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< Back ⚡ Live Transcription

Troubleshooting WSL Audio for Live Transcription (PulseAudio)

If you encounter issues with microphone input when using the live transcription feature within WSL, particularly if the WslPulseAudioCaptureService is active, these steps can help diagnose the problem.

This service relies on pactl for listing devices and parec for audio capture via PulseAudio.

WSL's PulseAudio setup often mirrors or defaults to the Windows sound settings.

Ensure the microphone you intend to use is set as the default recording device in your Windows sound control panel.

Identify PulseAudio Source Name

First, list your PulseAudio sources from the WSL terminal to find your microphone's name. PulseAudio sources are how WSL sees your audio inputs.

pactl list sources short

Look for a source that represents your microphone. Keyword you're looking for is source.

I believe this is some kind of proxy to the default device in the Windows host.

Test Recording with parec

Use the source name you identified in the previous step (replace YourMicSourceName below) to attempt a raw audio recording. Speak into your microphone for a few seconds, then press Ctrl+C to stop the recording.

parec --device=YourMicSourceName --format=s16le --rate=16000 --channels=1 --raw > test_audio.raw

For example, if your device name was RDPSource:

parec --device=RDPSource --format=s16le --rate=16000 --channels=1 --raw > test_audio.raw

This command attempts to record audio in the format expected by Whisper.net (16kHz, 16-bit Little Endian, mono).

Test Playback with paplay

Attempt to play back the test_audio.raw file you just created:

paplay --raw --format=s16le --rate=16000 --channels=1 test_audio.raw

Restart PulseAudio in WSL (if necessary)

pulseaudio -k
pulseaudio --start

Retry the pactl list sources short and parec tests after restarting.

WSL Configuration for Audio

Ensure your WSL instance is configured for audio pass-through. For WSL2, this usually involves settings in your .wslconfig file on Windows (e.g., ensuring localhostForwarding=true if PulseAudio is running as a server on Windows that WSL connects to, though newer WSL versions have more integrated audio). Check the official Microsoft WSL documentation for audio troubleshooting.