Stuttery audio on Windows guest systems after installing guest additions

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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jcwegman
Posts: 4
Joined: 29. Aug 2021, 18:49

Stuttery audio on Windows guest systems after installing guest additions

Post by jcwegman »

Hi, the audio of my 16-bit game from 1999 stutters on Windows XP (32-bit) and 7 (32-bit) after installing guest additions 6.1.21. Uninstalling guest additions works, but then, well, I don't have guest additions.
Googling did not work for me :(

See video: youtube[dot]com/watch?v=EnK021feR7I
(Sorry, I can't post links yet)

Thank you in advance.

EDIT: after watching the video, it looks like the graphics are laggy too???
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Stuttery audio on Windows guest systems after installing guest additions

Post by mpack »

jcwegman wrote:after installing guest additions 6.1.21
6.1.21 was a test build between 6.1.20 and 6.1.22. You should have stopped using any part of a test build the instant the next official release (6.1.22) happened.

Version 6.1.24 fixed a number of audio problems. The current release, as I write this, is 6.1.26.
jcwegman
Posts: 4
Joined: 29. Aug 2021, 18:49

Re: Stuttery audio on Windows guest systems after installing guest additions

Post by jcwegman »

mpack wrote:
jcwegman wrote:after installing guest additions 6.1.21
6.1.21 was a test build between 6.1.20 and 6.1.22. You should have stopped using any part of a test build the instant the next official release (6.1.22) happened.

Version 6.1.24 fixed a number of audio problems. The current release, as I write this, is 6.1.26.
Thank you for the response. I have tried 6.1.26 guest additions and the problem still exists. I first thought it was only the audio, but the graphics lag badly too.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Stuttery audio on Windows guest systems after installing guest additions

Post by mpack »

I assume you mean that you installed 6.1.26, since you should never use GAs that are newer than the software, and in any case the GAs have nothing to do with audio.

Please provide a VM log file. Make sure the VM is fully shut down, then right click it in the manager UI. Select "Show Log" and save "VBox.log" (no other file) to a zip file. Attach the zip here.
jcwegman
Posts: 4
Joined: 29. Aug 2021, 18:49

Re: Stuttery audio on Windows guest systems after installing guest additions

Post by jcwegman »

mpack wrote:I assume you mean that you installed 6.1.26, since you should never use GAs that are newer than the software, and in any case the GAs have nothing to do with audio.

Please provide a VM log file. Make sure the VM is fully shut down, then right click it in the manager UI. Select "Show Log" and save "VBox.log" (no other file) to a zip file. Attach the zip here.
I just checked and have 6.1.26 installed. The issue seems to be overall lag: video+audio. I attached the log.zip file.

Thank you.
Attachments
log.zip
(29.5 KiB) Downloaded 8 times
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Stuttery audio on Windows guest systems after installing guest additions

Post by mpack »

I see no indication in your log that the Guest Additions have been installed. Note that mounting the CD is not sufficient unless the guest OS enables autorun, which would be quite unusual these days. If autorun is not enabled then you need to navigate to the virtual CD drive and run VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe.

While (as mentioned before) the GAs have no direct audio function, they do make the VM run smoother, so if not installed the VM performance may be uneven and glitchy - including the audio.

You also seem to have selected the VBoxVGA graphics controller for some reason? VBoxSVGA is the default graphics chipset for Win7.

You should also consider reducing the VM RAM allocation to 3GB or 2GB. 4GB really isn't necessary in a 32bit VM, and your 8GB host may sometimes struggle to afford it.
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