How to persist settings for default audio output on Ubuntu 21.04?

Kempes Jacinto

12/6/22, 1:45 PM

I have Ubuntu 21.04 running.

I always need to change the audio output settings from "Analog Out" (which has no sound) to "Speakers" (works well).

The same problem occurs with the audio input ("Analog input" does not work, but "Internal microphone" does).

How to persist these changes?

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sound

speakers

settings

microphone

21.04

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Ubuntu

Peter Rowlett

1/30/23, 3:32 PM

I had this problem - pulseaudio was defaulting to my USB headset, but I want sound to come to my speakers by default and I'll switch to the headset using video conferencing software if I'm on a call.

I ran pactl list short sinks to find out which 'sinks' (i.e. audio output devices) are available. The output looked like this:

$ pactl list short sinks
1   alsa_output.usb-C-Media_Electronics_Inc._USB_Audio_Device-00.analog-stereo  module-alsa-card.c  s16le 2ch 44100Hz   RUNNING
2   alsa_output.pci-0000_09_00.4.analog-stereo  module-alsa-card.c  s16le 2ch 44100Hz   IDLE
7   alsa_output.pci-0000_07_00.1.hdmi-stereo    module-alsa-card.c  s16le 2ch 44100Hz   SUSPENDED

The first of these, which the list has as RUNNING, is my USB headset. The one I want is the second. If I run pactl set-default-sink alsa_output.pci-0000_09_00.4.analog-stereo this makes the right device active, but this is just like changing the option in the 'Sound' settings menu.

To make the change persistent through rebooting, I edited /etc/pulse/default.pa and added set-default-sink alsa_output.pci-0000_09_00.4.analog-stereo to the bottom of the file (i.e. the same as the command above but missing off the pactl from the front).

So work out which device you want to switch to, run pactl set-default-sink device to check you have this right, then add set-default-sink device to the bottom of /etc/pulse/default.pa.

For input devices, the equivalent commands are pactl list short sources and pactl set-default-source.

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Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: How to persist settings for default audio output on Ubuntu 21.04?

TH: จะคงการตั้งค่าเอาต์พุตเสียงเริ่มต้นบน Ubuntu 21.04 ได้อย่างไร

RO: Cum să persistați setările pentru ieșirea audio implicită pe Ubuntu 21.04?

RU: Как сохранить настройки вывода звука по умолчанию в Ubuntu 21.04?

VI: Làm cách nào để duy trì cài đặt cho đầu ra âm thanh mặc định trên Ubuntu 21.04?

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