Windows XP guest sound distortion (Workstation 12.5.x)

[LynxV]

After installing VMware Tools, sound in Windows XP SP3 guest ran by Workstation Pro 12.5, became distorted and scratchy. This issue wasn't fixed in 12.5.1.

Host system: Windows 10 Pro, build 1607 a.k.a. Anniversary Update, latest updates were installed as well.

Same issue was encountered a few years ago on Windows 8.

[LynxV]

There is one solution to the problem I found myself: playing any YouTube video on the host just once or run Google Chrome while the guest VM is running so sound distortions do not happen until I restart my VM.

[marco400]

hi am having a hard timer getting stereo mix to eork in my windows xp prof guest host  can u help me please   when i try to record something via youtube it wont work  therss no sound  and no audio high difinition once to be inatalled marco

[MrRic]

Host:                              Win 10, v1703, Build: 15063.447

VMware Workstation:     v12.5.7

Guest:                           Win XP SP3

VMware tools:  Stuck at version 10.0.12  (where a Win 7 guest is at 10.1.6 for Workstation v12.5.6)

Sound:             Still having sound distortions.

VMware,

Please update the VMware tools for those of use who still use the XP guest operating system.

I just built 2 VM's on Wed 7/5/2017 that have Win XP SP2 as guest operating system (I have pre-built bases) to support customers that have older software running out in the middle of nowhwere (no cell service out there).  In many industries, the Logic controllers and Human Machine Interfaces run for 10 to 20 + years, chugging away doing what they were designed to do.  We still have to support such systems and will for a long time.

I currently have 8 XP guest VMs that I use regularly.

[bluefirestorm]

The sound device presented in an XP VM is a Creative AudioPCI Ensoniq 1371. I don't think the device driver comes from the VMware Tools. The device driver (es1371mp.sys) is version 5.1.2535 dating back to mid-2001 from the standard XP driver set.

You could try installing an update downloaded from the Creative website (although it is from late 2002).http://support.creative.com/downloads/download.aspx?nDownloadId=1843

I don't know whether it fixes the problem as I rarely power up the XP VM that I have and the distorted sound is intermittent (e.g. sometimes Windows logon sound is distorted, sometimes not, sometimes it is just Windows logoff, sometimes both, sometimes neither is distorted). There is simply no consistent pattern/repeatable steps to reproduce the distortion.

If you install the updated driver (it will ask for reboot after install), the description of the sound device becomes SB PCI and the driver is sbpci.sys version 5.12.01.5017.

I suggest try it first in one of your 8 XP VMs and backup first before updating though I don't think anything serious side-effects would result from the update.

The interesting description of the download (if you select Others, 16 PCI under Archived Products list) to see the download details. http://support.creative.com/Products/product_list.aspx?catID=1&CatName=Sound+Blaster

This package is meant for Sound Blaster® Vibra128, Sound Blaster 16 PCI, Sound Blaster PCI 128, Sound Blaster 4.1 Digital, and Sound Blaster Ensoniq AudioPCI users running Windows 98SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP, who experienced distortion problem when playing a wave or MP3 file in 4 speaker mode.

[MrRic]

bluefirestorm,

The driver "SBPCI_WebDrvsV5_12_01" was 10x worse.  This is not a solution.  However, I will look through Creative's web site and see if I can find one that does work.

=== Update ===

I have found a solution !!!   Go here to Ensoniq Corporation Ensoniq AudioPCI ES1371 Free Driver Download for Windows XP - EnsoniqAudioPCIES1...

Download "EnsoniqAutioPCIES1371XPDriver.exe" to your MasterDisks location.

In the VM with guest WinXP, install the driver, reboot when asked - there will be no shutdown sound.

When the VM comes back up, under Device Manager the "Creative AudioPCI (ES1371,ES1373) (WDM)" device will have been replace by "SB PCI(WDM)".

Go to "Control Panel" ~ "Sounds and Audio Devices".

Under "Volume" tab, check "Place volume icon in the taskbar" (because the install unchecks it).

Under "Sounds" tab, change Sound scheme back to "Windows Default", choose an event and test.  Enjoy.

Open "Playback Control" (right click sound icon in task bar) and set volume levels (most will be maxed) to a reasonable level.

I've installed into 3 Guest XP SP3 virtual machines and 1 Guest XP SP2 virtual machine and all is working beautifully. 

=== Update 2 === (VMWorkstation 12.5.7)

This is not a long term solution !!!

The solution only worked for almost a couple months, then the distortions returned.  I don't remember if it was after a windows update or after a VMware Workstation update or after both.

After uninstalling the "SB PCI(WDM)" under Device Manager, the sound worked during shutdown and reboot, but then reverted back to the distortion that has been plaguing us.

Then I uninstalled the "Creative AudioPCI (ES1371,ES1373) (WDM)" {results in no sound] and rebooted.  After which Tools tried to reinstall the Creative hardware and got stuck.  Had to force reset.  Then sound was back on the next boot with the "Creative AudioPCI*", and distorted again.

Reinstalling the Creative AudioPCI no longer fixes the problem.

===============

If you have difficulty with booting or get a BSOD, first uninstall VMware Tools and then install Tools, which fixed things on one of my VMs.  The "Repair" or re-installing over the installation does not correct this problem (also seems to correct the XP Guest not 'appearing' to start up, but after crashing {Taskbar} the workstation/player container and reopening shows a started up VM).

[kahal]

Hi MrRic,

I don't know if you solved the problem (it's a long time ago now) but one solution worked for me.

Install on the windows XP guest the exe "vmaudiofixtray". It works perfectly on my computer..

I hope it will help you

Sincerely

[STem1980]

This distortion problem is actually caused by low resolution of the kernel timer. I've developed a service which sets the timer period to a lower value thus fixing the sound issue. It's available here:

GitHub - temerkhanov/SetTimerService: SetTimerService is a tiny Windows NT4/2000/XP compatible servi...

[kahal]

Fantastic. So now there are 2 solutions, yours and mine. I think you can close this topic as resolved.

[JorsusS]

None of these solutions have worked for me.

What has worked for me is to change the hd configuration from IDE to SCSI.

[robbio01101]

This absolutely fixed it.  Not enough props for your efforts here, this works perfectly, thanks!

[sdfasdfasdfasd2]

It's funny, but I run qBittorrent (on host) to eliminate distortion in LTSC/VmWare 14 -> Win2000/WinXP guest.

[j_carpenter]

The fix for me was also the SetTimerService.