[Solved] Host / Guest:XP - Sound Device ownership conflict

[Meetloaf13]

Hello,

There may be a simple solution, but I could not find one.

My problem is this. I do not know how to have the sound card available to both my Ubuntu 8.04 Host and my Guest at the same time. This is problematic b/c some applications REQUIRE a valid sound device in order to run properly in my guest (XP).

Any clues?

[vkov_tinsky]

b/c some applications REQUIRE a valid sound device in order to run

If you don't need to actually hear/record anything choose the Null Audio Driver, otherwise pick PulseAudio.

Regards,
VT

[Meetloaf13]

Should I pick pulseAudio JUST for the guest...I currently use ALSA for my host.


Got it!...You are a MAN among MEN.

Thanks!

[Sasquatch]

For the config of your Host applications, be sure to not select the hardware itself, but use ALSA with the default device. ALSA will then handle all the requests.

[vkov_tinsky]

Should I pick pulseAudio JUST for the guest...I currently use ALSA for my host.

Sorry, wasn't being clear: I meant only under the VM settings -> Audio -> Host Audio Driver. You can try ALSA also, but what I found is that while my media player was playing the VM wouldn't have any sound but with PulseAudio both guest/host audio work fine (this is on Xubuntu 8.04)

[Meetloaf13]

Yes, I found the dame exact behavior vkov.

I left all Host settings alone and chose Pulse for the VM and all is well.

Again, thank you.

[thebadger2008]

This confounded me too - the virtual machine (XP Pro) did not detect my host's soundcard at all... so I installed a SoundBlaster 16 on the vm, then changed the settings withing virtual box to use ALSA on the host (which is what my host uses) and SoundBlaster on the guest. Voila! sound.

Not sure why the guest did not detect the soundcard but otherwise virtualbox has turned my Ubuntu into a complete success. There were a couple of apps that I require that would not work in Wine, so running them in a guest XP has made Ubuntu the perfect choice for me.