Windows 11 Microphone Access Settings: Disable globally, enable by app

Ashiruni · Friday at 11:29 AM

Hello!

I'm trying to find a way to globally disable the microphone, except for a few "desktop apps" that I want to enable.

So, I guess that means I'll be using a registry flag to force an app to get access while the global windows setting looks like this:

Is this something that's viable to achieve in windows 11, or have they hard coded things in a way that makes my life hell (like usual)? And if it is viable, how would I go about doing it, as I'm still pretty inexperienced when it comes to registry entries.

Thanks in advance for any help!

garlin · 2025-06-14T22:09:07-0400

Using RegistryChangesView, we can find the recent changes after we allow specific Apps access to the Microphone:

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\microphone\Microsoft.Copilot_8wekyb3d8bbwe]
"LastSetTime"=hex(b):3B,89,AF,56,98,DD,DB,01
"Value"="Allow"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\microphone\Microsoft.WindowsCamera_8wekyb3d8bbwe]
"LastSetTime"=hex(b):76,E1,86,55,98,DD,DB,01
"Value"="Allow"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\microphone\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe]
"Value"="Allow"
"LastSetTime"=hex(b):EB,FE,FD,57,98,DD,DB,01

LastSetTime is a UTC timestamp written in little-endian (reverse) byte format.

The actual timestamp isn't really relevant, other than UWP apps always leave a timestamp associated to the last registry update. Every key needs a timestamp, but Windows doesn't care about the actual value.

To enable access for any of the UWP apps, you would follow this template:

Code:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\microphone\Microsoft.Copilot_8wekyb3d8bbwe]
"LastSetTime"=hex(b):3B,89,AF,56,98,DD,DB,01   <-- Can re-use the same values
"Value"="Allow"

To disable access for any of the named Apps:

Code:

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\microphone\Microsoft.Copilot_8wekyb3d8bbwe]

After applying the reg changes, you may need to switch out of the Settings app and return to refresh the view.

Windows 11 Microphone Access Settings: Disable globally, enable by app

Ashiruni

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garlin

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