No Sound or Audio in VMWare Fusion Windows 7/XP Machine?

We fiddled around and finally got it to work

I’ve been messing around with Windows 7 in a virtual machine for quite a while now and I recently installed a new copy, but ran into one problem. For some reason, there was no sound output from my Windows 7 virtual machine. The other one worked fine, so it was really strange. If you’re not getting any sound from your Windows virtual machine in VMWare Fusion, there are a couple of troubleshooting steps you can take.

Eventually, I got the sound on my new Windows 7 VM to work, but it took a little bit of playing around before I could figure out what the problem was. In this article, I’ll walk you through a couple of possible solutions and hopefully one of them will work for you. If not, post a comment and I’ll get back to you with some help.

Method 1 – Check VM Settings

The first thing you want to do is make sure that the VM actually has sound enabled. You can do this by going toVirtual Machineand then clicking onSettings.

Click onSound Cardin the list of items underRemovable Devices:

Make sure the switch is turned toOn.

Note that if you don’t even have the Sound Card item under Removable Devices, you have to click onAdd Devicein the Settings dialog and then chooseSound Card. Then it will show up and then you can turn it on. If this was already enabled for you, then your problem is something else, so keep reading.

Method 2 – Edit VMX File

There are also some configuration settings in your VMX file related to sound that could be causing the problem. You can open the VMX file for your VM by going to theVirtual Machine Libraryand then holding down theOptionkey and right-clicking on the VM. You’ll see an option toOpen Config File in Editor.

Now you need to look for the following parameters and make sure they exist in the file:

If these parameters are not in the file, you need to add them. Also, you need to remove the following parameters if they exist:

Go ahead and restart the VM once you have checked all of these parameters and hopefully your sound is working now! If not, you only have one more option left! Keep reading.

Method 3 – Update Audio Driver in VM

The last thing you can try is to update the audio driver from within the Windows virtual machine. To do this, you can right-click onMy Computerand chooseManage. Then click onDevice Manageron the left hand pane. Scroll down to Sound, video and game controllers and right-click onCreative AudioPCI (ES1371, ES1373) (WDM)if you’re running Windows XP or right-click onHigh Definition Audio Device.

Now go ahead and click onUpdate Driver Softwareand then click onSearch automatically for updated driver software. Go ahead and restart the VM once the driver has been updated.

Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications.Read Aseem’s Full Bio

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No Sound or Audio in VMWare Fusion Windows 7/XP Machine?#

Method 1 – Check VM Settings#

Method 2 – Edit VMX File#

Method 3 – Update Audio Driver in VM#

No Sound or Audio in VMWare Fusion Windows 7/XP Machine?

Method 1 – Check VM Settings

Method 2 – Edit VMX File

Method 3 – Update Audio Driver in VM