diff --git a/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs b/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
index f5f6a376d33..62af3d859a5 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
+++ b/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
@@ -2611,15 +2611,54 @@ function installContextMenu(window) {
   })
 }
 
-function installMediaPermissions() {
-  session.defaultSession.setPermissionRequestHandler((_webContents, permission, callback, details) => {
-    if (permission === 'media' && details?.mediaTypes?.includes('audio')) {
-      callback(true)
+// Microphone capture for the voice composer. The renderer drives mic access
+// through getUserMedia, which Chromium gates behind these two session hooks.
+//
+// The naive `details.mediaTypes.includes('audio')` check works on macOS but
+// breaks on Windows: Chromium frequently fires the mic permission request with
+// an empty/undefined `mediaTypes`, so the strict check denies it and
+// getUserMedia throws NotAllowedError ("Microphone permission was denied").
+// We therefore treat an audio-capture request as allowed whenever it's the
+// 'media'/'audioCapture' permission AND mediaTypes either includes 'audio' OR
+// is empty/absent (the Windows case). Video is still denied.
+function isAudioCapturePermission(permission, details) {
+  if (permission === 'audioCapture') {
+    return true
+  }
+  if (permission !== 'media') {
+    return false
+  }
+  const mediaTypes = details?.mediaTypes
+  if (!Array.isArray(mediaTypes) || mediaTypes.length === 0) {
+    // Windows: mediaTypes is often empty for a mic request. Don't deny on
+    // missing metadata. (A video request would carry mediaTypes:['video'].)
+    return true
+  }
+  return mediaTypes.includes('audio') && !mediaTypes.includes('video')
+}
 
-      return
+function installMediaPermissions() {
+  // Async request handler: the prompt-style path (most platforms).
+  session.defaultSession.setPermissionRequestHandler((_webContents, permission, callback, details) => {
+    callback(isAudioCapturePermission(permission, details))
+  })
+
+  // Synchronous check handler: Chromium consults this for getUserMedia on
+  // Windows in addition to (or instead of) the request handler. Without it,
+  // the check defaults to false and the mic is denied before the request
+  // handler ever runs.
+  session.defaultSession.setPermissionCheckHandler((_webContents, permission, _origin, details) => {
+    if (permission === 'media' || permission === 'audioCapture') {
+      // details.mediaType is a single string here (not the mediaTypes array).
+      const mediaType = details?.mediaType
+      if (mediaType === 'video') {
+        return false
+      }
+
+      return true
     }
 
-    callback(false)
+    return false
   })
 }
 
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/composer/index.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/composer/index.tsx
index 10887fbb8d6..a0b1a370baa 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/composer/index.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/composer/index.tsx
@@ -331,6 +331,21 @@ export function ChatBar({
 
     draftRef.current = nextDraft
     aui.composer().setText(nextDraft)
+
+    // Push the new text into the contentEditable editor directly. Setting the
+    // assistant-ui composer state alone is not enough: the draft→editor sync
+    // effect only re-renders the editor when it is NOT focused
+    // (document.activeElement !== editor), and the dictation/insert paths
+    // typically run while the editor has (or immediately regains) focus — so
+    // the store would hold the text but the visible editor would stay empty
+    // and there'd be nothing to send. Mirror appendExternalText here.
+    const editor = editorRef.current
+
+    if (editor) {
+      renderComposerContents(editor, nextDraft)
+      placeCaretEnd(editor)
+    }
+
     requestMainFocus()
   }