Voice typing doesn't work anymore

Question

Voice typing doesn't work anymore

Soofast959 10

win+H worked daily for years, 2 days ago it stopped working. the command opens the voice interface but gives me the error: There was a connection issue, please try again. No error code. I have tried all these suggested fixes:

Method 1: Check the microphone settings Open Settings: Press Win + I to open Windows Settings. Navigate to “System” -> “Sound”. Check the input device: In the “Input” section, make sure the correct microphone is selected. Speak test the microphone and see if the volume bar responds. If it does not respond, there may be a microphone hardware or connection problem. Troubleshoot the microphone: Click the “Troubleshooting” button and follow the troubleshooting steps provided by the system. Method 2: Check Voice Settings Open Settings: Press Win + I to open Windows Settings. Navigate to “Time and Language” -> “Voice”. Voice Language: Make sure the voice language is set to the language you want to use (e.g. Chinese). Microphone Access: In the “Microphone” section, click on “Microphone Privacy Settings”. Make sure microphone access is enabled and the app can access the microphone. Method 3: Check the voice recognition service Open Settings: Press Win + I to open Windows Settings. Navigate to “Privacy and Security” -> “Voice Activation”. Voice Activation Settings: Make sure voice activation is enabled. Method 4: Run System Voice Recognition Settings Open the Control Panel: Search for “Control Panel” and open it. Easy Access Center: Select “Easy Access Center”. Click “Voice Recognition”. Setting up the microphone: Click “Setup Microphone” and follow the wizard to complete the microphone settings. When finished, try to use “Voice Recognition” to practice voice input. Method 5: Update the driver Open Device Manager: Press Win + X and select “Device Manager”. Update the driver: Expand “Audio Input and Output” and find your microphone device. Right-click on the device and select “Update Driver”. Select “Automatically search for updated drivers”. Reinstall the driver: If the microphone still does not work after updating the driver, you can try to right-click the microphone device and select “Uninstall Device”. Restart your computer and the system will reinstall the driver automatically. Method 6: Check Windows Voice Input Tool Open the voice input tool: Press Win + H key combination to open the voice input tool. Check the permissions: If this is your first time to use the voice input tool, the system may prompt you to grant microphone permission, please do so. If you still can't use voice input after the above steps, it is recommended to check if there is any third-party software interfering with the microphone, you can test if it's the same issue in Safe.

i tried all of that from a previous post another user had plus all this:

system restore
disabling extensions in edge
disabling extensions in chrome
running in safe mode
create a new win 11 profile account
refreshing all network settings
using cellular data via hotspot
pulling all my hair out
cursing at my cat
restarting the system multiple times
tested with several other programs and apps (whisper, some extensions) they all dictate my speech just fine

mic works fine, all settings gone over with a fine tooth comb. uninstalled, reinstalled everything from realtek drivers to wifi adapters. this is incredibly frustrating.

Julie King 0 Reputation points

2026-10-04T00:01:37.6633333+00:00

This was an amazing amount of work!!!

2 answers

Your answer

Julie King 0 Reputation points

2026-10-04T00:01:37.6633333+00:00

This was an amazing amount of work!!!

Answer 1

Hendrix-V 19,940 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Soofast959,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A Community!

Thank you for sharing the details and all the steps you’ve already tried. I can understand how frustrating it is when something that worked perfectly for years suddenly stops. You’ve done an excellent job troubleshooting so far.

Previously, Win + H voice typing relied mainly on Microsoft’s cloud-based speech services until a recent Windows update changed this behavior. The system now expects the Enhanced Speech Recognition component as part of the speech pipeline for better reliability and offline fallback. If it’s missing, you may see the “There was a connection issue” error, even if your microphone and internet connection are fine.

Here's how you can address the issue, please kindly follow (I have provided an image as instruction below):

Go to Settings → Time & language → Language & region.
Under your language, click (•••) then choose Language options.
Download Enhanced speech recognition.
Restart your PC and try Win + H again.

User's image

This should restore voice typing functionality. I know it’s frustrating when updates change familiar behavior, but this adjustment is designed to make voice typing more consistent and resilient. Thank you for your patience and persistence, you’re very close to getting this working again!

I look forward to receiving your update and I'm willing to collaborate with you till we resolve the issue. Please keep me informed.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. Accepting an answer helps us track the effectiveness of our support efforts. If you have additional questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Soofast959 10 Reputation points

2025-10-03T05:19:13.4133333+00:00

That option is not available. Here is what I see:
Hendrix-V 19,940 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-03T06:46:50.0733333+00:00
Hi Soofast959,

Thank you for providing a detailed image of the current situation, that shows the Language Pack and nothing else, it means the other features (Basic Typing, Speech, OCR, etc.) are not even available for download in your current configuration. This usually happens when:

Windows Update is disabled or blocked by policy.

The system is using a local image without optional components.

Group Policy or registry settings prevent downloading features on demand.

This is how you can fix the issue:

1 - Enable Windows Update for Features

Open Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc).

Go to: Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System

Find Specify settings for optional component installation and component repair.

Set it to Enabled and check: Download repair content and optional features directly from Windows Update.

Apply and restart your PC.

2 - Then you can run a PowerShell script that installs all English (US) language features:

Open PowerShell as Administrator

$features = @( "Language.Basic~~~en-US~0.0.1.0", "Language.Handwriting~~~en-US~0.0.1.0", "Language.OCR~~~en-US~0.0.1.0", "Language.Speech~~~en-US~0.0.1.0", "Language.TextToSpeech~~~en-US~0.0.1.0" ) foreach ($feature in $features) { Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name $feature }

Please let me know the result after the steps taken.

Thanks!
Soofast959 10 Reputation points

2025-10-04T04:53:43.8033333+00:00

i have windows update not only disabed but completely removed from my machine after it bricked a brand new gigabyte aorus gaming laptop among years of other problems such as entire sessions open with multiple work docs, personal text files, browser sessions and music production all completely destroyed due to an overnight update that closed EVERYTHING and i just woke up to a fresh machine asking for my login details. I literally cried that day. Eff that. i despise forced updates that dictate changes we dont need or just ruin a good thing. i want win 7 or xp back. I actually have a new in box copy of win 7 on disk. but yeah no way am i allowing update to ruin my machine further. win 11 is already a nightmare. the task manager which was the same for decades is now undecipherable. Also my machine thinks it has win 7, win 10 and win 11. it has the os version listed in 3 places and it has 3 different answers. ill never update. Im just gonna pay for dragon or something which is ridiculous because. "hey lets take something that works and ruin it again" thanks for the help but no thank you. EDIT: the ctrl-win-s command brings up a speech recognition widget but it gets my words wrong. if i say "lets go to the car wash please" it writes "kendo says the goulash trees" I tried using the tutorial and voice trainer but after an hour of repeating myself over and over and over again it was still maybe only 10% done. I gave up in frustration. however like i said before, web apps and other extensions dictate flawlessly as does my gboard speech to text on mobile. Bravo to microsoft for this innovating change.
Hendrix-V 19,940 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-04T06:58:55.1733333+00:00
Hi Soofast959,

I totally understand the frustration. But the good news is that you can manually add the Language and Optional Features without restore Windows Update (please refer to this thread Add other languages in Windows ISO) - download the Language and Optional Features ISO

1 - Mount the ISO (Note the drive letter: G)

2 - Press Win + S, type cmd right-click it then Run as Administrator.

Run these commands one by one:

Language Pack: dism /online /add-package /packagepath:"D:\langpacks\en-us\lp.cab"

Basic Typing: dism /online /add-package /packagepath:"D:\FoD\Microsoft-Windows-LanguageFeatures-Basic-en-us-Package.cab"

Handwriting: dism /online /add-package /packagepath:"D:\FoD\Microsoft-Windows-LanguageFeatures-Handwriting-en-us-Package.cab"

Text-to-Speech: dism /online /add-package /packagepath:"D:\FoD\Microsoft-Windows-LanguageFeatures-TextToSpeech-en-us-Package.cab"

Speech Recognition (Basic) - Important: dism /online /add-package /packagepath:"D:\FoD\Microsoft-Windows-LanguageFeatures-Speech-en-us-Package.cab"

Speech Recognition (Enhanced) - Important: dism /online /add-package /packagepath:"D:\FoD\Microsoft-Windows-LanguageFeatures-SpeechRecognition-en-us-Package.cab"

Please let me know the result.

Thanks!
Soofast959 10 Reputation points

2025-10-05T21:56:20.8533333+00:00

I wrote a detailed itemized response outlining steps and the accidentally refreshed the page deleting it. so heres the dirt: i tried to follow your steps and after running your first command im getting this in the CMD as admin box:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22000.2176]

(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\windows\system32>dism /online /add-package /packagepath:"D:\langpacks\en-us\lp.cab"

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 10.0.22000.653

Image Version: 10.0.22000.2176

Error: 87

The add-package option is unknown.

For more information, refer to the help by running DISM.exe /?.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log

C:\windows\system32>

i downloaded this 6.7gig file: https://software-static.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/988969d5-f34g-4e03-ac9d-1f9786c66749/22621.1.220506-1250.ni_release_amd64fre_CLIENT_LOF_PACKAGES_OEM.iso

after it dl i right click and select mount it then took me to a folder with 2 files in it, then i tried your commands and got errors I then thought maybe the path was wrong and i noticed C:\mount\windows was created so i put the files there and tried again. same result. Ive never done anything like this before so can you give a better step by step please?
Hendrix-V 19,940 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-10-08T05:05:37.3866667+00:00
Hi Soofast959,

Thank you for clarifying! The ISO you downloaded (CLIENT_LOF_PACKAGES_OEM) is not the right one for speech features, it only contains language interface packs for OEM setups, which explains why you saw only two files and why DISM /Add-Package failed.

Please download the Windows 11 Features on Demand (FoD) ISO

Go to: https://my.visualstudio.com/Downloads?q=features

Choose the version that match you Windows version (23H2 or 24H2, 25H2)

Mount the downloaded ISO

Inside the mounted ISO, navigate to: E:\LanguagesAndOptionalFeatures\

Find your language folder (e.g., en-us) and look for: Microsoft-Windows-LanguageFeatures-Speech-en-us-Package.cab

Install Using DISM

Open Command Prompt (Admin) and run:

DISM /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:"E:\LanguagesAndOptionalFeatures\en-us\Microsoft-Windows-LanguageFeatures-Speech-en-us-Package.cab"

(Replace E: with your ISO drive letter.)

Verify Installation

Run: DISM /Online /Get-Packages | findstr Speech

You should see the speech package listed.

Please keep me informed after the steps taken.

Thanks!
rene slager 5 Reputation points

2025-11-04T10:35:54.5866667+00:00

Hi @Hendrix-V

We have exact the same issue on all of our workstation, it stopped working after the update on 25H2. There was nothing changed at our end and all the mic and languages settings are installed the right way. We did also the installation of the LanguagesAndOptionalFeatures\ but this was not helping.

Please help us out its not workin on 200 pc's at the moment.

Regards

Rene
rob van den akker 0 Reputation points

2025-11-05T15:55:58.1566667+00:00

I have the exact same issue with my Dutch language package. When reinstalling the package I get the error "sorry we're having trouble installing this feature you can try again later error code 0x83750009" When I look at the language features everything looks Ok. but it still does not work.
Soofast959 10 Reputation points

2025-11-30T05:03:15.5466667+00:00

dear @Hendrix-V I am still unable to use the voice typing feature and the instructions you provided are confusing. i tried to do as you say but i am getting lost with all the vague instructions. please help me fix this it is causing more stress than you know. also, it woeks in apps like discord and chatgpt but not in edge browser. it makes no sense. only connection issue pleas try again. the strange part it worked for 2 days about a week ago then stopped again. i did a syatem restore to try to get it to work but no changes. what is this mystery issue??
Greg O-H 0 Reputation points

2026-07-23T23:08:42.1733333+00:00

Hey, quick disclosure first, I actually built a Windows dictation app called Write My Flow so take this with a pinch of salt, but the rewording thing and the issues you're describing is exactly what pushed me to start building a solution as I got so fed up fighting tools that changed what I'd said the accuracy was also hopeless i found. I ended up teaching myself to put something together in my own time once the kids were in bed, And saves me so much time now.. No link or pitch here, just wanted to say you're not imagining it and happy to link you to it if you think it would be helpful.
Shawn Savage 0 Reputation points

2026-10-05T04:38:20.1933333+00:00

I don't have the Language & Region tab on my Time & Language. It has language and Region separate. So I do not have the screen in the picture above. Maybe because I'm on windows 10?

Answer 2

Soofast959 10

mistaken comment here.

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