Installed the hard disk version of DOS 7.1 using VMWare virtual machine, but the sound card cannot be detected. - China DOS Union Forum

I installed the hard disk version of DOS 7.1 using VMware virtual machine. When selecting the sound card driver, I chose AC97 (in fact, I have installed DOS several times, and choosing others also doesn't work).
As a result, after installation and entering the system, it prompts PCI AUDIO ABENT.
When playing with QV, it prompts sound card not found.
MPXPLAY also can't play songs.
My motherboard is C51G, with onboard network card and realtek ac 97 sound card.
Please see the attached picture for the sound card in the virtual machine.
How can I listen to music under DOS in my situation?
And if I want to load other sound card drivers, how to load them?
I see that my situation is relatively common.
Hope to give a detailed solution.

[ Last edited by wsklll on 2006-7-17 at 14:45 ]

Last time I mentioned that the sound card emulated in the virtual machine is different from the real sound card in the actual machine, so in VMware, AC97 should not be selected, but the emulated sound card of it should be used. By default, VMware emulates the ES1371 sound card, but this sound card cannot be successfully driven under DOS due to some bug of VMware itself. Therefore, the solution is to change the emulated sound card to SB16. The method is as follows:

Open the.vmx file in the directory where the virtual machine is located (for example, dos.vmx), and change the following line:

sound.virtualDev = "es1371"

to:

sound.virtualDev = "sb16"

Then start VMware to DOS and set: SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H7 T6

In this way, some software can make sound under DOS. However, it should be noted that there are some bugs in the emulated SB16 sound card, so some software may still not be able to make sound normally. And it does not support MPU401 or FM emulation, so MIDI files cannot be played.

Tried QV or MPXPLAY, still no good. Is it really impossible to use the sound card under DOS in a virtual machine? If so, I don't need to bother anymore.

If set up properly, QV and MPXPLAY should work in VMware (I'm using version 5.5.1). I just tried it. You can check if there are any setup errors.

According to what Wengier said on the second floor, it can make sound and the effect is very good. (Here, I can only play with MPXPLAY, and QV cannot find the sound card.) But there are some ticking sounds. (Maybe it's because of the virtual machine driver itself.) Also, some MP3 files cannot be played by MPXPLAY, but WAV files can be played. Finally, thank you, Wengier.

[ Last edited by wsklll on 2006-7-17 at 14:43 ]

According to what the boss of the 2nd floor said, after modification, do I still need to install the SB16 driver separately? This driver is really hard to find!!!!!

Originally posted by bladetruth at 2007-3-9 06:59 PM:
According to the statement of the second-floor boss, after modification, do I still need to install the SB16 driver separately? This driver is really hard to find!!!!!

No need, because SB16 is a standard ISA sound card (this is exactly what the DOS drivers of those PCI sound cards simulate), so you can use it by just setting up the environment variables.

Floor1　wsklll	Posted 2006-07-14 04:42
初级用户　Posts 31　Credits 79
I installed the hard disk version of DOS 7.1 using VMware virtual machine. When selecting the sound card driver, I chose AC97 (in fact, I have installed DOS several times, and choosing others also doesn't work). As a result, after installation and entering the system, it prompts PCI AUDIO ABENT. When playing with QV, it prompts sound card not found. MPXPLAY also can't play songs. My motherboard is C51G, with onboard network card and realtek ac 97 sound card. Please see the attached picture for the sound card in the virtual machine. How can I listen to music under DOS in my situation? And if I want to load other sound card drivers, how to load them? I see that my situation is relatively common. Hope to give a detailed solution. [ Last edited by wsklll on 2006-7-17 at 14:45 ] Attachments shengka.bmp (107.51 KiB)

Floor2　Wengier	Posted 2006-07-14 10:43
系统支持　Posts 10,521　Credits 27,736
Last time I mentioned that the sound card emulated in the virtual machine is different from the real sound card in the actual machine, so in VMware, AC97 should not be selected, but the emulated sound card of it should be used. By default, VMware emulates the ES1371 sound card, but this sound card cannot be successfully driven under DOS due to some bug of VMware itself. Therefore, the solution is to change the emulated sound card to SB16. The method is as follows: Open the.vmx file in the directory where the virtual machine is located (for example, dos.vmx), and change the following line: sound.virtualDev = "es1371" to: sound.virtualDev = "sb16" Then start VMware to DOS and set: SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H7 T6 In this way, some software can make sound under DOS. However, it should be noted that there are some bugs in the emulated SB16 sound card, so some software may still not be able to make sound normally. And it does not support MPU401 or FM emulation, so MIDI files cannot be played.

Floor3　wsklll	Posted 2006-07-14 17:01
初级用户　Posts 31　Credits 79
Tried QV or MPXPLAY, still no good. Is it really impossible to use the sound card under DOS in a virtual machine? If so, I don't need to bother anymore.

Floor4　Wengier	Posted 2006-07-14 23:17
系统支持　Posts 10,521　Credits 27,736
If set up properly, QV and MPXPLAY should work in VMware (I'm using version 5.5.1). I just tried it. You can check if there are any setup errors.

Floor5　wsklll	Posted 2006-07-17 14:41
初级用户　Posts 31　Credits 79
According to what Wengier said on the second floor, it can make sound and the effect is very good. (Here, I can only play with MPXPLAY, and QV cannot find the sound card.) But there are some ticking sounds. (Maybe it's because of the virtual machine driver itself.) Also, some MP3 files cannot be played by MPXPLAY, but WAV files can be played. Finally, thank you, Wengier. [ Last edited by wsklll on 2006-7-17 at 14:43 ]

Floor6　bladetruth	Posted 2007-03-10 07:59
新手上路　Posts 6　Credits 16
According to what the boss of the 2nd floor said, after modification, do I still need to install the SB16 driver separately? This driver is really hard to find!!!!!

Floor7　Wengier	Posted 2007-03-10 23:43
系统支持　Posts 10,521　Credits 27,736
Originally posted by bladetruth at 2007-3-9 06:59 PM: According to the statement of the second-floor boss, after modification, do I still need to install the SB16 driver separately? This driver is really hard to find!!!!! No need, because SB16 is a standard ISA sound card (this is exactly what the DOS drivers of those PCI sound cards simulate), so you can use it by just setting up the environment variables.