No sound for Windows NT 4.0

edited January 2016 in Software
Not too long ago, I felt like having a look at this vintage OS after having it installed on VirtualBox but there is one problem... there is no sound in it, and it is further proven when for some reason, a sound card hadn't been installed. I've been trying to install one myself via the INI file within its CD contents (which is "pnpisa.ini") but upon installation and a restart, there was still no sound but I do know that the OS doesn't support Plug And Play. So tell me... what else can I do?

And just in case anyone's wondering, the Host Audio Driver for it is Windows DirectSound and the Host Controller is SoundBlaster 16, though I had tried another one (ICH AC97 and Inter HD Audio, the one for the host computer) but that hadn't worked either. If anyone can help me out even if it may be very easy to do, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

Comments

  • Once you're sure you know the emulated HW is SB16, go to Control Panel -> Multimedia -> Hardware -> Add and use the included driver. You /may/ have to reinstall the service pack to update the driver.
  • Well, I went onto the Multimedia settings and the Hardware tab is not there, so I just went onto the Devices one and clicked "Add" but I don't see SB16 anywhere on the list given. Is there anything else I can do?

    And just so you know, I have Service Pack 6a installed.
  • Bry89 wrote:
    Well, I went onto the Multimedia settings and the Hardware tab is not there, so I just went onto the Devices one and clicked "Add" but I don't see SB16 anywhere on the list given. Is there anything else I can do?

    And just so you know, I have Service Pack 6a installed.
    Watch this video, I had the same problem, and this video fixed it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8cod9Hiusk
  • It worked, which is good but there's one problem... if I decide to change the system sounds or switch to a new sound scheme under the Sounds Control Panel item, the sound driver won't work anymore unless I power off the VM and fire it up again. Strange... but is there a way to fix that?
  • Bry89 wrote:
    Well, I went onto the Multimedia settings and the Hardware tab is not there, so I just went onto the Devices one and clicked "Add" but I don't see SB16 anywhere on the list given. Is there anything else I can do?

    And just so you know, I have Service Pack 6a installed.
    Select "Creative Sound Blaster 1.x/2.0/Pro/16" if that's an option.
  • I already did that, as what the video Gabe80million posted. Now the problem I'm having is the sound being cut off like about a number of seconds later, usually when I make customisations with the Sound Control Panel item. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the Buffer Size for the sound driver or something else I don't know of.
  • The SoundBlaster doesn't even work for me. (VMWare)

  • Since the last time I posted in this thread, over five years ago, I had ditched the VM but now I've reinstalled it and downloaded the fix, However, there's still no sound as evidenced by no volume icon down at the system tray (although the driver is "enabled" but not started, and I can't find it under "Devices" in Control Panel).

    @gicher44 Do you know the driver name for the "fix" by any chance?
  • edited August 2021
    Hey Bry89

    I tinkered with this for amusement sake. I'm not really a Virtualbox fan but whatevs...

    I did like suggested in various places, added the sound blaster hardware, disabled the MPU-401 in the hardware setup.

    I installed this driver and got MIDI playback to work:
    https://support.lenovo.com/lt/lt/downloads/ds001726

    Everything seems to work fine for me with this setup.


  • I forgot to say... I now have this VM running on VirtualPC 2007 (upon a reinstall) but this thread is now irrelevant, as I don't really bother with NT4 now...

    @SomeGuy Please close this thread. Thanks.
  • Well, if the above works for now, we will consider this specific issue "resolved".

    We don't normally need to close threads like that but in this case, if anyone else has problems running NT 4 with sound in a VM, please start a new thread and include details about the VM version used, drivers used, and so on.
This discussion has been closed.