Installing sound drivers in Windows 95 (1025639)

Symptoms

No sound in Windows 95

The Windows virtual machine crashes when installing sound drivers

Windows shows a blue screen with an error when sound drivers are installed

Resolution

This issue occurs because Windows 95 sound drivers are not supported in virtual hardware versions 6 or later. For more information, see Virtual machine hardware versions (1003746).

If your virtual machine was created in VMware Workstation 6.x or later, you need to downgrade the hardware compatibility to make it compatible with Workstation 5.x (virtual hardware version 4).

To downgrade your hardware compatibility:

Shut down the virtual machine.

Go to VM > Change version.

Note: In Workstation 8.x, go to VM > Manage > Change Hardware Compatibility.

Click Next.

Select Workstation 5 from the Hardware Compatibility dropdown, then click Next.

You can either change the hardware version of the existing virtual machine, or create a new and identical virtual machine with the earlier hardware version.

To change the hardware version of the existing virtual machine, click Alter this virtual machine and then click Next.

To create a new virtual machine, click Create a new clone of the virtual machine, select a location to save the new virtual machine, and then click Next.

Click Finish.

After downgrading the virtual hardware version, you can install the sound drivers in Windows 95.

To install sound drivers in Windows 95:

Download the required Sound Blaster PCI 128 drivers for Windows 9x from the manufacturer's website: http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=1&subCatID=207&prodID=1864&prodName=Sound%20Blaster%20PCI%20128&subCatName=Others&CatName=Sound+Blaster.

The preceding link was correct as of August 11, 2010. If you find a link is broken, please provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

Note: If the direct download link does not work, you must locate and select the driver yourself. To do so:

Select your Region/Country from the dropdown menu at the top of the screen.

Click Support.

Select Sound Blaster.

Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click where it says If your product is not listed above, please click here.

Select Others.

Under Archived products, select Sound Blaster PCI 128.

Click Next.

Find the driver labeled Sound Blaster PCI128 (Drivers Only - Windows 9x) and click Download.

Run the . exe file to install the drivers.

When the installation completes, restart the virtual machine when prompted.

Install Windows Media Player 6.4 for improved sound compatibility. You can download it from Microsoft.