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UWP unity app in Kiosk mode no longer shows microphone permission prompt

AaronV 5 Reputation points
2025-12-09T10:10:40.63+00:00

Hello,

I work at a company that creates interactive experiences using the Unity engine. Many of our applications are deployed as UWP apps and run in Windows Kiosk mode. Because of the nature of our applications, we request microphone access when the user begins interacting with the app.

When the application is installed and run under a normal Windows user account, everything works as expected. The moment the app attempts to access the microphone, the application pauses briefly while Windows shows the permission prompt asking the user to allow microphone access.

However, when the same application is installed and run in Kiosk mode, the behavior is different. The application appears to freeze when requesting microphone access, but no permission prompt is ever shown. This issue is new—previous builds and other applications used to display the microphone permission prompt correctly in Kiosk mode.

We tested older builds and older applications that previously worked, and they now also fail to show the permission prompt when running in Kiosk mode. They simply freeze at the moment microphone access is requested.

Questions:

Has a recent Windows update changed microphone permission behavior for Kiosk mode?

Is there a way to restore or pre-configure microphone access for UWP apps running in Kiosk mode?

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Developer technologies | Universal Windows Platform (UWP)

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  1. Raymond Huynh (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 4,060 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-12-16T10:17:46.9+00:00

    Hello AaronV,
    Thanks you for documenting the steps he used to restore microphone access in kiosk mode. Summarizing them here for anyone setting up a similar environment.

    In kiosk scenarios, the microphone permission prompt may not appear, which can leave the app waiting indefinitely for user confirmation. Aaron observed the same behavior across several devices running build 26200.7462, including when testing with built-in apps, so the consistent factor was the permission prompt not being presented in this mode.

    His workaround was to pre-configure the permission through policy so the app is already allowed to use the microphone:

    1. Open Local Group Policy Editor Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → App Privacy
    2. Add the package family name (PFN) of the kiosk app.
    3. Set microphone access to Force Allow.

    After applying this policy, the kiosk app was able to access the microphone normally without waiting for any user prompt.

    This adds a small extra step during installation, but it provides a straightforward path to ensure microphone access in kiosk deployments.

    Hopefully this helps others configuring similar setups.

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