Although, the exact reason behind the Audacity Error Code “-9996 invalid device” is still not known. A user over Audacity’s Forum has reported that your device not finding any real input devices may be the most possible cause for the following error to occur.
There may be times when PortAudio, the software library behind managing devices for Audacity, cannot find a real audio input or output device to and from your primary device on which you may be using the Audacity software.
Hence, to solve such an error which may be caused as a result of your Windows PC not being able to access your microphone device. You will need to enable the permission for your Windows system to do so.
You can turn on app permissions for your microphone on your Windows System by referring to the steps mentioned in the following guide. Once done, check to see if the error gets resolved after that.
Fixes For Audacity Error “-9996 invalid device”
Fix 1: Run a rescan operation
You can also try rescanning for Audio devices on the Audacity app. A few users have reported that by running the Rescan Audio Devices function on Audacity, they were able to fix the issue on their respective systems.
You can rescan audio devices by going to the Transport section on your Audacity toolbar and selecting the Rescan Audio Devices option from there.
Fix 2: Try resetting Audacity
If you are seeing the error after making some or the other kind of change to the configuration settings on Audacity, and are unable to undo the settings back to its previous Settings. Then, you can also try resetting the Software as a whole.
This trick is said to have worked for a few users out there facing the same issue. Hence, you too might find it handy in dealing with the following.
You can reset the Settings, by going to the Tools section on your Audacity toolbar, and selecting the Reset Configuration option from there.
And once your Audacity software has been resetted to the original factory settings, you can then try to configure the Settings to one which does not lead to the error showing up again.
To know more about which Settings to choose or what kind of playback to use. You can refer to the following tutorial and learn more about how to do so properly and efficiently.
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