virtualbox.org

Hi,
I installed recently Realtek HD Audio sound drivers on my Windows 7 host system in hope I can finally hear sound from guest systems, but the new drivers do not appear in the roll menu for host drivers. How can I install Realtek host drivers for VBox to appear in the menu? I'm a bit confused since I though it will display automatically since installation and restart so changes can take effect. My Windows host is now using Realtek, but VBox keeps to use Windows DirectSound, which does not work

Your question is fundamentally mistaken. VirtualBox doesn't care what kind of audio hardware your host has, and it certainly makes no difference to a guest. Nothing you have told me about your host is relevant.

When considering a VM it is always best to think of it as a separate PC. So, imagine that you have a second PC sitting somewhere nearby your first one, assume that said second PC has audio problems - then read your message again.

You change the (virtual) audio hardware seen by a guest in the VM settings, audio section. You should not select audio emulations unless you have a guest driver for it. Unfortunately you say nothing of the guest.

p.s. Intel HD will be the chipset emulation presented to the guest. Emulated audio transactions will be translated for a host API, in this case DirectSound. So, you didn't need RealTek audio for your host, but you do need DirectSound.

I do not know how to better explain what I have a problem. Apologise, I have czech version installed, so my interppretations of controls might be wrong, but there you can see what belongs to what.

You said, that number 1 (at the picture) belongs to guest drivers. Well, MS-DOS won't work with Windows drivers, I think you mean number 2. That I do not look for, therefore I miss there simulation of PC beep speaker like DOSBox has... What I am looking for is putting Realtek HOST sound driver in the roll menu of number 1 to directly send the virtual sound to my physical sound chip integrated card on my physical motherboard.

Anyway, you say that guest system won't see what sound card is being used for it by VM and I need to install these drivers manually? Well, I'd understand it for MS-DOS that can't search for drivers on the Internet but still can install drivers from the device itself. But I am using also Linux Ubuntu that has its proper drivers preinstalled and also searches for the right drivers both on the Internet and the device itself (or not?)

I thought the message warning poping up in front of the virtual screen says it can't find host driver being used to respond...

p.s. - where I can download Windows DirectSound? It seems more like virtual sound driver that won't work properly on system being used on its own. I think it needs to link with real sound drivers for physical sound card that is actualy being used by host system...

Polda18 wrote:p.s. - where I can download Windows DirectSound? It seems more like virtual sound driver that won't work properly on system being used on its own.

The virtual sound driver requires DirectSound support on the host.

DirectSound support is usually bundled with your hosts audio drivers: usually as plugins beneath drivers that are built into the host OS. If VirtualBox says that DirectSound is not enabled on your host then I would believe it. I would Google for host diagnostic tools to confirm the problem, and information on how to fix it.

Looks like sound emulation works for Ubuntu guest, but unfortunately I will have to install SoundBlaster 16 drivers for my MS-DOS guest... Pretty shame default PC beep speaker emulation does not work in VirtualBox. Is there any way to make it beep through my regular speakers in front of me near my desktop screen? Do some guest additions for MS-DOS exist along with VBox version 4.3.20 r96997? Or anything compatible? I know MS-DOS is not supported now, but I am using MS-DOS for games that do not work on my Windows 7 real machine anymore... These are old games that we used to play hence back in years on our Windows 95 machine, still stored on still working floppy's Simply these games support only PC beep speaker, so I'd be like to get that working, just redirect it to my PC speakers in front of screen...

Polda18 wrote:What I am looking for is putting Realtek HOST sound driver in the roll menu of number 1

You can't. The options that you have are pre-determined. In your case, since you're running Windows, it's going to be either "Null Audio Driver" (which basically means mute), or "Windows DirectSound". That's it. Pick "Windows DirectSound".

It seems that you want to want to install sound under a DOS guest. Your options are: 1) Intel HD Audio, 2) ICH AC97 and 3) SoundBlaster 16. That's it. DOS has only support for the SoundBlaster option, so you should choose that one. Search for "dos sound site:forums.virtualbox.org" and you'll find several posts on how to deal with it.

Remember, you're running a virtual machine with virtual hardware, not your actual hardware.

Polda18 wrote:Is there any way to make it beep through my regular speakers in front of me near my desktop screen?

No. The PC beep is not emulated.

Polda18 wrote:I am using MS-DOS for games that do not work on my Windows 7 real machine anymore

Have you tried DOSBox? It seems to do a much better job at emulating DOS (only) that VirtualBox does (or will ever do for that matter).

Yes I have. Unfortunately DOSBox seems to be choppy on some games on my installation, so I decided to pick virtual machine. Also I am trying out making small apps for DOS-like systems (I want to make simple game using DOS environment, for self-education purpose), which won't work in DOSBox. Also DOSBox is not virtual machine, it's just a program that simulates DOS environment. Original better, my motto. The best would be have physical computer with DOS installed, but it's nowhere to put it