[Last update: 2022 July 18]
Before posting your problem on the forum make sure you go through this troubleshooting guide.
If nothing helps at the end of the post it is described how to get helpful information of your problem before making a post on the forum.
- It is useful to check if your antivirus/antimalware/etc. software interferes with Rainmeter or sound drivers. Disable your antivirus, restart Rainmeter and see if that made any change.
- Check this example skin to be sure the problem is not on a skin level: Example Audio Level Spectrum.rmskin
- The bars might not react with a low volume level of master. Check the volume mixer setting and see if master sound is not set to a low volume. If you have it low then push the volume up (higher than 50%) and see if your visualizer starts to react.
- If you see "Error: Failed to initialize audio..." then you have a program on your PC that has exclusive control of the audio (Nahamic, Sonic, etc.) and you need to disable that program before any Rainmeter visualizer will work. Look at options to disable it at startup and set the output to DirectSound (no wasapi). Restart is mostly probably required.
- If you run Windows 10 spring creators update, make sure you do not have disabled mic and webcam access in the privacy settings as they might run from same device.
- Are you sure your default audio device is what you think it is? Go to Control Panel -> Manage Audio Devices. In the Playback tab there should be a list of audio outputs, pick the one that's actually connected to your output hardware and set that as the default. Restart Rainmeter.
- Try running in stereo 48khz if possible.
- Open this skin to check your audio device: Audio Device Information.rmskin
- Try to manually put the ID of your device right into your visualizer skin.
- There's a known issue where the loopback client will fail to initialize if the device is running in WASAPI exclusive mode. Make sure none of the devices are able to take exclusive control of the stream. One way to prevent apps taking exclusive control is to right click on the volume icon, select "Playback Devices", pick your device, right-click and do Properties, look in the Advanced tab, and disable "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device". Restart Rainmeter. Some details in here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd370844%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
- Something might happened to your Rainmeter copy, so performing Complete Rainmeter Uninstall is worth trying to be sure you are running clean version of Rainmeter.
- Try both, updating and reinstalling your sound device drivers. It will never hurt and can eliminate any hiccups. Restart your computer after updating/reinstalling.
- More things to do: https://forum.rainmeter.net/viewtopic.php?t=38936#p205558
Other solutions
Check these topics as well to see if you face similar issues:
- Issue with a Razor audio device.
- If bars are moving strangely this is the explanation.
- If you were changing your HDD, or moving your Rainmeter folder from another device/PC, or using any backup software (like TrueImage) check for the ownership issue.
- Having a buzz? Check this buzz fixer and this one.
- Experience high CPU performance using AudioLevel plugin? Check this tip.
- Issue with a Nahimic audio device.
- Issue with Dolby Atmos
Before asking for help...
- If nothing helps from the troubleshooting guide, then you would like to ask for help on this forum. For doing that you first should get what errors the log throws to you. Go into Rainmeter Settings (right click, Rainmeter->Manage, pick Settings tab) and enable "Debug mode" and "Log to file" in the Logging section. Refresh your skin to see the new log and prepare that information for your post.