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Sigurd4Warp
Contributor
Contributor

No Soundblaster in VM Ware Workstation 12?

Hi,

I am new to VMware, have some experience with Virtualization from Virtual PC, Virtualbox and Hypervisor.

I just purchased the VM Ware Workstation 12.

I try do install differnet versions of OS/2 (eComStation, ArcaOS) and everything works fine - except of one Thing: I can not get Sound to work. I guess I will have the same Problem once I want to install the old versions of Windows (3.11, 95, 98...)

My Hostsystem is a Mircosoft Surface Pro 4 i7 16 GB RAM.

Trying to get informations about the Soundadapter I found something about a Soundblaster Support. But that document reffered to VM Ware 3. Is it still possible to add Soundblaster 16 Support to VM Ware and how can this be done?

Tried to add a Soundcard to the VM but there is no Option for "Soundblaster" only the "Lautsprecher Realtek High Definition" are available, those are the ones inbuild in the Surface Pro 4.

Help is very appriciated as this is the only issue I have so far!

Thanks in Advance

Sigurd

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Sigurd4Warp
Contributor
Contributor

I am running Windows 10 Pro 1703 as Host OS.

Virtuell47.png

This is, by the way, what ArcaOS5, the new OS/2, Looks like in VM Pro 12.5 Smiley Wink:smileycool:

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Nice guest OS.

You will probably have to edit the .vmx file by hand to get such an old soundcard in the configuration.

Look at:

vmx-sound at sanbarrow.com

and change (or add if not already there)

sound.virtualDev = sb16

Note that you have to do this with your Virtual Machine shut down and VMware Workstation closed.

Use a plain text editor such as notepad.

Hope this helps,

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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dariusd
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi Sigurd,

Workstation 12 still includes support for Sound Blaster 16 emulation.  We support three emulated sound cards: A Sound Blaster 16 is best suited for old OSes (pre-1997, perhaps), a Sound Blaster PCI 64/Ensoniq ES1371 (AC'97, perhaps best for pre-2005), and a generic Intel High Definition Audio controller with multi-channel support for more modern OSes.  If you want to choose a specific sound card, you'll need to edit the config file and choose sound.virtualDev = "sb16" or "es1371" or "hdaudio".  We usually try to choose the "right" sound card when the correct guest OS is identified at the time the VM is created, but you might have to do some of the work yourself for uncommon OSes like ArcaOS.  Smiley Wink

What Workstation allows you to select is the host sound device (Realtek High Definition) to use for sound output, which is quite independent of what type of sound card is shown inside the virtual machine (SB16/ES1371/HDAudio).

(P.S. I'm a bit of a retro sound and music enthusiast... In my free time, I've actually been adding features to Workstation's SB16 emulation and even PC speaker emulation.  Cool fun!)

Cheers,

--

Darius

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Sigurd4Warp
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for the replies!

I tried to go Forward as suggested in both tips, add a Picture here for the Things I changed in the config file and the error message in the VM.

What do I have done wrong here? Thank you very much in advance !

I installed the SB16 Drivers inside the VM (should I have installed the SB16PNP Drivers?) and changed the config as displayed.

Could not find a hint on the Internet regarding "incorrect dsp Version detected".

EDIT: tried different Soundblaster Drivers, but all of them have this "Incorrect DSP Version detected" Problem..

Virtuell48.png

Virtuell49.png

Thanks again!

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dariusd
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

There are many different versions of SB16, and some of the drivers are very fussy about only talking to the precise model of card with which they were provided (on a floppy disk, of course!), so it might take some experimentation to find the right one.

In case it helps locate the correct driver, we emulate a Sound Blaster 16 with DSP version 4.13.

Our SB16 emulation is far from complete... It is good enough for many DOS games and for Windows 3.11 (with caveats) and for Windows 95 onwards, but it is entirely possible that the drivers you're using do something that's not handled by our emulation yet.  If you're certain that you have the correct drivers and it still doesn't work, that is the most likely explanation.

Cheers,

--

Darius

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