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MikeErter
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Built-in MacBook Speakers, Mic not working when VMware Fusion 8.5.10, Windows 10 guest, VMware Tools 10.1.6.5214329 running

Hi everyone,

I've been running a Windows 10 guest in Fusion for over a year, so I can run Windows Outlook.  It's been working great up until last week.  After no changes (that I know of), the MacBook Pro's built-in speakers and mic stopped working when Fusion is running. The audio output is very low and the mic doesn't work right (others can't hear me in WebEx meetings). 

Once you quit Fusion or disconnect the sound card of the Windows 10 guest, the MacBook audio and mic work just fine.

Does anyone know how to fix this?  I don't believe any updates happened, unless Fusion or VMware Tools updated automatically. 

Not having the MacBook speakers and mic work means I can't hear new mail notifications from the Windows 10 guest and I have to quit Fusion to join a WebEx meeting (or run with the guest's sound card disconnected).  It's a real drag, considering this used to work perfect.

We also see the attached Notification from Fusion in the macOS notifications.

I'm running macOS High Sierra version 10.13.6, VMware Fusion 8.5.10, Windows 10 guest and VMware Tools 10.1.6.5214329.

Thanks!

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3 Replies
RickShu
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi MikeErter,

Have you tried to uninstall and re-install the VMware Tools? The driver of virtual sound card is included in VMware Tools.

Also,  the latest supported host OS for Fusion 8.x is Sierra (10.12.x), if you want to run Fusion on High Sierra host, then you need to upgrade your Fusion to 10.x.

Regards,

-Rick

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MikeErter
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I did remove/re-install VMware Tools. It didn't help.

I understand (now) that Fusion 10.x is necessary to be supported on High Sierra, but it is difficult to understand how it worked for months without issue. VMware should have some work around or at least some guidance other than 'just upgrade'.

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bluefirestorm
Champion
Champion

There is only a dependency on VMware Tools if the line

sound.virtualDev = "hdaudio"

is absent from the vmx configuration of the Windows 10 VM.

With the "hdaudio" line present, the Windows 10 VM will make use of the Windows 10 High Definition Audio driver while without it it makes use of the VMware audio driver that comes from VMware Tools. See the screenshots below of Device Manager of a Windows 10 VM with and without the hdaudio line.

Which one do you have? So you may want to try one or the other depending on what you currently have.

Windows 10 VM with sound.virtualDev = "hdaudio"

pastedImage_2.png

Windows 10 VM without the sound.virtualDev = "hdaudio"

pastedImage_0.png

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