Sound Device Cannot Be Opened: Undefined External Error e-mu 1616m audio

[fertanish]

Hi all;

I'm attempting to install a PCIe e-mu 1010 card (for the 1616m dock) under VMWare Player 3 on a Windows 7 64bit host.  The Virtual environment is Windows XP Home Edition.

I'm receiving the Sound Device Cannot be Opened, Undefined External Error, Failed to connect virtual device sound, when I start VMware Player.  The card is found under the Device Manager (PCI Slot 34), and is given the default Creative AudioPCI (ES1371,ES1373) (WDM) driver.  When I try to upgrade to the 1010 / 1616m driver, Setup is unable to detect the device.

In the Virtual Machine Settings, the Sound Card, set to Auto Detect, initially tries to use the default host sound card.  When I specify a host sound card (one option for selection) Speakers (2- E-mu E-dsp Audio P, there is no change.

I can remove the sound card and revert to the machine speaker.  This doesn't really prove anything, although it's been a long time since I've heard that beep.

Unfortunately, the native sound card on the Win 7 machine is part of the motherboard and can't be removed.  I can deactivate it on Win 7.  It doesn't appear to be recognized at all by VMWare.  My goal is to use the 1010/1616m card/dock.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.  Finally, my vmx file reads as follows:

.encoding = "windows-1252"
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "7"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
memsize = "512"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.fileName = "Windows XP Home Edition.vmdk"
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"
floppy0.fileType = "device"
floppy0.fileName = ""
floppy0.clientDevice = "FALSE"
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"
ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
usb.present = "TRUE"
ehci.present = "TRUE"
mks.enable3d = "TRUE"
serial0.present = "TRUE"
serial0.fileType = "thinprint"
pciBridge0.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge4.functions = "8"
pciBridge5.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge5.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge5.functions = "8"
pciBridge6.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge6.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge6.functions = "8"
pciBridge7.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge7.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge7.functions = "8"
vmci0.present = "TRUE"
buslogic.noDriver = "FALSE"
roamingVM.exitBehavior = "go"
displayName = "Windows XP Home Edition"
guestOS = "winxphome"
nvram = "Windows XP Home Edition.nvram"
virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
printers.enabled = "TRUE"
gui.exitOnCLIHLT = "FALSE"
extendedConfigFile = "Windows XP Home Edition.vmxf"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:4e:d5:66"
tools.syncTime = "FALSE"
uuid.location = "56 4d 1e 82 9a 96 c7 4e-04 13 c5 89 a7 4e d5 66"
uuid.bios = "56 4d 1e 82 9a 96 c7 4e-04 13 c5 89 a7 4e d5 66"
cleanShutdown = "TRUE"
replay.supported = "FALSE"
unity.wasCapable = "FALSE"
replay.filename = ""
scsi0:0.redo = ""
pciBridge0.pciSlotNumber = "17"
pciBridge4.pciSlotNumber = "21"
pciBridge5.pciSlotNumber = "22"
pciBridge6.pciSlotNumber = "23"
pciBridge7.pciSlotNumber = "24"
scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "16"
usb.pciSlotNumber = "32"
ethernet0.pciSlotNumber = "33"
ehci.pciSlotNumber = "35"
vmci0.pciSlotNumber = "36"
vmotion.checkpointFBSize = "134217728"
usb:0.present = "TRUE"
usb:1.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"
vmci0.id = "-1488005786"
usb:1.deviceType = "hub"
usb:0.deviceType = "mouse"
floppy0.autodetect = "TRUE"
ide1:0.autodetect = "TRUE"
floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"
checkpoint.vmState = ""
debugStub.winOffsets.version = "7"
debugStub.winOffsets.value = "0x88,0x84,0x18,0x190,0x174,16,416,0x22c,0x228,0x1f0,0x224,0x20,0x18,0x18,0x20,0x24,4,0x11c,0x8,0x0,0x14,0x100000,0x1b0,0xc,0xc,0x18,0x13c,0x1f4"
sound.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"
sound.pciSlotNumber = "34"
sound.fileName = "-1"
sound.autodetect = "TRUE"

[weinstein5]

Welcome to the Community - I have moved this Thread to the VMPlayer forum

[fertanish]

Thanks, sorry for the misclassification.

[RDPetruska]

You cannot install the sound card/drivers inside the guest OS within VMware Player... VMware will ALWAYS use a virtual SoundBlaster PCI Audio / Ensoniq audio card.  Follow the instructions in the user manual for that - you will need to download drivers from Creative's site for it.

Does the new sound card work on your host?  You will need, obviously, to install the drivers for the host to recognize and use the card.  This must happen before VMware can use it to passthrough the audio from the virtual sound card in the guest.

[fertanish]

Thanks for the quick and informative response. 

The sound card works on the host.  There is a fundamental problem (well documented, albeit not recognized by Creative) with the card on a 64 bit machine in that it brings on the BSOD quite routinely.  That said, it is pretty nifty for both recording audio and midi when it doesn't crash the system.  I was hoping that running on a 32 bit instance through VMWare would reduce, if not eliminate, my crashing (so, there is more to the effort than simply a self-inflicted joy of suffering).  However, understanding the host relationship now, there is certainly a chance this "bug" is causing the conflict within VMWare.

Unfortunately, I don't remember not if I actually had the card driver enabled when I installed VMWare.  I typically keep the card disabled if I am not recording.  I'm not sure if this would make a difference.  I have had it enabled and disabled during multiple troubleshooting tests with no discernable difference between the two states.

But, the audio card / driver is installed on the host, and does "work" in the basic sense of the word.  For grins, I installed an instance of Ubuntu under VMWare; I received the same error at first, but was then able to turn on the card in VMTools with success.  I was able to output some audio, although I stopped my efforts before seeing if I could access all the functionality of the card (which, to be fair, isn't my highest concern in the Ubuntu system).

I'm not at my machine at the moment, but your input gives me a different perspective for more testing later.  I'll post an update, thanks.