Little to no audio and crashes in legacy Windows

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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VBProblems
Posts: 32
Joined: 1. Sep 2014, 17:33

Little to no audio and crashes in legacy Windows

Post by VBProblems »

There's little to no audio in Windows 2000 with both the Sound Blaster 16 and intel AC'97 options. I assume this is a bug/regression in VirtualBox 6.1.18 or earlier. The audio that does play is sporadic at best and stops mid-sound at times.I have seen quirkiness in Windows NT 4.0 with audio and crashes in Windows 98 as well. With Service Pack 4 installed, the audio merely doesn't play correctly. With the RTM release, it even refuses to shut down properly the normal start menu way. I need to initiate an ACPI shut down using VirtualBox. I assume the shut down problems could be related as the audio problems also occur with the RTM release.
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VBProblems
Posts: 32
Joined: 1. Sep 2014, 17:33

Re: Little to no audio and crashes in legacy Windows

Post by VBProblems »

I upgraded to VirtualBox 6.1.22. I'm still encountering choppy audio, hanging and audio problems. It's happening with Windows 7 and Windows 10 now but not as much with legacy versions of Windows. I tried uninstalling the Realtek sound drivers on the host OS since Windows Server 2019 includes audio drivers that work. That had no affect on the problem.
VBProblems
Posts: 32
Joined: 1. Sep 2014, 17:33

Re: Little to no audio and crashes in legacy Windows

Post by VBProblems »

I see a bunch of recent threads about problems with Windows Server 2019 as a guest OS and I'm wondering if they could be related to the problems I'm having with it being the host OS in my case? On the other hand, maybe not. Perhaps I should open a bugtracker thread?
scottgus1
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Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Little to no audio and crashes in legacy Windows

Post by scottgus1 »

The log shows the host OS to be 2016, not 2019. Maybe you upgraded the host OS since the log was posted?

The log also shows the Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-6100T at two not-hyperthreaded cores, whereas Intel says it should be hyperthreaded. Seems the BIOS has hyperthreading disabled? Try turning it back on, it hinders host operation to turn off hyperthreading, I've heard.

The VM boots from 2000's installer CD-ROM, I'm not sure there is much demonstration of audio capabilities in the installer: does 2000's installer make noise?

Reading the "Discuss the Z.Y.X Release" topics in "Using Virtualbox" can show the glitches folks report for a particular Virtualbox version. I am not a user of sound in my VMs, so I'm not certain if a particular version has sounds glitches under a particular host or VM OS. I think there may be some new sound glitches. Try rolling back several 6.1.x versions, or drop back to 6.0.something.

A particular OS having problems in the VM will not necessarily mean the same OS will have trouble as the host OS, or vice versa. The problem with a 2019 VM is often the template, which is apparently missing an internal setting. The 2016 template works well for 2019, as well as manually setting the Paravirtualization setting to Hyper-V, as it is supposed to be for Windows 7-10 VMs. Also, 2019 runs better with two processors.
mpack
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Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Little to no audio and crashes in legacy Windows

Post by mpack »

VBProblems wrote:I see a bunch of recent threads about problems with Windows Server 2019 as a guest OS and I'm wondering if they could be related to the problems I'm having with it being the host OS
No, there is no possible connection. The 2019 guest proplems are caused by an error in the template that causes a certain CPU feature not to be presented to the guest. VirtualBox has no role in presenting CPU features to the host.
VBProblems
Posts: 32
Joined: 1. Sep 2014, 17:33

Re: Little to no audio and crashes in legacy Windows

Post by VBProblems »

I enabled hyperthreading in the BIOS and that didn't seem to have much affect on the problem. The audio repeats at startup with a Windows 10 virtual machine and the audio gets cut off on Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98. Only the first few seconds of a sound are played. I'll do some more experimenting with this problem. I may try installing VirtualBox 6.0.24.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Little to no audio and crashes in legacy Windows

Post by scottgus1 »

6.1.20 and .22 have audio issues. Going back to 6.1.18 may help for now.
VBProblems
Posts: 32
Joined: 1. Sep 2014, 17:33

Re: Little to no audio and crashes in legacy Windows

Post by VBProblems »

I should try installing VirtualBox 6.1.16 or 6.1.18 in that case because it's newer. I do believe I had this problem with VirtualBox 6.1.18 as well.
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