System setup is the current VMware Player 5.0.1 build 894247 running on 64-bit Windows 7 SP1.
Virtual Machines are two 32-bit WinXP SP3 setups.
The host has two USB audio devices connected to it, in addtion to the RealTek HD audio system on the motherboard. One is a Griffin Electronics "iMic", the other is a Behringer UCA202. Both devices use the generic Win7 usbaudio.sys class driver. I have successfully overridden the default mapping of the motherboard audio, and have mapped both USB devices through VMware Player correctly to show up in the VMs as the usual "Creative Audio PCI (ES1371" virtual device. (One USB device is used by each VM.)
Applications on the VMs receive a constant stream of audio input to the "line-input" jacks of the physical devices with absolutely no problems through the virtual Soundblasters in each virtual machine.
However, when an application in the VM goes tooriginate audio (i.e. use the "playback" side rather than the "record" side of the virtual sound card), the virtual sound card will randomly disconnect. There are no crashes, lockups or error messages. The speaker icon with the green virtual LED on the VMware tool bar just greys out, and all audio activity, input or output, ceases. The failure is non-fatal -- I can right-click the speaker icon, choose "Connect" and the setup starts functioning again -- for a while. .
There appeares to be no consistent repeatable pattern to the disconnect. Sometimes the disconnect happens almost immediately, other times it will be several hours and multiple playback sessions before the disconnect occurs. I have determined that it is PLAYBACK that triggers the failure - Applications in the VM can use audio input to the "Record" side of the virtual Soundblaster indefintely without failure, as long as I don't attempt any playback activity.
I'm not sure how Direct-X on the VM machines affects all this, but for what it's worth, the latest and last ever version for XP (9.0c) is installed.
I found a forum post elsewhere on the site about fixing audio problems with an entry in the VMX something like this:
usb.quirks.device0 = "0x08BB:0x2902 skip-reset, skip-refresh, skip-setconfig"
usb:0.present = "TRUE"
usb:0.deviceType = "hid"
usb:0.port = "0"
usb:0.parent = "-1"
but it had no effect on the problem.
Any throughts on patches, updates, or "magical mystery" registry tweaks (either on the host or in the VMs), or similar entries in the VMX files to address this issue????
For reference, here is a dump of the VMX file of one of the VMS.
=======PASTE========
.encoding = "windows-1252"
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "9"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
memsize = "512"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.fileName = "WinXP-VHF-Server.vmdk"
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"
floppy0.fileType = "device"
floppy0.fileName = ""
floppy0.clientDevice = "FALSE"
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
usb.present = "TRUE"
ehci.present = "TRUE"
ehci.pciSlotNumber = "35"
sound.present = "TRUE"
sound.fileName = "iMic-1 VHF (iMic USB audio syst"
sound.autodetect = "FALSE"
mks.enable3d = "TRUE"
serial0.present = "TRUE"
serial0.fileType = "thinprint"
pciBridge0.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge4.functions = "8"
pciBridge5.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge5.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge5.functions = "8"
pciBridge6.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge6.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge6.functions = "8"
pciBridge7.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge7.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge7.functions = "8"
vmci0.present = "TRUE"
hpet0.present = "TRUE"
usb.vbluetooth.startConnected = "TRUE"
buslogic.noDriver = "FALSE"
displayName = "WinXP-VHF-Server"
guestOS = "winxppro"
nvram = "WinXP-VHF-Server.nvram"
virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
gui.exitOnCLIHLT = "FALSE"
powerType.powerOff = "hard"
powerType.powerOn = "hard"
powerType.suspend = "hard"
powerType.reset = "hard"
extendedConfigFile = "WinXP-VHF-Server.vmxf"
scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "16"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:9e:2e:eb"
ethernet0.pciSlotNumber = "33"
usb.pciSlotNumber = "32"
sound.pciSlotNumber = "34"
vmci0.id = "-155868748"
vmci0.pciSlotNumber = "36"
tools.syncTime = "FALSE"
uuid.location = "56 4d ba 82 20 8e 7d 2b-49 ea ec 38 d8 9e 2e eb"
uuid.bios = "56 4d ba 82 20 8e 7d 2b-49 ea ec 38 d8 9e 2e eb"
cleanShutdown = "FALSE"
replay.supported = "FALSE"
unity.wasCapable = "TRUE"
replay.filename = ""
scsi0:0.redo = ""
pciBridge0.pciSlotNumber = "17"
pciBridge4.pciSlotNumber = "21"
pciBridge5.pciSlotNumber = "22"
pciBridge6.pciSlotNumber = "23"
pciBridge7.pciSlotNumber = "24"
usb:1.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"
tools.remindInstall = "FALSE"
vmotion.checkpointFBSize = "134217728"
softPowerOff = "FALSE"
usb:1.speed = "2"
usb:1.deviceType = "hub"
usb:1.port = "1"
usb:1.parent = "-1"
floppy0.autodetect = "TRUE"
ide1:0.autodetect = "TRUE"
usb.autoConnect.device0 = ""
floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"
ide1:0.startConnected = "FALSE"