So I have a ESXi 5.1 set-up at home where I have a few Windows 7 machines running. After connecting to a win7 VM the other day via RDP I noticed no sound was being passed. Sound was enabled via RDP which left the VM itself, after some digging I found I had to edit the VMX file of the VM to add sound. So after turning the VM off and browsing to the datastore I downloaded the VMX file and added these entries:
sound.present = “TRUE”
sound.virtualDev = “es1371”
sound.fileName = “-1”
sound.autodetect = “TRUE”
sound.startConnected = “TRUE”
Once I re-uploaded the VMX, Boom (literally), sound!!
I tried this and expected the guest to have sound after re-adding but sadly not the case.
using vsphere 5.1 standard and cant believe that sound option is not there by default.
have tried following other site which say to add simlar:
sound.present = “true”
sound.allowGuestConnectionControl = “false”
sound.virtualDev = “hdaudio”
sound.fileName = “-1”
sound.autodetect = “true”
sound.pciSlotNumber = “34”
still no join, major pain in the rear when guest needs sound through rdp
Enabling sound for Remote Desktop Protocol in a Windows virtual machine (1004839)
Purpose
This article provides steps for enabling sound for Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) in a Windows virtual machine.
Resolution
To enable sound in a virtual machine when connected using RDP:
Windows 2003:
Click Start > Run, type services.msc, and click OK.
Change the Windows Audio service to Automatic and start the service.
Click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools.
Click the Terminal Services Configuration section.
Double-click RDP-TCP.
Click the Client Settings tab.
Deselect Audio Mapping.
Windows XP and 2008:
Click Start > Run, type mmc, and click OK.
Add the Group Policy Object Editor snapin.
Expand Local Computer Policy.
Expand Computer Configuration.
Expand Administrative Templates.
Expand Windows Components.
Expand Terminal Services.
In Client/Server data redirection, enable Allow Audio Redirection.
Restart the virtual machine.
Windows 7 and 2008 R2:
Click Start > Run, type mmc, and click OK.
Add the Group Policy Object Editor snapin.
Expand Local Computer Policy.
Expand Computer Configuration.
Expand Administrative Templates.
Expand Windows Components.
Expand Remote Desktop Services.
Expand Remote Desktop Session Host.
In Device and Resource redirection, enable Allow Audio and Video Playback Redirection.
Restart the virtual machine.
Windows 2012:
Right-click Start and click Run.
Type mmc, and click OK.
Add the Group Policy Object Editor snapin.
Expand Local Computer Policy.
Expand Computer Configuration.
Expand Policies.
Expand Administrative Templates.
Expand Windows Components.
Expand Remote Desktop Services.
In Device and Resource redirection, enable Allow Audio and Video Playback Redirection.
Restart the virtual machine.
Windows 2012 R2:
Right-click Start and click Run.
Type mmc, and click OK.
Add the Group Policy Object Editor snapin.
Expand Local Computer Policy.
Expand Computer Configuration.
Expand Policies.
Expand Administrative Templates.
Expand Windows Components.
Expand Remote Desktop Services.
Expand Remote Desktop Session Host.
In Device and Resource redirection, enable Allow Audio and Video Playback Redirection.
Restart the virtual machine.
Notes:
Verify on the guest OS > Options > Local Resources.
Settings under Remote audio settings, the option Play on this computer should be enabled.
Windows XP may require the policy to be set to Enable.
Windows 2008 may require the policy to be set in User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Terminal Services.
Windows 2008 R2 requires Windows Audio Service to be started automatically.
To ensure that this service starts automatically:
Click Start > Run, type services.msc and click OK.
Change the service to start in Automatic mode.
Additional Information
For more information, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles 818465 and 886199.
it is possible to enable multiple sound cards on multiple windows?