Yet I really need to use my external speakers (or a headset) and microphone at the same time. Are Windows 10 updates somehow disabling Realtek HD Audio Manager? What, then, would be a possible solution? It is not viable to do PC reset after ever Windows update. This was advised and done for me by a Microsoft technician another one reinstalled all relevant drivers on my laptop, also to no avail, only to offer to do PC reset which I declined, as I would first understand what the issue might plausibly be. But now I am not finding a path leading to the ''Separate all input jacks as independent input devices' option even after downloading and installing Realtek High Definition Audio Driver. Two years ago I had exactly the same problem on the same laptop, under the 'same' Windows 10, and I solved it then by way of the following path: 'Control Panel' > 'Realtek HD Audio Manager' > 'Device advanced settings' > 'Separate all input jacks as independent input devices'. Every PC has some extra ports at the back of the cabinet. After that, click on Scan for hardware changes. If the driver still isn’t there, follow these steps-Open the Device Manager window. After recent Windows 10 updates, my Toshiba laptop's in-built microphone stopped working whenever anything (e.g., external speakers) is plugged into my laptop's audio jack. This will load the default driver for the Realtek Audio driver.