Player V15.5.5 Sound Issues

[Pnut12]

I recently upgraded to Windows 10 2004 (64bit) and likewise upgraded to Player V15.5.5.  Since, all of my VM's have absolutely horrible, garbled sound.  Long story short, I kept the new version of Windows, but downgraded to player version 15.5.2, and the sound is perfect again.

Don't have any of the Windows virtualization features enabled, and not sure I will ever do so since I don't have a need for the Sandbox, etc.  Therefore, no reason to upgrade to the latest player.

Question is, has anyone else experienced this? and what did you do to resolve it with version 15.5.5.?  I am in the habit of installing the latest versions, but not at a cost of quality or functionality.

Thanks in advance-

[owmaka]

Yes, I experienced exactly the same trying to run WMWare Player on Windows 10 2004 (home edition). VM = Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

I have no solution except from downgrading

Read my post here:

VMWare Player 15.5.5 on Windows 10 2004 (home edition)

[owmaka]

This issue probably affecting thousands of users but not a single comment. A bit confusing but maybe VMWare Player isn't highly prioritized?

[Pnut12]

Maybe naive of me, but I doubt Workstation Pro is free of this same kind of issue.  I suspect Player and Pro are exactly the same, just with different features, just like Windows Home Vs. Pro.

[scott28tt]

Correct, see this thread in the Workstation Pro area: Sound breaking really bad after update but video is better!!

[owmaka]

scott28tt

Thank you! If I understand it correctly there is a fix/workaround in the thread you are referring to? 🙂 Hopefully this will apply to Player version too?

Reading in thread:

"

Can you please try shutting down your VM and then editing your .vmx file and adding

pciSound.useSoundLib = "FALSE"

"

Will try this later today.

[dariusd]

Yes, the same workaround is suitable for Workstation Pro or Workstation Player (or VMware Fusion as well).  If you are encountering sound problems which started with the move to Workstation 15.5.5 and your virtual machine is configured to use an Ensoniq AudioPCI (Sound Blaster PCI) device (sound.virtualDev = "es1371" or no sound.virtualDev option present in the VM's .vmx config file), please try adding the pciSound.useSoundLib = "FALSE" option as a workaround until we produce a fix.

I'm truly sorry for the trouble.  This was a result of my efforts to modernize our sound support for our older virtual sound devices, and it has backfired rather horribly...

--

Darius

[owmaka]

dariusd

Great, appreciate it! 🙂 I was a bit frustrated after 15.5.5 on Windows 10 2004 there for a while... 😉 not sure what was going on and I'm stubborn sometimes, spending hours.

This fix will most probably work.

Yes, Ensoniq AudioPCI (Sound Blaster PCI) for me too.

I really didn't want to install VirtualBox on my computer at home and now I won't, we are also using VMWare at work for our large production environments, it's nice to be able to run similar technique at home and at work.

[AI6SB]

i had sound issues too following the 15.5.5 upgrade. In my case, after a day of troubleshooting, I downgraded to 15.5.2 (downgrade = uninstall 15.5.5 and reinstall 15.5.2 using "run as administrator"). Discovered the options discussed above after my downgrade, so no chance to try them out. At this point, I'm going to wait for the 15.5.X (where X>5) update before upgrading again. 

All other upgrades have been rock solid. But seeing the posts regarding 15.5.5 issues this time around gives me reason to pause.

[owmaka]

This fix/workaround worked perfectly fine for me in V15.5.5, thanks.

"

Can you please try shutting down your VM and then editing your .vmx file and adding

pciSound.useSoundLib = "FALSE"

"

Now I am also able to run WSL2 instances at the same time running a VM from WMWare Player in Windows 10 2004 (home edition).

[wila]

Hi,

FYI, this issue has been addressed in VMware Workstation 15.5.6

Hope this helps,

--

Wil

[Pnut12]

Thanks for the info.  Have yet to upgrade to the new version, but will do soon.

[Pnut12]

The issue is still present in v15.5.6.  When I open my Windows 2000 Pro VM, the sound is just as bad as it was with x.5.  I even added the pciSound.useSoundLib = "FALSE" statement to my vmx file to no avail.  Until all VM's can have good sound after upgrading to the latest VMWare version, this issue is not solved.

I reinstalled 15.5.2 and ALL of my VM's have good sound again.  I guess it will be some time before I upgrade again.

[dariusd]

Hi Pnut12,

Sorry for the trouble.  Is your virtual machine using the Ensoniq AudioPCI sound card (sound.virtualDev = "es1371", or no sound.virtualDev option in your .vmx file)?  If that option did nothing for you, my guess would be that you are using the virtual Sound Blaster 16 (sound.virtualDev = "sb16")... Can you please check if that is the case?

--

Darius