MicMute is a lightweight system tray utility designed to provide global control over your microphone with just a keystroke. This tool allows you to mute or unmute your microphone across all applications simultaneously, including Zoom, Discord, Microsoft Teams, and more.
Key Features:
Global Hotkey: Toggle microphone mute with a customizable hotkey (default is Win + Shift + Ctrl + A).
Push-to-Talk Mode: Hold the hotkey to temporarily unmute while speaking.
Sticky PTT: Left-click the tray icon in Push-to-Talk mode to hold the mic open without holding the key.
Deafen Mode: Mute both microphone and speakers with a separate configurable hotkey.
Tray Icon: Visual indicator of microphone status (green = active, red = muted) with left-click toggle functionality.
On-Screen Display: A floating bubble shows your current mute state for quick reference.
Audience & Benefit:
Ideal for users who need seamless and instantaneous control over their microphone across all applications. MicMute offers a universal solution to manage microphone settings without relying on app-specific controls, making it perfect for streamers, gamers, or anyone using multiple communication platforms.
MicMute can be installed via winget with the command winget install itsnateai.MicMute, ensuring easy setup and updates.
README
MicMute
Global hotkey microphone mute/unmute with push to talk for Windows.
A lightweight system tray utility that lets you mute and unmute your microphone from anywhere using a hotkey or tray icon click. Works at the Windows audio level — affects all apps at once (Zoom, Discord, Teams, etc.).
Features
Global hotkey: Win + Shift + Ctrl + A (configurable) toggles mic mute system-wide
Push-to-Talk mode: Hold key to unmute, release to re-mute. Fullscreen-safe and accepts bare modifier keys (Right-Ctrl alone, etc.) the way Discord does — no keyboard hook, nothing for game anti-cheat to flag.
Sticky PTT: Left-click the tray in Push-to-Talk mode to hold the mic open without holding the hotkey. A persistent "mic listening" bubble stays on screen so you can't forget. Click again to resume normal PTT.
Deafen mode: Mute both mic and speakers simultaneously (separate hotkey)
Tray icon: Green = active, Red = muted. Left-click to toggle.
On-screen display: Floating dark bubble above the taskbar shows mute state
Mute Lock: Reverts external mute changes on the next 15-second sync tick. Catches drive-by changes from meeting apps or OS sound settings. Not instant — apps that actively manage mute mid-call (Discord PTT, etc.) will win in the moment.
Mic source selection: Pick which microphone to control
Sound feedback: Audible tone on mute/unmute (custom .wav support)
Custom icons: Replace default tray icons with your own .ico files
Run at startup: One-click toggle via Settings
Startup state control: Start muted, unmuted, or remember last session
Explorer restart recovery: Tray icon survives Explorer crashes
Auto-detect: Automatically reconnects when you plug in a new mic
Screenshots
Active (Unmuted)
Muted
Tray Menu
Settings
Requirements
Windows 10/11
Installation
Option 1: Download
Grab MicMute.exe from the latest release — single file, self-contained, no .NET runtime needed.
Option 2: WinGet (recommended)
winget install itsnateai.MicMute
winget upgrade itsnateai.MicMute # later, to update
WinGet installs stay current automatically. The in-app Update button detects WinGet installs and points you back at winget upgrade instead of trying to overwrite the managed binary.
Releases publish a SHA256SUMS file alongside the exe. The in-app Update button downloads it, verifies the hash, and fails closed if anything is missing or doesn't match. Unverified updates never land on disk.
Usage
Modes
Toggle (default): Press the hotkey to mute, press again to unmute. Left-click the tray for the same effect.
Push-to-Talk: Hold the hotkey to unmute. Release to re-mute. Switch via tray menu or middle-click the icon. Push-to-Talk always starts muted at launch.
Sticky PTT: In Push-to-Talk mode, left-click the tray icon to unmute and pause the hotkey. A persistent indicator stays on screen until you left-click again to re-mute. Useful for holding the mic open during a long conversation without holding a key.
Deafen: Assign a separate hotkey in Settings. Mutes both mic and speakers. Press again to restore both.
Tray Menu
Right-click the tray icon for the full menu:
Toggle mute
Current hotkey combo (click to change — combo shorthand: # Win, ^ Ctrl, ! Alt, + Shift)
Switch between Toggle and Push-to-Talk modes
Select mic source
Open Settings, Help, Sound Settings
Reinitialise mic (if device changed)
Customization
Settings are stored in MicMute.ini (auto-created next to the exe):
MicMute uses the Windows Core Audio COM APIs (IAudioEndpointVolume) to control microphone mute state directly — no dependencies on any specific app. Global hotkeys are registered via RegisterHotKey and the tray icon is built using WinForms NotifyIcon.
A 15-second periodic sync timer detects external mute changes, device hot-plug events, and enforces Mute Lock when enabled.
Project Structure
Path
Description
MicMute.csproj
.NET 8 project file
Program.cs
Entry point — single-instance enforcement
TrayApp.cs
Main app — tray icon, hotkeys, mute logic, menus
AudioManager.cs
Core Audio COM interop — mute, enumerate, speaker control
