Arch Linux

dac_219

Member

Registered: 2025-08-15

Posts: 2

Arch Linux guest on virtualbox has issues with intel hd audio

Hi, all

I have been using arch for a few years, but I would still consider myself a newbie. I usually find whatever I need in the ArchWiki, but I recently attempted to install arch as a guest on virtualbox and it's kicking my butt. I'm ashamed to say that I am only somewhat familiar with the logs, but I am able to provide anything that is needed/requested for more information. My current setup was installed using the archinstall helper, as I thought this would simplify the process, but it may have caused me more headache in the long run. I'm using the zen kernel and i3wm with default configuration.

Problem: I am having an issue with intel hd audio, perhaps due to how it interacts with pipewire and pipewire-pulse. When I have it selected in virtualbox, several things happen in the guest OS. First of all, there is no playback when testing on youtube. Just an endless loading wheel. Testing on other video platforms produces the same result. Additionally, the audio hangs (I don't know how else to describe it), as if it's trying to play sound but gets stuck the same way as the video. However there is no output when viewing through pavucontrol. I am confused to say the least, since I have already implemented the alsa-base.conf provided in the wiki. I would like to avoid switching to ac97 if at all possible, but I have also implemented the file with 'options snd_intel8x0 ac97_clock=48000' and I still get choppy/distorted audio (with ac97), but there is video playback. I have also confirmed to the best of my ability that guest additions is installed and running in my guest machine. VBoxClient --version matches my version of virtualbox as well.

Expected behavior: I would like to be able to select intel hd audio and have seamless video/audio playback in the guest machine.

P.S. I have been having other issues with this guest machine, such as yt-dlp getting 'stuck' after downloading via url. The guest machine also freezes up frequently. However, I would like to get intel hd audio working before I tackle these other problems.

Also, since this is my first topic, please let me know how I can improve it. I would like to be a quality Archer

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,146

Re: Arch Linux guest on virtualbox has issues with intel hd audio

Sounds like https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Virtua … is_running from the symptoms

dac_219

Member

Registered: 2025-08-15

Posts: 2

Re: Arch Linux guest on virtualbox has issues with intel hd audio

Thank you for the help! I forgot to mention that I'm using Windows 11 as the host. So I tried this in an admin terminal:

cd C:\'Program Files'\Oracle\VirtualBox
.\VBoxManage modifyvm "my_virtual_machine" --audio-driver was --audio-controller hda

then
.\VBoxManage showvminfo "my_virtual_machine" | Select-String Audio
result
Audio: enabled (Driver: Windows Audio Session (WAS), Controller: HDA, Codec: STAC9221)
Audio playback: enabled
Audio capture: disabled
   Record audio: no

However, I am getting the same behavior with stuck audio and endless loading wheel.
Thanks again!

Edit: using --audio-driver dsound also produces the same behavior (stuck audio, loading wheel)

Last edited by dac_219 (2025-08-15 16:25:51)