Fix “Voice search has been turned off” Error for Google Now

I hooked up a microphone and testing it in Windows. I was very ready to start yelling “OK Google” to bring up the Google Now screen to perform voice searches. It didn’t work. Instead of bringing up the search screen, Chrome threw a message that said “Voice search has been turned off”. I selected the “Details” link which didn’t really help all that much. Fortunately, I was able to fix this problem with just a few steps.

Method 1 – Enable from Address Bar

While remaining on the Google page where you received the “Voice search has been turned off” message, check to see if there is an icon that has appeared in your address bar next to the bookmark star. Mouse over it. If it says “This page has been blocked from accessing your microphone“, perform these steps:

1. Select the icon in the address bar and choose “Always allow www.google.com to access your microphone.“.
2. Select the microphone you are using in the drop-down menu.
3. Select “Done“.

Method 2 – Enable From Chrome Settings

1. From Google Chrome, select the Menu button located at the upper-right corner.
2. Select “Settings“.
3. Open the “Advanced” link at the bottom.
4. In the “Privacy and security” section, select “Content settings“.
5. Select the “Ask when a site requires access to your microphone (recommended)” option. You can optionally skip this step, select “Allow“, and add “https://www.google.com” to this list with it set to allow Audio.

After you have performed the steps using one of the above methods, you should now be able to use Google Voice commands with Google Chrome without a problem.