uninstalling the ones you just installed is not a bad idea if you are trying to fix the problem.

Note: Please note that we do not recommend uninstalling Windows updates or not updating your Windows for this reason. If uninstalling the update solves the problem, you will have to wait for the next update. Microsoft does a great job continually releasing updates. So, hopefully, the problem will be solved in the next updates.

Follow the steps below to uninstall installed updates

1. Hold down the Windows key and press R

2. Type appwiz.cpl and hit Enter

1. Click View installed updates in the upper left corner of the window.

1. Look for the updates you have recently installed. If you see a Windows update KB2962407, uninstall it. Otherwise, uninstall the updates you recently installed. Select the update and click Uninstall.

Once this is done, reboot your system and check if the problem is solved.

Method 5: Install native Windows audio drivers

If the problem persists, it's time to switch to Windows' own audio drivers. The good thing about Windows is that it comes with its native drivers. Y, Most of the time, they work quite well mainly because they are the most compatible. If nothing else works, switching to native Windows audio drivers is not bad.

1. Hold down the Windows key and press R

2. Type devmgmt.msc and hit Enter

1. Double click on the sound driver, video and games

2. Find and right-click the driver for your audio device

3. Select Update Driver Software …

1. Select Browse my computer for driver software

1. Click Let me choose from a list of device drivers on my computer

1. It will show you a list of available drivers. Select high definition audio device

2. Click Next

1. Confirm any additional indications

Once this is done, restart your computer and check if the problem is solved or not. This should definitely solve the problem if nothing else works.

Note: If you want to go back to your audio device drivers, just follow the steps 1-7. In step 8, select your audio device drivers and click Next. As simple as that.