Windows speech recognition powers features like speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and even voice access on your computer. Sometimes, though, speech recognition stops working, and your PC shows a pop-up that reads "Speech recognition could not start."
Don't worry. This article walks through several methods to help you fix speech recognition errors on Windows.
1. Start with some basic fixes
If you're having trouble with speech recognition on Windows, these tips can help you fix it quickly:
- Make sure your microphone is connected correctly.
- Change the default microphone and use speech-to-text once.
- Check your system's sound settings to make sure everything is set to default.
- Try updating your audio drivers with any free driver updater for Windows.
- If you're still running an older version of Windows, see how to update your Windows device for instructions.
If the problem persists after these quick fixes, try the more advanced fixes below.
2. Troubleshoot microphone problems
One of the most common causes of the "Speech recognition could not start" error is a faulty or improperly configured microphone. To fix it, check your microphone for any physical damage and make sure it is selected as the default device.
If your microphone is connected but doesn't appear in your device settings, see how to fix Windows not detecting a microphone. On the other hand, if your microphone is connected properly, follow Quantrimang.com's microphone troubleshooting guide for more help.
3. Modify the speech properties
Another solution is to change the speech recognition settings in Windows Speech Properties. Here's how to do it on your computer:
1. Press the Windows key and type Control Panel in the search bar.
2. Click Open to launch it. Once you're in the Control Panel window, go to Ease of Access > Speech Recognition > Advanced speech options.
3. On the Speech Properties screen, select Run Speech Recognition at startup to turn the feature on.
4. Under Recognition Profiles, click the New button, then click OK.
5. Follow the steps to create a new profile and restart your computer.
Once you're back at the desktop, you should be able to use all of the speech recognition features.
4. Restart the required Windows services
Windows services run in the background at all times, and in rare cases they can stop, which leads to speech recognition errors. This is easy to fix through the Windows Services app.
Here's how to restart the Windows services that speech recognition needs:
1. Press Win + R and type services.msc in the field.
2. Press Enter to open the Services window.
3. Locate the services related to speech recognition: Human Interface Device Service, Windows Audio and Windows Audio Endpoint Builder.
4. To restart these services, right-click each one and select Restart.
5. Finally, restart your computer and check whether the speech recognition problem is gone.
Tip: If you're using a Bluetooth microphone, restart the Bluetooth Support Service and Bluetooth Audio Gateway Service along with the services mentioned above.
5. Set up speech recognition
Sometimes the initial speech recognition setup can cause problems. For example, you can't use speech-to-text if you chose the wrong device type during setup.
To fix this, you should set up speech recognition again on your device. You can type Windows Speech Recognition in Windows search and open it. This opens the Speech Recognition Set Up screen.
Follow the setup prompts one by one, and when you finish, reconnect your microphone. This should quickly resolve your speech recognition problems. If you can't open the setup, access it from Control Panel > Ease of Access > Speech Recognition > Set up microphone.
Good luck!
