virtualbox.org

I am not sure whether to post this here or in the Linux Hosts section. I am running windows 7 pro 32-bit on an Ubuntu Server host, HP DL380G7. We want to use virtual machines to replace physical ones in the library I work at. The idea is that people would sit at a thin client and RDP into either the Virtual Box console for the VM or into the VM directly. That way, we could use immutable disks and eliminate our maintenance of separate images.

The problem is I can't seem to make the sound work. I have the WIN7 VMset for ICH AC97, and installed the WIN7 drivers, and the VM seems to think it has a sound card, but when I RDP into the console or the VM, I get no sound.

What am I missing?

I have the WIN7 VMset for ICH AC97, and installed the WIN7 drivers, and the VM seems to think it has a sound card, but when I RDP into the console or the VM, I get no sound.

Use the Intel audio for win7. sound over rdp must be supported and turned on in the client. vRdp may not work.

thanks for the quick response, PerryG!

I tried your suggestions, but still no sound. I can use the same image on my Windows desktop machine (running Vista) and I can get sound from the console and RDP-ing into the VM. Is there something I need to do to the Linux Host?

AFAIK; Sound over RDP seems to work some places and not others. Since there can be so many things to deal with it is all but impossible to diagnose remotely. I would look at the server and make sure that you have a sound adapter activated since the guest will use that device. If there is no sound adapter you probably will not have sound on the guest.

So - unless I put a sound adapter on my DL380 server, it's not going to work? Interesting.

How would the guest even have sound, local or remote? A redirect of sound would require that a guest have the ability to produce sound, which it would not without some kind of adapter. Does the guest see that it has an audio adapter?

Yes, the Win7 guest sees that it has an adapter. It's host server does not. Like I said, sound for the same VM on a windows host works. Is there a difference between the two that I am not accounting for? I do appreciate your time, Perryg!

Sure does the Windows host have an audio adapter? Disable it and see if it works. My money goes on it will not. I would also be interested in knowing if while on the Linux server with no adapter if the guest actually says the audio is really working since it is not porting anywhere.

The problem with routed audio using VRDP is that VB re-routes the audio that you would otherwise hear on the Host. Since the Host has no audio card, it has nothing to route. If you RDP into the VM directly, you have to make sure that the RDP server side is accepting audio redirection. A "physical" sound card is not required for that (our terminal server on a VMWare ESXi server doesn't have a sound card attached, yet it can produce sound through RDP).

So, for your audio problem, using VB's VRDP is not an option. Using the native RDP feature of Windows takes the problem away from VB and to Windows, the TC and the client that's used to connect to the OS.