VMware Communities
Dryne
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

SOLVED: Unable To Use Audio DAC Under VM

I have been trying without desired success to access my USB DAC connected to my host OS.  It has all required drivers, and applications running directly on the host may access it WASAPI exclusive.  However, I cannot get it to work using plain VMWare Woskstation features.  I am running version 15.5.5 build-16285975.

I installed the DAC drivers under the guest OS (Windows 10), rebooted, then logged back in.  The USB drivers are not able to recognize the DAC at all.  The DAC does not show as an audio device under Control Panel Sound as it does under my host OS.  The ASIO drivers also fail to connect to the device.  What does work is configuring the DAC as the sound device within VM Settings for the guest.  The downside to this is that I lose WASAPI exclusive and may face Windows resampling that I wish to avoid.  VM Sharing is enabled, and the USB Arbitration Service is successfully running.

I did get desired results only by using a third-party utility that allows sharing of USB devices:  VMware USB passthrough: 4 methods to connect USB to VMware [2020]

I am using this in trial, and it is working nicely.  I would think I should be able to do this without buying additional tools.  I just cannot figure out how to get it to work with vanilla VMWare Workstation.

I have not yet checked the price of this utility above.  If it's relatively inexpensive, this will work for me (read that as less than $50 US dollars).

Thanks.

Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
Dryne
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

It is actually now working properly without additional action.  I uninstalled the USB Gate software from both the guest and the host.  I rebooted the host with the DAC powered off, then logged back into the main Windows 10 OS.  I powered the DAC back on then started VMWare Workstation.  The DAC is visible to the host.  As soon as I start the Windows 10 guest, the DAC immediately gets used by the guest and is no longer available to the host.

Issue now resolved.

View solution in original post

Reply
0 Kudos
9 Replies
Dryne
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

I just checked pricing for this utility I am using in trial.  It costs over 1/2 the cost of a full VMWare Workstation License.  This is too much money, and VMWare itself should be able to do this.

Reply
0 Kudos
Mits2020
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

Could you perhaps disclose the make/model of this USB DAC so we may look at its installation particularities and drivers?

Are you sure the DAC is allowed/supported to work in a virtual environment? (maybe searching the net or emailing the manufacturer could shed some light on that).

If you manage to get the drivers working correctly, I see no particular reason Wasapi wouldn't work - however ASIO is a different beast.

Also, try to use a USB2 port on your host instead of the USB3 I am suspecting you use. I had some instabilities using USB3 ports in my guests, which I have not yet retested under the recent 15.5.5 Workstation release (which includes some USB fixes).

Finally, for the sake of completeness, could you try installing a Windows 7 guest and see whether you have better results there? If the manufacturer does provide Win7 drivers I am predicting success.

Reply
0 Kudos
Dryne
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Thanks for responding.

I own a Fostex HP-A8C DAC.  This is the older model that is one revision earlier than the latest HP-A8mk2.

I already have WIndows 7 VM operational, and I will try installing the drivers under it.

Reply
0 Kudos
Mits2020
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

In https://www.fostexinternational.com/docs/archive_products/HP-A8C.shtml  they say that the driver (dated 2013) is Win10 compliant, but in the PDF readme they don't mention Win10 is supported. Therefore I'm guessing that this is the first version of a Win10 driver. Seven years have passed and Windows is now very different from the initial release. It's almost a miracle the DAC works on your host.

The installation procedure is, as I suspected, like that of a USB printer and one should be very careful to not mess up, because if you do, there is no easy way to undo the damage.

I am pretty sure you were careful, but for posterity (and for people never reading Release Notes or READMEs) I have to reiterate: You should first install the driver making sure the DAC has never before been seen by the guest (better unplug it from the host). Install the driver in the guest and reboot. After reboot, plug the DAC to the host, and pass it to the guest so that it recognises the new hardware.

If you do mess up, you have to uninstall the drivers with the DAC unplugged and cross fingers. In such cases I also check manually the registry, .inf files and temporary files for any leftovers, and use the USBDeview utility to cleanup the USB subsystem. Therefore, it is always a good idea to make a restore point (to the host AND the guest) before installing a USB device that has its own drivers.

PS. Reading some reviews - very nice (and very expensive) DAC. I am suspecting that the new iteration HP-A8mk2 may share the same USB bridge, have you tried to see if its drivers (dated 2017) work in your host?

Reply
0 Kudos
Dryne
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Interestingly enough, while I was using the USB Network Gate trial, I disconnected the DAC from the guest OS followed by stop sharing from the host.  To my surprise, the guest showed the following:

windows10_guest_dac.png

I checked off the checkbox below.  Now my DAC is visible to the guest without the need for the software.  Using the trial resolved the issue I was facing.  I will reboot the guest to ensure it continues to work.

Reply
0 Kudos
Mits2020
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

What you describe is the standard Workstation dialog when a new USB device is connected to the host. Perhaps you would have seen this earlier if you had tried to plug the DAC to a different USB port (usual procedure to troubleshoot USB problems, yes, it works - not all USB ports are born equal!). The issue now is to properly install the DAC and drivers to the guest.

Reply
0 Kudos
Dryne
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

It is actually now working properly without additional action.  I uninstalled the USB Gate software from both the guest and the host.  I rebooted the host with the DAC powered off, then logged back into the main Windows 10 OS.  I powered the DAC back on then started VMWare Workstation.  The DAC is visible to the host.  As soon as I start the Windows 10 guest, the DAC immediately gets used by the guest and is no longer available to the host.

Issue now resolved.

Reply
0 Kudos
Mits2020
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

I'm glad it worked (audio buff here Smiley Happy )

Your system had at a point two USB arbitrators, VMware's and that "USB gate", and probably when you plugged a new device, some kind of race condition occurred. This is why one should use third-party utilities only as a last resort.

Reply
0 Kudos
Dryne
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Actually I only used the USB Gateway when I could not get the DAC to work without.  The USB Gateway works differently by taking control of the USB device on the host and converting its data through a network connection.  Once a USB device is shared, nothing else may access the device.  It gets blocked by everything else.  What I suspect happened was that disconnecting the USB device that was shared was similar to a reset forcing VMWare to then recognize the DAC as a new device.

The USB Gateway is handy, but it's just too expensive .  If it was cheaper, I would consider buying a license.

Reply
0 Kudos