GSX Server provides a sound device compatible with the Sound Blaster AudioPCI adapter and supports sound in Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Linux guest operating systems. The GSX Server sound device is disabled by default and must be installed using the virtual machine settings editor (VM > Settings).

Sound support includes PCM (pulse code modulation) output and input. For example, you can play .wav files, MP3 audio and Real Media audio. MIDI output from Windows guests is supported through the Windows software synthesizer. MIDI input is not supported, and no MIDI support is available for Linux guests.

Windows 2000, Windows XP and most recent Linux distributions automatically detect the sound device and install appropriate drivers for it.

The following sections describe installing sound drivers in some Windows guest operating systems.

Windows Server 2003 does not ship with the drivers for the Sound Blaster AudioPCI adapter. You can install the drivers from a Windows 2000 installation CD-ROM. For information on installing these drivers, see the VMware knowledge base article at www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1115.

Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98SE and Windows NT 4.0 do not have drivers for the Sound Blaster AudioPCI adapter. To use sound in these guest operating systems, you must download the driver from the Creative Labs Web site ( www.creative.com) and install it in the guest operating system.

Creative Labs has a number of Web sites serving various regions of the world. The adapter name varies, depending on the region, but usually includes PCI 128.