external mic not listed under recording devices

So as the title says, I have an external microphone that uses a XLR to 3.5mm jack plugged into my computer (laptop with seperate 3.5mm jacks for output/input) but the microphone is not even listed under recording devices and cannot be used.

When clicking show disabled/hidden devices the Stereo mix shows up, otherwise it is just the default built in interior mic. I have tried checking for driver updates but when running the windows option for automatically check driver updates it says I am fully updated.

I'm not sure how to even start to approach this problem, and really appreciate any help. Thanks!

Sounds like the adapter is the issue. I have a recording studio but have never used an XLR to 3.5mm adapter. If the XLR microphone requires phantom power, that could be the issue as the mic will not work without the phantom power (normally 48VDC and the PC mic jack will only supply 5VDC which is not enough for most mic's. Even if that worked you are going to have problems with the mic volume level, unless the adapter is also amplifying the mic volume level. Mic level is very low (more like "instrument level") and a PC sound requires a high volume level, almost "line level".

Thanks for the response. I do also have a phantom power supply hooked up. The mic is a neewer nw800, and I have a 48V neewer phantom power supply hooked up as well. Since the 3.5mm jack is dedicated input I am not sure what is going on, but I am going to buy an XLR to USB cable and see if that is recognized by the computer.

I am trying to avoid buying a sound board or mixer to save money, but if I end up having to do so, would you have any recommendations of affordable ones that work well?

Thank you for the response and help

A USB "Recording Interface Unit" is really what you need. Along with providing a proper preamp interface for a mic, they also provide the 48V for Phantom Power. There are many relatively inexpensive USB bus powered interfaces.

Here is a Behringer for $39.99 from Sweetwater Music (my on-line store of choice for recording hardware).
Sweetwater.com (800) 222-4700

Thanks for the help, I appreciate the recommendation! As someone new to audio recording this was really helpful, thank you.

The Behringer I linked isn't great but will get you started. If you are serious about recording, you will want to migrate to something better and a full recording program instead of something like Audacity. I use Cakewalk Sonar in my studio.