Accidentally Deleted Audio Driver Here

My laptop didn’t scream. It just… stopped speaking. The little speaker icon in the system tray sprouted a red X, like a wound. I clicked it. “No Audio Output Device is Installed.”

A progress bar filled. A window popped up: “Device Manager has changed your hardware settings. You must restart your computer for the changes to take effect.” accidentally deleted audio driver

It was just sitting there, taking up mental space. And a thought, slick and stupid as oil on a wet floor, slid into my head: I don’t need that. I use headphones. That’s just bloatware, right? Right. My laptop didn’t scream