Today I spent a good chunk of time hunting down an audio issue with Windows 10. A USB audio input device (the microphone embedded in a webcam in this case) was recognized by Windows and applications, but never seemed to actually provide any sound. No bar appeared to indicate the level in the sound settings when the microphone was spoken into. Strangely, Google Hangouts just re-muted audio input shortly after the unmute button was pressed.
After a great deal of messing around, I eventually found a "privacy" switch that essentially completely disables microphone use by desktop applications: Settings → Privacy → Microphone → "allow desktop apps to access your microphone." You'll probably have to scroll down; the switch at the top only affects modern/UWP/Metro apps.
It would be really helpful if there was a clear indication that this setting is off in the places one might try to manage the microphone: the Sound settings page, or at least the troubleshooter.
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