4Game

If you don't have a mic, or don't have one plugged in, you will get 'Microphone Initialization failed" error, and cannot enable VOIP. You must either get a mic and plug it in, or follow this tutorial.

I was able to workaround this by using VB audio cable and VAC (Virtual Audio Cable) – two separate programs. You must install both for this to work.

1. First install VB audio cable. It should automatically create a 'Cable input' device in your playback devices list. You may have to restart PC.
2. Then, install VAC. Once installed, open VAC control panel. It will create a default device for you. Select and highlight the output device and click the 'Mic' checkbox. It is disabled by default. Then click 'Set'. You should see something change in the bottom if it's done successfully. Screenshot of steps.
3. Finally, open your sound settings (the window that shows your playback/recording devices). Go to the 'Recording' tab and you should see a new 'Mic 1' device labeled as 'Virtual Audio Cable'. Right click the mic -> Properties -> Listen tab. Click the 'Listen to this device' checkbox and select 'CABLE Input (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)' in the dropdown menu. Click 'Ok'.

Make sure 'Mic 1' is set as your default device in recording tab.

Now this should trick Tarkov into thinking you have a microphone plugged in. You should no longer see 'Microphone initialization failed' and will be able to select 'Enable VOIP'.

This should take about 5 minutes to do. Took me about 30 minutes since using VB Audio Cable by itself didn't work and I accidentally found the solution while trying out VAC.

EDIT: Don't use this for Soundboard purposes. You will get banned. This is simply to enable VOIP without having a mic plugged in.