🚀 NEW in v2.4.29: 35+ Speed Optimizations added today!Download Now →

Home/Fix/Cortana or Voice Assistant Not Working

How to Fix Cortana or Voice Assistant Not Working on Windows

Cortana not responding, voice commands failing, or "Hey Cortana" not detecting speech? Fix Windows voice assistant and speech recognition issues.

📖

Main Troubleshooting Guide

How to Fix No Audio or Sound →

Complete symptoms, causes, and step-by-step solutions

Symptoms

You might be experiencing this problem if you notice:

  • •Cortana doesn't respond to "Hey Cortana"
  • •Voice commands not recognized
  • •Cortana app crashes or won't open
  • •"Something went wrong" when using Cortana
  • •Cortana search returns no results
  • •Speech recognition not available in your region

Common Causes

  • âš Microphone not set as default recording device
  • âš Cortana permissions not granted
  • âš Speech Language Pack not installed
  • âš Cortana disabled in Group Policy
  • âš Online speech recognition turned off
  • âš Region or language settings incompatible

Solutions

Solution 1: Check Microphone and Permissions

  1. 1Go to Settings > Privacy & security > Microphone
  2. 2Ensure "Microphone access" is ON
  3. 3Enable microphone for Cortana in the app list
  4. 4Go to Settings > Privacy & security > Speech
  5. 5Turn on "Online speech recognition"
  6. 6Test your microphone in Settings > System > Sound > Input

Solution 2: Reset Cortana App

  1. 1Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps
  2. 2Find "Cortana"
  3. 3Click three dots > Advanced options
  4. 4Click "Repair" first
  5. 5If that doesn't work, click "Reset"
  6. 6Restart your PC and test Cortana

Solution 3: Install Speech Language Pack

  1. 1Go to Settings > Time & language > Language & region
  2. 2Click your display language > Options
  3. 3Under "Speech", click "Download" if a speech pack is available
  4. 4After download, restart your PC
  5. 5Go to Settings > Time & language > Speech
  6. 6Set "Speech language" to match your language pack
FIXES THIS IN 5 MINUTES

Fix Cortana or Voice Assistant Not Working Automatically

RescuePC Toolkit includes 109+ automated repairs that fix this problem with one click. No command line knowledge required.

Download Now - Free Trial

No credit card required • Works on Windows 10 & 11

Share this:XRedditLinkedInEmail