How to Hide or Show Disconnected Sound Devices in Settings on Windows 11

Hide or Show Disconnected Sound Devices in Settings

1. Press Win+I together to open Settings. The Settings⚙️ window opens with a list of categories on the left.
2. Click System on the left side of the window, then click Sound on the right side. The Sound page opens with your output and input devices.

This page is where Windows controls your default audio devices and what appears in the volume menu. Changing the setting below keeps that list tidy, so you only see speakers and headphones that are actually plugged in.

3. Scroll down to the Advanced section and click All sound devices. The page lists the sound devices Windows knows about, including enabled and disabled ones. Disconnected devices appear only when the toggle is on.

Open “All sound devices” Settings​

4. Under System defaults, click Show devices for flow on this page to expand it. The toggle appears inside the expanded section.
5. Turn the toggle On to show disconnected audio devices, or Off to hide them. Showing them is the default.

With the toggle on, disconnected devices are listed and grayed out at the very bottom of the page. With it off, they disappear from the list.

Hiding a device does not delete its driver or its saved settings. If you plug the device back in, Windows picks it up again as usual. To undo the change, come back to this page and flip the toggle the other way.

6. Close the Settings window if you are finished. The change is saved as soon as you flip the toggle, so you do not need to restart.

That’s it. You now have the disconnected-device list shown or hidden on the All sound devices page, and you can reverse it at any time with the same toggle.

Option Two

Hide or Show Disconnected Sound Devices using Registry

The second method uses Registry Editor, the Windows tool for viewing and changing low-level settings. It is meant for cases where the Settings toggle is not working for you, and it only works on builds that include the feature. You create or edit a DWORD value (a registry entry that holds a number) named ShowHiddenDevices, and its data decides whether disconnected devices are shown or hidden.

Before you start, keep these points in mind:

• Your build must include the feature. Press Win+R, type winver and press Enter to check it against build 26340.9354 or later, as described at the top.
• You need an administrator account to change this value.
• Back up the registry or create a restore point first. A wrong edit in the registry can cause problems.
• To create the value, right-click an empty area in the right pane of the key and choose New, then DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name it exactly ShowHiddenDevices.
• To change the value, double-click it, type the number in the Value data box and click OK.
• If Settings is open, close it and open it again so it reads the new value. Signing out and back in also works if the change does not appear.

To show disconnected sound devices in Settings:

This is the default setting.

1. Click Start, type Registry Editor, and open it. If a User Account Control prompt appears, click Yes. The Registry Editor window opens.
2. Go to the registry key for this setting.
3. Create or modify a DWORD value named ShowHiddenDevices. If you create it, it appears in the right pane.
4. Double-click the value, set its Value data to 1 and click OK.

That’s it. Disconnected sound devices now show, grayed out, on the All sound devices page. Reopen Settings to see the change.

To hide disconnected sound devices in Settings:

1. Click Start, type Registry Editor, and open it. If a User Account Control prompt appears, click Yes. The Registry Editor window opens.
2. Go to the registry key for this setting.
3. Create or modify a DWORD value named ShowHiddenDevices. If you create it, it appears in the right pane.
4. Double-click the value, set its Value data to 0 and click OK.

You should now see only connected devices the next time you open the All sound devices page. If the list still shows old devices, close Settings and open it again, or sign out and back in.

To undo either change, set the value back to the other number, or delete the value to return to the default behavior.

Summary

You can choose whether disconnected sound devices appear in Windows 11. The All sound devices page in Settings is the quicker route and takes a few clicks. Registry Editor does the same job if the toggle is not available to you, as long as your build includes the feature. Either way, you can switch back at any time without losing any device settings.