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2 Replies Last post: Apr 22, 2009 11:43 AM by Texiwill
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Sound/Audio issues on XP guest in ESX 3.5

Mar 24, 2008 8:51 AM

Click to view sboyce's profile Novice sboyce 9 posts since
Jun 13, 2007
Hello,

I am having a serious problem with getting audio to work on VMware ESX Server 3.5 with regard to my Windows XP guests.

The thing is, I do not actually need the sound to come out of the speakers. There is an application on my guest that will not load without a sound driver present.

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.

Reply Re: Sound/Audio issues on XP guest in ESX 3.5 Apr 21, 2009 10:48 PM
Click to view subashchaitanya's profile Lurker subashchaitanya 1 posts since
Jun 9, 2008
Hi Sean.B,

You can try adding the following entries to your .vmx file. Then you will not face any problems when you restart your Virtual Machine.

sound.present = "TRUE"
sound.virtualDev = "es1371"
sound.fileName = "-1"
sound.autodetect = "TRUE"
sound.startConnected = "TRUE"

However, if you take snapshot, you will land up into the same problem again (I am trying to find a workaround for this problem. Will post back once i find someworkaround).

Thanks
Subash Chaitanya

Reply Re: Sound/Audio issues on XP guest in ESX 3.5 Apr 22, 2009 11:43 AM
in response to: subashchaitanya
Click to view Texiwill's profile Guru Texiwill 10,056 posts since
Jan 13, 2004
Moderator
Hello,

Moved to Virtual Machine and Guest OS forum.

Is this sound through RDP, VMware Remote Console or what?


Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky
VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009
====
Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.
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