Sound breaking really bad after update but video is better!!

[tonylapark77]

After the last update I noticed an improvement on video quality and performance since it runs with Hyper-V features now, specially in Windows XP, I remember video was laggy, but after the update is better!!, but now SOUND in many Windows OS is breaking a lot, and suddenly I get a message saying "sorry but audio will be now disconnected" I hope you can make a follow up on this

[MidnightMover]

Hi

I've got the same problem running Windows XP SP3 as a guest OS under VMware Workstation 15 Player (15.5.5 build-16285975)

The guest has the "Creative AudioPCI (ES1371, ES1373) (WDM)" audio card.

My main computer has a "Realtek High Definition Audio" audio card.

I don't know if this was the switch to VMware Workstation 15 Player as I have only just created this Windows XP VM

Is this fixed in the latest VMware player download?

I did try the newer version (VMware-player-15.5.6-16341506.exe) but it wouldn't start-up properly, so I uninstalled and reinstalled (VMware-player-15.5.5-16285975.exe). so I'm definitely avoiding the 15.5.6 version.

[dariusd]

What was the specific problem you encountered running Workstation Player 15.5.6?  Was there an error message?  Did it install correctly but not run?  If it did not install, did you try downloading the installer again?  There was not much which changed between 15.5.5 and 15.5.6, so it is surprising that 15.5.6 isn't working for you.

There was definitely an issue with the ES1371 emulation in Workstation 15.5.5 when used in combination with certain host sound hardware.  If your system is affected, then updating to 15.5.6 should improve sound quality.  Unfortunately there are a lot of other factors (in the VM and on the host) which can contribute to poor sound quality, and the only way to definitively say whether 15.5.6 will improve things for that VM is to get 15.5.6 working and give it a try.

--

Darius

[MidnightMover]

downloaded and Installed OK.

But no VM would start-up - got the following dialog

Error while powering on: VMware Player failed to start the VMware Authorization Service. You can try manually starting the VMware Authorization Service. If this problem persists, contact VMware support.

[MidnightMover]

One problem down - got the newer VMware (15.5.6 build-16341506) to run my VM - 'run as admin' and a repair install

But the sound on my Windows XP VM still sounds terrible

[geertemo]

@Mits2020 

GREAT solutions!

Solution number 2 should be number 1, though.

vmfixaudiotray fixes only the sound problem and starts quite late in the Windows startup process.

Changing the kernel timer starts early, fixes the sound problem, but more importantly : it fixes the working speed of the VM.

The reason I use Win XP is my scanner which has no drivers for Win 7/10.

Since Win 10 the scanner was working slow in the VM, changing the kernel speed fixed this problem completely, so GREAT solution!

I could not find any difference in the performance and sound problems between using an IDE or SCSI drive.

Problems were the same and solutions 1 and 2 solved the same issues. But maybe someone else will benifit from this solution.

Thanks a lot for this; I have been trying to solve the issues for over a year and your post fixed them just like that 🙂

[litany99]

I'm using Workstation 16.1.2 on a del5510 laptop, and have had the sound issue in XP VM's since 15.5.x, I am hopeful that one day it is fixed very properly, but it doesn't stop me from using the VM, so it is not a dealbreaker.

I've tried the:  pciSound.useSoundLib = "FALSE", but it doesn't seem to be any different.  

[Santos7992]

This works really well for us, thank you! Facing upsers portal same issue here. Help is appreciated. 

[Rakuhl72]

Same here.

I've just switched from 15.5.7 to 16.2.1 because I need to use WSL2. And while it somehow "worked" to run it aside, my VMs were extremely sluggish, especially Win7 x64. Now with the new version and side channel mitigations disabled it is now highly responsive again. Which is great work from the VMWare Dev Team btw, I'm absolutely impressed.

However, now I'm back to an old problem: The issue with Sound in Windows XP (SP3). The host machine is W10 x64 21H1.

I used to fix sound on XP VMs with the Audio Fix Tray .exe but since I've upgraded to 16 the fix doesn't work anymore. I've removed the fix from the startup but that doesn't produce any change when it comes to the sound being distorted and slow. Firing up WMP doesn't help either.

I've also tried the Set Kernel Timer Service from github, as well as the pciSound.useSoundLib = "FALSE" entry in the .vmx config.

Nothing helped. For now the sound on XP-VMs seems to be broken no matter what I do, at least with my setup and Hyper-V enabled. Windows 98 is fine, the sound is crystal clear without any lag, with no additional adjustemts whatsoever. And as I've said, Win7 x64 also without issues and only minimal (typical virtual machine) lag, gpu acceleration and aero theme enabled.

[evefavretto]

Any news about this issue? For me, it does happen with 16.2.3 on Windows 11, but doesn't on 16.1.2.

[RickBrewer]

I am running 16.2.3 in Windows 11 host. Sound is find in a Windows 10 guest. Sound is choppy with a Windows 11 guest and Arch Linux guest. If I disconnect "sound" from the status bar, the guest machines runs fine.

I am not running hyper-v or virtual platform.

[evefavretto]

In my case I do have Hyper-V/Virtual Platform enabled. 

[matti1570]

Hi, with 16.2.1 and pciSound.useSoundLib = "FALSE" I still have the distorted sound problem in XP

Any news?

[DingDong2]

Running Windows 7 SP1 on Windows 10. Tried both

pciSound.useSoundLib = "FALSE"
sound.virtualDev = "hdaudio"

Audio is working fine now, but occasionally there is a crackling sound during playback? I've tried various bitrate settings but that doesn't seem to make any difference either.

[litany99]

It seems VMware loves to break this feature repeatedly.   

If they could just put to test on dell laptops / and hp laptops, perhaps it wouldn't make it to release over and over.  It seems to be repaired only for a 1 in 10 releases, and has not been stable since VMware workstation 11, much like the parallel port drivers.  (The last completely functional release for me.)

[FranckDreden]

Hello there, I've got the same problem than most of you:

HOST is Win 11 22H2, NO Hyper-V / Hyper-V platform installed ; sound card is realtek, I'm also using a G533 gaming headset.
Using Workstation 16.2.4 build-20089737 Pro

GUEST is Win XP Pro 64-bit, tried EVERYTHING told in this thread. Nothing works, alas. Sound is crackling, choppy, distorted, got delay. Can't, from the life of me, find any solution.
Help would be VERY appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[evefavretto]

I just installed Workstation 17 and the problem still persists.

[DWR-67]

Same here. And I BOUGHT 16 player because it worked so well on Windows 10. Got rid of that laptop and it's been glitchy and weird on my new Windows 11 system. No bueno, VMWare.

[litany99]

Dear god, I need to vent.  VMware-workstation-full-16.2.5-20904516 <-I do not want to spend hours looking through forums on how to fix this so all works again.  I'm gonna have to join the VMware employee discord server to really know what is holding the group together and what kind of leaks are in the pipes of the organization.  C'mon hold it together another 11 years if you can.

I'm just venting right now - pay this no mind.

What I'd give to go back to VMware 12, I think that is the last time everything worked mostly properly?

Really, I'd happily pay $500 every six months for VMware workstation if it worked as well as VMWARE 12 did.  Anyone else really irritated this week with the last update make a BSOD mess out of windows yet again?  How the heck am I gonna get this working again, can't install without blue screen.  Can't uninstall, yet again.  now what?  I'm so fed up, I cringe when there is an update to workstation, as I keep holding out hope that it is better tested in the next version, but nope, just more broken.

What I hope for in VMware workstation:

• Just basic functionality of my VM's, I no longer hold out hope that it will become its glorious past.
• I imagine there is some financial or marketing person in charge of development and testing that has broken the company's will to live, can't you just enable your developers? 
• Is VMWARE about to follow the path of Silicon Graphics and it's impressive dive over the cliff?  
• No more blue screen during startup and shutdown due to poor system integration of ndis.sys
• Sure would be nice to properly support LPT ports again for my ancient support responsibilities
• VMWARE update to work proper again.
• An external tool to repair the installation.
• It can be slow, without functioning sound, poor compatibility with previous versions - oh never mind this one has been accomplished for years.

maybe I need to start over with a new tool pretty soon, I'm very concerned that is the next step.  This sucks, I've used VMWARE since workstation 4.0.  

Update:

I got Workstation to work again.

Here is how:

1. Try to install the update several times, maybe 10-20, just to set the mood.  BSOD's tend to really get a user into a mood of some sort.  I believe you will need a mood.
2. Verify that VMWARE workstation is not in add-remove programs.  Nope, it's not there, it's still in stealth mode operating as a saboteur.
3. Once you are really convinced that you are gonna be hosed on Monday, when you really are going to need to use an ancient VM for some support task.
4. Uninstall your version of VMWARE standalone converter.
   1. I noticed a lot of users have issues with both the converter and workstation, so I thought about the possibility that these developers secretly have a war that takes place in the innards of the shared components.  Like children sharing, there is no winning, you have to choose a single toy to use...today I choose workstation.
   2. After removing converter and maybe more VMWARE things you have installed in the past that might be part of this disaster.
   3. Open a command prompt as an administrator.
   4. Find the directory you stored the downloaded update that VMware updater has been pestering you to install.
   5. "VMware-workstation-full-16.2.5-20904516.exe /a" - says perform an administrative install..  It does something, not sure what, but it's not yet in add-remove programs.
   6. Do not reboot. 
   7. double click on "VMware-workstation-full-16.2.5-20904516.exe"
   8. It installs properly now, at least for me.  
   9. Did I just use 3 hours on Friday night in an effort to update VMWARE workstation?
   10. YUP, it's 1:35 AM on Saturday.
   11. I wonder how hard it would be to get VMware back on track?
5. I think I'm gonna leave the standalone converter gone for a while and see if my heap corruption and ndis.sys BSOD's are gone for a while. 
6. Sound still doesn't work even remotely okay, but you know, a guy can hope.

Good luck