The Sessionwire Audio Plugins installer adds two things: the plugins for your DAW, and four audio drivers that connect them to Sessionwire. If either is missing, the Send and Receive plugins can't reach Sessionwire.

Check what's there

In your Studio, open the HQ Audio and Talkback menus. You should see four Sessionwire devices: Sessionwire Send Plugin, Sessionwire Receive Plugin, Sessionwire Talkback Send Plugin and Sessionwire Talkback Receive Plugin.

On a Mac, Audio MIDI Setup (Applications > Utilities) lists the same drivers as ToSW, FromSW, ToSWTalkback and FromSWTalkback. Each one should be set to 48,000 Hz and 32-bit float. On Windows they're called To SW, From SW, To SW Talkback and From SW Talkback.

If all four are there but your DAW can't find the plugins, rescan plugins in your DAW. Pro Tools needs the AAX version, and the plugins don't come in VST2.

On a Mac

Work through these in order, and check again after each one.

1. On macOS 27, install Rosetta 2. macOS 27 doesn't include it, and the Sessionwire plugins and drivers need it. See macOS Golden Gate.
2. Restart your Mac. The drivers only load at startup, so a restart is needed after installing.
3. Check the drivers folder. In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder, paste /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL and press Return. The four Sessionwire drivers should be there. If they aren't, run the plugin installer again.
4. Move out drivers you don't use. One broken or outdated driver in that folder can stop macOS loading the others. Drivers from video-call apps and old audio software are the usual culprits. Move them to a folder on your desktop rather than deleting them, then restart.
5. Restart Core Audio. Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities), paste sudo killall coreaudiod and press Return. Enter your Mac password if asked (nothing shows as you type) and press Return. Keep Audio MIDI Setup open and watch for the drivers to appear.
6. Reinstall. Download the plugins again from studio.sessionwire.io/download, run the installer and restart.

On Windows

If the Send plugin says "Couldn't open input device", or shows "No Input", another program has taken over the Sessionwire devices or Windows has turned them off.

1. Open Sound settings > More sound settings.
2. On the Playback and Recording tabs, right-click an empty space and tick Show Disabled Devices. Make sure every Sessionwire device is enabled.
3. Turn off exclusive mode on each Sessionwire device. The steps are in Set up Sessionwire on Windows.
4. Restart Sessionwire and your DAW.

If your antivirus flagged the Sessionwire installer or app, allow Sessionwire in your antivirus settings and install again.

If your DAW crashes when it loads the plugins

Clear your DAW's plugin cache and rescan. A stale plugin cache can make the DAW crash when it loads the Sessionwire plugins.

Still stuck? Email support@sessionwire.com with your computer, operating system and DAW, and a screenshot of what you see.