How to detect if a Microphone is present

Question

I just had a very long tech support call because a customer didn't have a Mic on their laptop. (Stupid me: they said they'd used the mic earlier and I have never heard of a laptop not having a Mic).

I'm wondering if there is a way to detect whether there is a Microphone (recording capability) on Windows XP, Vista, 7.

(I've got error handling enabled and it logs the error and then exits the Function but the app just crashes on Windows 7 if there's no Microphone. )

Answer 1

I think the only way you will be able to do this in VB 6 is through Direct X:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb318770(VS.85).aspx

You can check this out:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb280815(VS.85).aspx

CaptureDevices Collection Class (Microsoft.DirectX.DirectSound)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms810619.aspx

you can also call dxdiag..