After I mentioned having trouble with VMWare, VMWare support contacted me to offer solutions. This was an extremely generous gesture on the part of VMWare Inc., as I am not a paying customer. Unfortunately, the problem has not been completely resolved. I am inclined to believe VMWare support staff's explanation that the problem is caused by Linux changing the MIC settings, and the registry is not involved. However, neither I nor VMWare Inc. reproduced the problem, and ascertained a solution that is guaranteed to solve the problem. Also, even assuming that the problem was caused by Linux, I believe VMWare Inc. has to accept some blame for the problem, as its software is allowing the guest OS unsafe access to hardware. My discussion with VMWare staff is posted below: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Usman, It would appear that the Linux guest OS somehow change the MIC setting on the host. We have heard a similar report sometime ago with these particular Laptops and certain sound drivers. VMware installer does not in anyway make any modification to your host operating system audio setting. Hence, uninstalling VMware does not remedy the issue. The problem is that Linux unmuted the internal MIC and the host OS has no software setting I know of to turn it off again. There is a potential workaround you may try: If the problem is present, I.E. the high pitched screeching sounds is present, there would not be a need to re-install windows, just remove the audio driver completely, hard reboot and re-install it. To prevent this from occurring again, immediately after installing VMware workstation, and before powering on any Linux virtual machines, add the following line to VMware global configuration file: pciSound.enableVolumeControl = FALSE Global configuration settings are made in the VMware Workstation global configuration file, created by default as C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Workstation\config.ini. You can edit this file with a text editor. You should set permissions on this file so the user cannot change it. If config.ini does not exist, please create it. Let me know if this helps. Looking forward to hearing from you. Best Regards, Max Banihani Technical Support VMware, Inc. 3145 Porter Dr. Palo Alto, CA 94304 Please try our new Knowledge Base application at http://www.vmware.com/kb. Your feedback is appreciated. -----Original Message----- From: Usman Latif [mailto:questions@techuser.net] Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 4:55 AM To: Subject: Re: Problems with VMware? Thanks! I really appreciate the support you are extending me. Actually, I don't have the setup that was causing me trouble anymore. What I can do is to describe the problem as I remember it, and maybe you can figure out a solution. I have a Thinkpad X 21 with Windows 2000 Professional. I installed the VMWare workstation 4.5 on it, and Redhat 8.0 under it as a guest OS. As soon as Redhat 8.0 booted up, and displayed the default GNOME desktop, my soundcard started producing high pitched screeching sounds. I was unable to fix the problem by rebooting, and was not able to fix the problem by uninstalling vmware either. I did a complete reinstall of Windows, and that did fix the problem. I am pretty sure the problem will recur if I duplicate the setup; however, I am not inclined to do so as this will cause me considerable hassle. I probably do remember a few more details, and if you need something more specific I might be able to provide some more detail. Feel free to ask. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Amber Rowland" To: Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 11:54 AM Subject: Problems with VMware? Dear Usman, I heard you had problems running VMware. Can I connect you with technical support to resolve? Best Regards, Amber Rowland Senior Manager, VMware Analyst and Press Relations arowland@vmware.com 650-475-5338 The Global Leader in Virtual Infrastructure Software for Intel-based Systems