pythonc#windowspowershellmicrophone

See if an app is using the Microphone on Windows 10

I'm trying to write a script that let's me check whether the Webcam and Microphone are in use. For the webcam I already managed to write something in Python, however so far I haven't found a good way to do the same for the microphone.

In Windows you have a dedicated setting in the SysTray that is showing up when your microphone is actually used by an app (and even showing which one):
Microphone Setting
App that is using Microphone

So obviously Windows knows whether it's used at the moment (that's all I would need) and even which application is using it. However I did not find any way to read that information out in any way yet.

Is it possible to somehow get the data from Windows itself? At this point, I don't even mind which language would be used for it, Python, C#, PowerShell or whatever.

PS: I know there might be ways to access the microphone wihtout it being shown in the SysTray, but this case is not relevant for what I'm trying to achieve.

Solution

  • you can check this registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\microphone

    Under the NonPackaged key, all non-microsoft applications that have used the microphone are listed with path to the executable. If an application is currently using the mic, the LastUsedTimeStop value is set to 0. Cheers!