USB headset not working on secondary seat after Windows 10 update

[Sophiasmith]

Hello everyone,

I’m using Aster on Windows 10 to run a dual-seat setup (2 monitors, 2 keyboards, 2 mice, separate user sessions). Everything was working fine until a recent Windows 10 update.

After the update, my USB headset is only detected and working on the main seat. On the secondary seat, the headset is either not recognized or shows up but produces no sound at all. Other audio devices behave the same way.

What I’ve already tried:

Reinstalling Aster and reconfiguring both seats
Updating and rolling back USB audio drivers
Reassigning audio devices in Aster control panel
Plugging the headset into different USB ports

None of these steps fixed the issue.

Has anyone experienced this problem where Windows update breaks per-seat USB audio separation in Aster? Any working solution or workaround would be appreciated.

[eirajeremy]

I had a somewhat similar issue after a Windows 10 update where USB audio devices stopped binding correctly to the secondary seat. In my case, Windows had reassigned the headset as the default communication device for the primary session after the update, and Aster could no longer isolate it properly.

A few things that helped me troubleshoot:

Open Windows Sound Settings separately on both user sessions and manually set different playback devices for each seat.
In Device Manager, uninstall the USB headset completely (including “delete driver software” if available), then reboot before reconnecting it.
Disable “Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device” in the headset’s advanced audio properties.
If the headset has both USB audio and virtual surround software, try uninstalling the manufacturer’s software temporarily and use the generic Windows USB audio driver instead.

I’ve also noticed some Windows updates reset USB power management settings, so checking “USB selective suspend” and disabling power saving for USB Root Hubs may help too.

Hopefully one of these works because Windows updates definitely seem to break Aster audio assignments from time to time.