Steam Virtual Audio Devices—specifically "Steam Streaming Speakers" and "Steam Streaming Microphone"—installed by Steam Remote Play or Steam Link, frequently conflict with Realtek onboard audio drivers, causing them to disappear, fail to output sound, or fail to switch to headphones.
Here are the most effective solutions to resolve this conflict and restore your Realtek audio.
1. Disable Steam Audio Devices (Quickest Fix)
Disabling the virtual devices allows Windows to default back to your physical Realtek hardware.
- Right-click the speaker icon in your taskbar and select Sound settings or Open Sound settings.
- Click on More Sound Settings (or "Sound Control Panel" in older Windows 10 versions).
- Under the Playback tab, locate Steam Streaming Speakers, right-click it, and select Disable.
- Switch to the Recording tab, locate Steam Streaming Microphone, right-click it, and select Disable.
- Ensure your Realtek High Definition Audio device is set as the Default Device.
2. Uninstall Steam Streaming Drivers
If disabling them does not work, you may need to remove the drivers entirely from the Device Manager.
- Right-click the Windows Start button and select Device Manager.
- Expand Sound, video and game controllers.
- Right-click Steam Streaming Speakers and select Uninstall device. Ensure you check the box to "Attempt to remove the driver for this device" if it appears.
- Repeat for Steam Streaming Microphone.
- Restart your computer.
3. Prevent Re-installation
Steam may re-install these drivers the next time you use Remote Play. To prevent this, you can add a launch option to Steam.
- Right-click your Steam shortcut and go to Properties.
- In the Target field, add -skipstreamingdrivers at the end of the line (ensure there is a space before the hyphen).
- Click Apply and launch Steam using this shortcut.
4. Fix Realtek Drivers if Still Not Working
If the Realtek drivers are still broken after removing Steam's, they may have been corrupted.
- Reinstall Realtek Drivers: Download the latest audio drivers from your motherboard manufacturer's website (ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, etc.) or your PC manufacturer's site (Dell, HP, etc.).
- Use Windows Generic Driver: In Device Manager, right-click your Realtek device, select Update driver > Browse my computer > Let me pick from a list... and choose High Definition Audio Device (not Realtek).
5. Alternative: Enable "Play Audio on Host"
If you actually use Steam Link/Remote Play but want the audio to play on the PC simultaneously, do this:
- Open Steam settings > Remote Play.
- Enable Advanced Host Options.
- Check Play audio on host.
