I bought a new Yeti Pro microphone and while it looks very cool and probably sounds great on recordings, I can’t get it to work on my Microsoft Windows 7 system. When I check the system status it shows “This device cannot start (code 10)” and when I plug it in, it fails. On some discussion boards they say that I should just keep unplugging/plugging and it’ll eventually work, but that’s driving me crazy. How the heck do I get this to work??!
I also have a Yeti Pro from Blue Microphone and I have to say that I really like it. It’s big and feels like real audio gear, not some cheap $20 product from Radio Shack, and the sound I get is terrific. On the other hand, that’s my experience plugging it into my MacBook Pro. When I plugged it into my Dell Win7 laptop I saw the same darn error you did and even trying to reload audio drivers, etc, never caused it to show up as a known device in Windows.
Fortunately the solution is pretty straightforward and involves downloading the proper driver from the company. You can shortcut and just do that, or you can read my entire tutorial and see how it works and avoid the surprise part-way…
Still here? Okay…
Let’s start by confirming that your computer sees the microphone, it’s just the OS doesn’t know how to mount it and make it an available device. To do that, go to “Control Panels” from the Start menu. Look for the Hardware and Sound section and click on “Hardware and Sound”. Below you’ll see I’ve highlighted “View devices and printers”, but we’ll come back to that. For now, just click on “Hardware and Sounds”, as I’ve said:
There’s the problem. The default Windows audio driver can’t handle the Blue Microphone Yeti Pro (and quite a few other Blue Mic products, but it’s no sweat, we just need to install the driver, so don’t worry) so we see This device cannot start (Code 10)
To fix it, you need to download the driver from the bluemic site.
Got it? Excellent. Now make sure you do not have the mic plugged in and launch the installer…
Nothing unusual so far, just click on “Next >”.
This, I have to admit, threw me for a loop! Baltic Latvian what? My first thought was that it was a neatly packaged virus or spyware or something. Not good.
Inquiring of the company, however, I learned that “Blue” stands for Baltic Latvian Universal Electronics and that this is indeed the correct device driver for the Yeti Pro.
Phew!
Click “Install” to install the driver and a number of new files will be added to your Windows 7 system:
After a moment or two, it’s ready to connect and configure the mic:
When I plugged in my Yeti Pro the PC immediately saw it and connected properly:
Looks good! A click on “Next >” and we’ve succeeded!
Now when the microphone is plugged in it shows up, albeit as “Line”, but still, it’s alive:
Finally it’s all good and the microphone will work as desired. Not too bad!
I was having problems with my Yeti Microphone not being seen by Windows 7, it was working fine when I first pluged it in but after a few days of use,
I turned on my computer and it had simply vanished.
After hours of struggling to fix the problem I managed to fix it.
Here is what you have to do:
Go to Start Control Panel, type in device in search, top right
and select device manager, normally the yeti is seen under sound and game controllers,
but of course its nort there otherwise you would not be reading this.
What I did was go down to USB Serial Bus controllers,
then I counted and made a not of there names, then I plugged in the microphone into the USB, suddenly there was an extra USB Composite Device listed,
I then right clicked it and updated the driver from the web, once finished updating the driver, suddenly the Blue Yeti was visible.
Now I needed to set my microphone up for use.
So i then went back to control Panal and this time I Selected Hardware and Sound Then under sound select Managing Sound devices. Then click on Recording
and you should now see the Blue Yeti Listed, Highlight it and set as default. Your now all set to record.
Thanks for tutorial and your helpful newsletter. I didn’t need to use your driver because the device mngr tells me Yeti mike is my default device and no yellow mark.
But when i click my icon, all I get is a window about the shortcut.
When I type microphone into START search, window pops up saying I have no input audio device. Now what do I do?
Also, isn’t there something visual with the YETI, so I can choose modes and applications? I see nothing. Is there software missing
I had this issue when I first bought the mic a year ago. I had to reinstall my system to get it to work. Now it stopped recognizing the mic again. Bought 2 brand new cables, no luck. I think my only option is to restore the system to an earlier point and hope this isn’t too painful. When I first had the problem and contacted Bluemic support, I was disappointed that they provide no support for issues like this, only for problems with the microphone itself
Great tutorial, altho the driver has a newer version it works exactly the same. However…..
My mic still doesnt pic up ANY sound.. Could this be a factory error or is the default USB cable too bad?
Any tips are highly appreciated..
Definitely try different USB cables, different USB plug on your computer, different computer. Etc. If that doesn’t work, call Blue Mic, they’ll help you out!
Viewing this in 2015, there is a new driver, and this tutorial no longer works.
Good point, Joel. Grab the latest driver directly from Blue Mic here: http://www.bluemic.com/yetipro/#/drivers/
Hi Dave,
I just wanted to say thanks for posting this with the active links. I really appreciate it.
Cheers!
Sean
August 2014 ans this problem still isn’t resolved.
Hi Dave! I’ve read so many other comments of people who followed your tutorial but still had a loss,
for me, yes, the encryption is unchecked, I have updated drivers, I have windows 7 on a dell hard-drive with 2.0 USB ports, I go to Device manager and yes, the little yellow warning sign does appear next to my microphone, and code 10 appears. However going through your walkthrough step by step, I noticed the difference between yours and mine in the fifth picture. Where yours says “Location 0” port and hub etc, etc, mine says “Port_#0001.Hub_#0008” without the “Location 0” I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be significant or not, but it was one difference. Anyway, I followed all the way through to setup, clicked “Next>” however when it was checking the system status it keeps coming up with red writing saying “Setup requires that the device is plugged in. Please connect the device you want to install and make sure it is turned on. If your device is currently connected, please unplug and replug it.” Now, obviously I’ve plugged it in and out how many times, aswell as plugging it in to different USB ports, but it’s still not recognising it! I go to Device and managers and it can feel my yeti pro there but the setup can’t detect it. In sound management, I right-click, and I assume it’s counted under “disconnected devices”, so I’m guessing it just doesn’t think my mic is plugged in. I’ve tried two different cables, but still not working…
I’m starting to think my microphone is faulty, however that’s just the thing.
I’ve had my microphone for about a year and it has worked before, although on my old hardrive which was windows XP, inbetween this time, I have also lent it to a friend who owns a macbook, but then, this faulty setup and failure-to-be-recognised-as-plugged-in was happening before I lent it to her, So I think it’s either the change in windows from XP to 7 or something about my hard-drive? I see alot of people who have problems with this mic who have windows 7
I intend to buy yeti blue mic for my Window 7 os. The last reply on this thread is 2011 October. Is the issue resolved in a better way now.
They should be working just fine with Win7 at this point, Namlow!
Well, at least now I know I’m not alone.
I too am unable to install the drivers. In fact, Dave’s solution didn’t make sense to me because he refers to improper drivers, but the link takes me to the exact drivers I already tried installing. Further, sometimes they install properly (this is a rare event), and other times Windows 7 tells me the installation did not complete. Either way, the driver shows up in my Control Panel when I go to “Uninstall Programs,” and either way, my microphone does not show up as an available device. I have the dreaded Code 10 result.
I contacted tech support and after troubleshooting with me they said I had a defective mic. So going on that assumption I contacted the retailer from which I purchased it, and they agreed to switch mine out for a new one. However, now I wonder if that will make any difference. I’d rather get my money back (which they also offered instead of a replacement) if this problem isn’t going to get resolved some time in the near future. The mic is definitely turning on, but is simply not recognized in the system. Same problems, pretty much, as everyone else. The mic turns on, but isn’t recognized AND the drivers won’t install anyway most of the time.
I noticed that someone mentioned a v1.29 driver, but I can’t find that anywhere. Another mentioned deselecting the encryption option on the zip file, but not only is mine grayed out, but is also already unchecked. I am at a loss, and frankly, don’t know if I’m understanding how doing that after already downloading would be of any help since Windows would have already done its job. I’m not a genius on this stuff, so maybe I have no clue as to the encryption process. Nevertheless, what is the big problem that a working driver seems impossible to find create for such a supposedly remarkable microphone (I’d love to find that out first hand)?
This mic is too expensive not to have this matter resolved. None of the solutions I’ve seen even remotely alleviate the problem in any way. My computer has no other issues with any of my existing recording or playback devices.
The following SOLUTION worked for me when Windows 7 would not install the Yeti Pro Driver v1.29.0. The problem is that the installation setup files are encrypted by Windows 7 when downloaded. Here is how to fix that: After downloading the “Driver A” for Windows 7 from the Blue Mic website, unzip the file and place it somewhere (for instance, your desktop). “Right-click” the “YetiPro-DriverA” folder. Under the GENERAL tab, click the ADVANCED button. In the ADVANCED ATTRIBUTES window that pops-up, UNCHECK the box next to the phrase “Encrypt contents to secure data”. Click OK, and then OK again. Try running the setup file in the “YetiPro-DriverA” folder and the driver setup should work. It did for me.
This worked for me. I disabled read only and encryption and it finished the install.
Working now,
Thanks.
I am also having issues with it on my asus g75v it connects fine but after 30 seconds of being plugged in it stops working. I emailed blue tech support but im only giving them 2 days until I return this to the apple store and buy another mic. I wouldn’t expect such a crappy mic for $250.
I tried what thinknologist did especially when I got the failed installation but I got access denied when I tried updating my drivers. Do I need the driver in a specific folder or can I leave it in my download folder? Also, I tried running the installation as an administrator and that failed. So what else can I do? I run an ASUS G75 and I tried installing it on my USB port and then on a USB 2.0 port hub but no success. So what am I doing wrong otherwise I’m returning this and getting something else.
Blue Yeti Pro USB Microphones .It is not compatible with windows 8 operating system.
This is the reply i have had from blue.
The Blue Yeti Microphone works fine but if you are operating windows 8 do not buy the yeti pro as i did as it does not work.
The mic obnly works with USB 2, however, the new iMacs are made with only USB 3 ports. Is there any way to get a Yeti Pro to work with the computer?
Tried to install B version of drivers on my Windows 7 machine, failed without explanation. Even my Linux machine doesn’t make me mess around with drivers like this anymore. Sorry, but I’m just going to use different kit that doesn’t waste my time on this nonsense.
What about the regular yeti blue it doesnt work either There support stinks also
I am thinking of reporting them to the better business bureau you have to keep unplugging and plugging it back in 3/4 of the time it doesnt recognize the microphone in windows 7
Any suggestions
December 11: Downloaded the latest driver from http://bluemic.com/yetipro/#/drivers/ onto new Windows 8 laptop.
When you run the setup.exe program, you get a fatal error listing all the operating systems supported – that does not include Windows 8.
Windows 8 does ship with a nifty compatibility expert thing that will try to find a compatibility mode. So if you run it under Windows 7 compatibility mode, you can launch the installer, but it will not recognize the Yeti Pro mic plugged into the USB socket. I played around with all the other wizard options I could find, no dice.
I submitted a support request to them asking if it’s supported or when so we’ll see.
I am not sure but you may test the available Windows 7 driver. http://bluemic.com/yetipro/#/drivers/
This driver could be forward compatible with Windows 8. Again make sure of what version of Blue Yeti Mic you have. See my previous comment.
I am not sure but you may test the Windows 7. Driver could be forward compatible with Windows 8.
hello there,
i got yeti pro very recently, also a new laptop two days ago. my one and only laptop runs windows 8, so as you can guess there is no driver for me to install. i really want to use my new mic, so I would like to know if this is only a matter of driver (so it only takes blue to give me an option for windows 8) or it just means my microphone is not compatible and will never be and I can only go analogic. Excuse my ignorance and please,let me know. It would help a lot. I really want to record.
Flora
Great stuff and a nicely detailed comment, thinknologist. Thanks for helping people out!
Hi All:
What took place in my side was totally different. Image #7 didn’t came up and worst was the installation failed!. Tried using administrator account and installation failed!!!
Here’s my hardware:
– Bluemic YetiPro / No usb label
– Windows 7 Pro 64bit
– USB 2.0 port
Software Installation Procedure
1. Know your hardware type.
– is it with USB label or with NO usb label.
2. Get / Download the appropriate driver version, YetiPro-DriverA or YetiPro-DriverB.
3. What I have used was “NO” usb label (YetiPro), so I need to use Yetipro-DriverB as per documentation.
4. Extract the file to whichever location you want.
*** Note: Do not forget its location, you will need this exact path when “manually” installing driver.
5. Try your luck, run setup.
– in my case, installation failed.
***THE WORKAROUND***
5a. Go to Device Manager > Right click > BLUE USB Audio 2 > Update Driver
6. Browse / Locate the YetiPro driver (as per instruction #4).
7. In my case, I have to provide 2 driver files to complete the installation.
8. Done complete. Device is properly functioning. > http://postimage.org/image/xqjauq7lt/
I hope this procedure helps.
Bluemic YetiPro is an excellent condenser microphone “if” you only to put the correct driver, else it is just a piece of metal.
– thinknologist
So with the new drives that Blue has issued I’ve had nothing but problems. Does anyone have the old v1.22.0 drives or a place where I can download them? These 1.29.9 drives are just stupid.
I have installed everything, on Windows 7 btw. When I plug in the mic during installation it tells me the auto-install is failed, but I continue with my downloaded drivers. I install it, and the Thesycon drivers that Blue has us using are absolutely terrible, and they fail constantly. I don’t have the lettering next to the USB port so I downloaded Driver B, it doesn’t matter. I start up audition, audacity, anything, and the drivers don’t work. I wish you guys had spent some time with your own hired programmers to make the drivers yourself, rather than loan them out to an apparently second-rate audio driver company. At this rate I’ll be demanding my refund and never coming back to this company until they come out with some decent drivers.
Hi Bob,
Apologies for any confusion. Please find links to the Yeti Pro drivers under the Drivers tab here: http://www.bluemic.com/yetipro/#/drivers/ Please click on the buttons for “Download A” or “Download B” accordingly. For further help, please see the FAQ and Support tabs or contact us at support@bluemic.com. Thanks!
I have this same problem with my BLUE Snowball microphone, however, when I opened the link to the download you posted in the article, there were no download links. Nor could I find any on bluemic.com period. Is the link outdated? And what else can I try?
This thing is useless. I had great hopes for it, but it simply won’t install on any of my computers – 2 x Windows 7 and one XP
Similar to everyone else, I can’t get my computer to recognize my Yeti Pro But on a MacBook Pro. It’s extremely frustrating! It turns on and i can hear through headphones but that’s it. none of the sound from the computer goes through the yeti, it doesn’t recognize that i’ve plugged something in or anything. any help?
Thanks!
Problems on XP and vista craches also with driver installed!
Now I use a preamp edirol and I can use it anytime but it was designed to go directly into the pc!!!Herman
The Yeti Pro driver keeps crashing my Windows 7 system. Was easy to identify, because I had just bought a new computer and installed/uninstalled/installed/uninstalled, etc. to reveal that it was, in fact, the Yeti Pro driver. Told the company and they said they’d get back to me when they had a new driver….months ago. System crashes if left unused for a short while. Very inconvenient, as you have to restart frequently throughout the day. Is there a fix for this??
I have the Blue yeti mic (not the pro) and same problem. i get to the same problem and my comp. wont recognize the mic and im stuck. i just got a NEW COMPAQ with windows 7. i have had a compaq with windows xp and it worked great before. but now its not registering and i cannot select it as an audio device because it wont let me install the driver.
Hi Brendon,
Here are some trouble-shooting basics that you can try:
– Make sure you are using the USB cable supplied with the Yeti Pro
– What other devices do you have plugged into your computer? Try removing other devices from your computer, as one may be interfering with the Yeti Pro.
– Is the Yeti Pro plugged directly into your computer? Make sure you are plugged directly into your computers USB port.
– If your computer has USB 3.0 ports, try using your USB 2.0 ports instead.
– Do you have any other Audio drivers installed on your computer? (other than the stock audio drivers for your computers sound card). It is possible that another driver can interfere with the Yeti Pro.
– Have you tested on another computer? This will help narrow down if the issue lies within the Yeti, or your computer.
– Try Testing on another USB port.
– If all else fails, a simple restart of your computer may clear things up.
You may also contact us at support@bluemic.com for more assistance.
So what if this problem exists, but instead of a malfunctioned driver, the issue is that windows 7 see this as an “unrecognized usb device”? The Blue driver isn’t there, and downloading it from Blue’s website doesn’t help. When the setup says to “connect the device you want to install and turn it on”, windows won’t recognize it, so I can’t get past that step!