How to turn off the microphone in Ubuntu or Linux Mint?

Does your computer have a built-in microphone? Here is how to mute or disable the microphone in Linux (Ubuntu or Linux Mint) in software.

Introduction

The easiest way to turn off a microphone is to unplug it. So we can be sure that it is no longer picking up anything ... However, on a laptop with a built-in microphone, you can't do it. On the other hand, it is always possible to deactivate it by software.

One solution is to mute the microphone input (not its listening), which is equivalent to deactivating it. This is usually done through the GUI, in the Sound settings of the distribution. But, it is also possible to do it in a terminal.

However, on a laptop, the microphone can be linked to the integrated webcam. So to deactivate it, just deactivate the webcam.

Finally another solution, a little radical, consists in deactivating the sound card. On the other hand, in this case, of course the microphone will be deactivated, but also the other audio inputs / outputs. And you will not hear anything when playing a file or a sound stream ...

Enable / Disable the microphone in Ubuntu or Linux Mint through the GUI

Enable / Disable the microphone in Ubuntu (> 18.04) through the graphical interface

Go to the System Settings panel

Then in Sound (1), go to the Input tab (2).

Then select the microphone input (1) and deactivate it by disabling the button to the right of its volume (2).

If you have several microphone inputs, repeat the operation on each of them.

To reactivate the microphone, simply re-enable the previously deactivated inputs.

For control, a meter lets you know if your microphone picks up sounds or not. If the microphone is active and you speak in front, then you will see the level of the indicator vary.

But be careful, this level takes into account the volume setting on the input. Also before doing the test, I recommend pushing it to the max.

Enable / Disable the microphone in Linux Mint through the GUI

For Linux Mint Cinnamon

The fastest is to right click on the volume icon in the dashboard. Then you can deactivate the microphone directly.

Otherwise, another possibility is to go to System Settings then Sound.

Direct access to sound parameters can also be done directly from the dashboard.

Switch to the Input tab (1).

Then, select the microphone input (1) and click on the speaker (2) to deactivate it.

If you have several microphone inputs, repeat the operation on each of them.

To reactivate the microphone, re-enable the previously disabled input.

For Linux Mint MATE

Go to the Control Center then click on Sound:

or right click on the Dashboard Volume icon then Sound Preferences:

So, in the Sound Preferences window, go to the Input tab (1), make sure you have selected the microphone input (2) and mute its volume (3).

If you have several microphone inputs, repeat the operation on each of them.

To reactivate the microphone, re-enable the previously disabled input.

For Linux Mint XFCE

Click on the volume icon in the dashboard. You can then turn off the microphone.

Otherwise, deactivating the microphone can also be done from the Volume Control.

Audio mixer ... allows you to access it. Otherwise go to Menu> Multimedia> PulseAudio volume control:

So go to the Input Devices tab (1), verify that the port is the microphone (2) and disable it (3).

If you have several microphone inputs, repeat the operation on each of them.

To reactivate the microphone, re-enable the previously disabled input.

For control, a meter (except in Linux Mint XFCE) lets you know if your microphone picks up sound or not. If the microphone is active and you speak in front, then you will see the level of the indicator vary.

But be careful, this level takes into account the volume setting on the input. Also before doing the test, I recommend pushing it to the max.

Disable microphone in Ubuntu or Linux Mint in a terminal

In Ubuntu or Linux Mint, communication with the sound card relies on a kernel subsystem called ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture). In addition to providing the drivers, ALSA also provides utilities for use in a terminal. Among these, the one that interests us is alsamixer. It allows you to control the volumes of the different audio channels of a sound card. It is, in principle, present at the base in Ubuntu and Linux Mint. Otherwise to install it, do:

sudo apt install alsa-utils

To launch it, do in a terminal:

alsamixer

It is used with the keyboard. Here are the useful shortcuts:

F6 allows you to choose the sound card if you have more than one

F3 allows access to the audio output settings [playback]

F4 allows access to the audio input settings [capture]

F5 allows access to the settings of all channels

← → allow to navigate between the different channels

↑ ↓ allow you to increase or decrease a volume

Space allows you to activate or deactivate a channel.

Esc or Esc quits the application

Start by choosing the sound card with F6.

Then press F4 to access the sound card input settings. Then select the Capture entry.

So, press Space to activate / deactivate the entry.

Finally, do ESC to quit.

Disable sound card in Ubuntu or Linux Mint

To completely deactivate the audio card, it is possible to modify the start-up configuration by indicating to the system not to load the latter's driver. This is done in the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf file.

To save the file before modifying it, you can do:

sudo cp /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf.bak

and to restore it, do the opposite:

sudo cp /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf.bak /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

To find out the driver used by your sound card, in a terminal, do:

cat / proc / asound / modules

Then, to edit the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf file, do:

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

or, if you are in a graphics session:

sudo xdg-open /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

xdg-open will open your distro's default text editor (gedit for Ubuntu, Xed for Linux Mint, etc.)

So add the following lines after adjusting them:

# Sound card deactivation at startup

blacklist <name_of_son_card_driver>

Finally, save and restart your computer for the configuration to take effect.

With nano, to save the changes, do Ctrl + X (exit) and answer Y to confirm the change and hit Enter.

To reactivate the sound card, all you have to do is delete these two lines or put a # in front of the blacklist <nom_du_pilote_de_la_carte_son> to comment the line.