In Windows, some applications will take exclusive control of an audio device, as a result, you may find that ApowerREC fails to record normally due to the abnormality of the audio device. Therefore, here provides detailed steps to help you solve the issue by disabling the Exclusive Mode option in Windows Sound Preferences.
1. Open “Control Panel” > “Hardware and Sound” > “Sound” and click on the “Playback” tab. Or you can go to the lower right corner of your computer, click “Sound” and then select the “Playback” tab.

2. Next, you can find the default playback device, right click it and select “Properties”.

3. After that, you can go to “Advanced” –> “Exclusive Mode” and make sure “Allow the application to take exclusive control of this device” is unchecked. If it’s already checked, please disable it and click “OK” to apply the settings.

4. Follow the similar steps above to make sure the Exclusive mode of your default recording device (Microphone or others) is disabled and then restart the computer to make it work normally.