Xfce Forum

damb

Member

Registered: 2017-04-16

Posts: 6

Red microphone icon visible even though there is no mic

Hello,

is there a way to get rid of the red microphone tray icon?
It is part of xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin and somehow picks up the "monitor" devices of pipewire as a microphone

Thanks

forcedtopicksomething

Member

Registered: 2023-07-26

Posts: 67

Re: Red microphone icon visible even though there is no mic

Yes, I want this gone too. Insanely annoying to see that bright red icon there for no reason. I've tried everything myself. Can't find any way. (No, my mic is not in use. I have no mic. And it's muted too. Yet insists on showing there.)

eriefisher

Wanderer

From: ON, Canada

Registered: 2008-10-25

Posts: 779

Re: Red microphone icon visible even though there is no mic

I have not seen this. Are you sure it's the xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin? A right click on it should open a titled menu. In that menu you can click on properties and uncheck The "recording indicator".

Does this work?

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I AM CANADIAN!
Siduction
Debian Sid
Xfce 4.20 with Wayland/Labwc

forcedtopicksomething

Member

Registered: 2023-07-26

Posts: 67

Re: Red microphone icon visible even though there is no mic

Are you sure it's the xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin? A right click on it should open a titled menu.

Yes, I'm sure. I right-click on it and it says "PulseAudio Plugin". (Exactly as when I right-click the loudspeaker icon next to it.)

In that menu you can click on properties and uncheck The "recording indicator".

There is a "Properties" (which I found before posting), but those Properties only have two tabs: "General" and "Media Players", and neither of them contain anything related to "recording indicator". I've looked very closely several times now. Correction: It has a checkbox which is NOT checked which says "Always display the recording indicator"

The red mic icon disappears if I close my VirtualBox VMs and appears when I run them. Even though neither have "audio input" checked...

Last edited by forcedtopicksomething (2025-08-28 23:08:58)

eriefisher

Wanderer

From: ON, Canada

Registered: 2008-10-25

Posts: 779

Re: Red microphone icon visible even though there is no mic

Is there anything showing up in the mixer when virtualbox is running that goes away when it's closed?

---

I AM CANADIAN!
Siduction
Debian Sid
Xfce 4.20 with Wayland/Labwc

forcedtopicksomething

Member

Registered: 2023-07-26

Posts: 67

Re: Red microphone icon visible even though there is no mic

Is there anything showing up in the mixer when virtualbox is running that goes away when it's closed?

Yes: "PipeWire ALSA [VirtualBoxVM]: Alsa Playback".

Also, apparently it's specifically the Linux Mint VM that determines whether the mic icon is shown or not -- the Windows 10 VM seems to not affect this.

Both VMs have "Audio input" unchecked in the Devices => Audio menu.