Here is what I am doing:

1. Provision XP guest. Everything works fine at this point.
2. Shut down XP guest. Add the following lines to the .vmx config file:

sound.present = "true"
sound.autodetect = "true"

3. Start XP guest. It runs with sound enabled, and everything looks ok.
4. Reboot host.
5. After reboot, in VI client, I am getting an "(invalid)" message next to the virtual machine. I am no longer able to start or configure this VM's settings.
6. Since I cannot start the guest through VI client, I attempt to do so from command line and get this message:

root@towelie vo01-xp-b# vmware-cmd vo01-xp-b.vmx start
VMControl error -11: No such virtual machine

7. When I remove the sound directives and reboot the host, everything works fine again.

Please help, any advice will be appreciated. I have posted my .vmx file below:

START CONFIG
#!/usr/bin/vmware
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "4"
floppy0.present = "false"
nvram = "vo01-xp1.nvram"
deploymentPlatform = "windows"
virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
tools.upgrade.policy = "useGlobal"
powerType.powerOff = "default"
powerType.powerOn = "default"
powerType.suspend = "default"
powerType.reset = "default"

displayName = "vo01-xp-b"
extendedConfigFile = "vo01-xp-b.vmxf"

scsi0.present = "true"
scsi0.sharedBus = "none"
memsize = "256"
scsi0:0.present = "true"
scsi0:0.fileName = "vo01-xp-b.vmdk"
scsi0:0.deviceType = "scsi-hardDisk"
ethernet0.present = "true"
ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "false"
ethernet0.networkName = "VLAN 601 Voice 01"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
ethernet1.present = "true"
ethernet1.wakeOnPcktRcv = "false"
ethernet1.networkName = "VLAN 601 Voice 01"
ethernet1.addressType = "generated"
chipset.onlineStandby = "false"
guestOS = "winxppro"
uuid.location = "56 4d f2 62 44 3b 03 92-dd b8 e4 da 57 39 ba bf"
uuid.bios = "56 4d f2 62 44 3b 03 92-dd b8 e4 da 57 39 ba bf"
sched.cpu.min = "0"
sched.cpu.units = "mhz"
sched.mem.minsize = "0"

MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "false"
MemTrimRate = "-1"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"
ethernet1.generatedAddressOffset = "10"
ethernet2.generatedAddressOffset = "20"
ethernet3.generatedAddressOffset = "30"
sched.swap.derivedName = "/vmfs/volumes/47df9c65-109fd440-ca90-001ec92faa43/vo01-xp-b/vo01-xp-b-875343b1.vswp"
vmware.tools.requiredversion = "7299"

scsi0:0.redo = ""
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:39:ba:bf"
ethernet1.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:39:ba:c9"
tools.syncTime = "false"

guestOSAltName = "Microsoft Windows XP Professional (32-bit)"
sound.present = "true"
sound.autodetect = "true"
END CONFIG

Respectfully,

Sean B.