This fix was originally posted by JasonBee, but I have refined it somewhat, included the necessary files as an attachment, and added step-by-step instructions. Officially, this fix has worked for 2 people (that is, JasonBee and myself); if it works for you as well, please say so in this thread and let everyone else know that help is here! :)
Your System:
-Parallels 4.0.3810 or newer
-Guest OS Windows XP (I am using Professional with Service Pack 3, and have not tested on other versions)
-Host OS Mac 10.5.6
-NO sound drivers installed whatsoever except for those from Parallels Tools
Your Problem:
-In Control Panel > System > Hardware tab > Device Manager, under Sound, video and game controllers, the hardware Intel(R) 82801BA/ BAM AC'97 Audio Controller has an exclamation mark beside it indicating that there is no driver installed. In the Audio control panel, it indicates that no audio device is connected.
-If this is not the case, please uninstall any audio drivers you may have installed (including Realtek -- it doesn't work), un-install and re-install Parallels Tools. You MUST be able to see this particular piece of hardware.
Your Solution:
1. Download attached file and unzip it anywhere on your computer. It should be a folder called "driver" with three items in it. I unzipped to the Desktop, you can use C: for ease of browsing if you wish. It doesn't matter, just remember where it is!
2. Go back to the Device Manager (use the path under "Your Problem" if you don't remember where it is) and double click on Intel(R) 82801BA/ BAM AC'97 Audio Controller.
3. Navigate to the Driver tab and click Update Driver. Make sure to NOT allow the Update Wizard to use Microsoft Update, click Next. Now choose "Install from a list or specific location" and hit Next. Check the box for "Include this location in the search" and Browse to the "driver" folder you downloaded and unzipped earlier. Upon hitting Next, it should start scanning and then begin installing an unnamed driver.
4. A window will pop up asking you to insert the Windows install disc and navigate to the "ac97int.sys" file. Don't fear, this file is included in the "driver" folder! Simply Browse again to the "driver" folder and click OK. The installer should find the file here and continue until it finishes.
5. That's it! Go to Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices, and the audio device that appears should be called Intel(r) Integrated Audio. Toy with the volume for a minute, incredulous and relieved to finally have sound after so much unnecessary stress. Enjoy some music. :P
And that's it! Again, if this fix works for you, please say so in the thread. If not, I will try to include files that may make the fix more widely compatible in my next "driver" attachment.
Bummer, doesn't work for me... FYI, I never got the popup towards the end of the steps asking for the windows installation disk.. Everything seemed to finish fine but still no audio... Ugh..
I'm telling you it will work. Do this and do it to the letter:
download and extract the zip file that's in the post (remember the location for later)
Go to control panel
delete any drivers you previously installed
uninstall parallels tools (very important)
reboot
when you do, you'll get a bunch of dialog windows, ignore them.
re-install parallel tools
go to control panel
you should see a ? under audio
go to drivers
Choose "update driver"
point the request to the point of extraction
let it do it's thing and it will ask for that file he mentions
re-point back to the extraction location
and it will work.
eddiem: I can't tell you how imperative it is that any other sound drivers are completely removed and Parallels Tools is un-installed and given a fresh re-install. If you've done that and then followed the instructions that jlcotton and I provided, it must be a compatibility issue. You may be using an earlier build of Parallels, and this fix is only tested for 4.0.3810.
The only other thing I can think of is that your computer is scanning for and locating a driver other than the one I'm providing. In order to prevent this, you have to remove all drivers that may be on your system (even try to locate them in C: > WINDOWS > system32 > Drivers and delete them there if you have to) and make sure to DISALLOW the Update Hardware wizard from going on Microsoft Updater when you try to do the install.
Otherwise, it may come to light that certain versions of Windows XP can't use this fix. What's your OS?
Ok, I tried to delete the controller in the configure screen for parallels.. This was working fine before I did the latest update to the parallels software. I was a 3.x user and upgraded to 4.0. It was working great until the last update as I said..
When I try and update the driver, I see two lines as follows:
I suspect this might be the problem...
I have the support policies of this company.. No one to call and the last time I sent an email it was 10 days until I got a response..
As both jlcotton and I mentioned before, you cannot have any sound drivers previously installed for this fix to work. There MUST be an exclamation point beside the name of the Intel hardware. The reason why there isn't is because you currently have a driver. Please follows these steps to purge your system:
First, make sure your Parallels application is FULLY updated, not just from 3.0 to 4.0, but all the way to the newest version, 4.0.3810. If it is not, update it straightaway.
Enter Device Manager and right click on your the Intel Audio Controller
Select Uninstall Driver
Go to C: > WINDOWS > system32 > drivers, and delete all the files that pertain to your sound card manually by dragging them to the Recycle and emptying it
Uninstall Parallels Tools by going to Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs, select Parallels Tools, and click Remove
Restart your virtual machine
In the Parallels Desktop menu go to Virtual Machine > Re-install Parallels Tools
Enter the Device Manager again and if your Intel hardware doesn't appear, use the button at the top of the window to Scan for Hardware Changes
At this point, if there are absolutely no sound drivers on your system and you have freshly installed Parallels Tools AND are using the newest release, your sound hardware will have an exclamation point beside it. Perform the rest of the steps detailed in my driver fix. They should work now. :)
Also, I have never seen the screen you included in your screenshot. Make sure in the Update Wizard you are NOT choosing "Install the software automatically (recommended)." You SHOULD choose "Install from a list or specific location (advanced)." On the next screen, simply point the Wizard to the driver folder I provided.
Yeah.. I booted and rebooted a couple of times in safe mode and I think I got rid of the driver.. What I can't understand is where is the file coming back from?? I searched and could not find it anywhere.
I love the non realtime nature of this forum (NOT!!).. I also love that some posts are not posted... fun...
Well, booting into safe mode allowed me to remove the driver ac97intl.sys and it was still gone after a reboot..
I followed the rest of the instructions (had the exclaimation mark) but when I updated the new driver (down loaded one), I DID NOT get the second prompt for the windows disk... Ugh, this is getting old...
I am done.. What a waste of time.. Here is what I did..
I deleted (in safe mode) all copies of driver and rebooted. I reinstalled parallels tools and when I did the update driver, I did get the prompt for the second file this time.. Guess what?? It still doesn't work...
When I look at properties, I still see the 2001 date on the driver... Ugh.. I am done for now..
Thanks for the two people above who responded to me..
I think I may know what the problem is, but you're not going to like it...
The "driver" folder which I attached in my first post is an extremely pared down version of the fix provided elsewhere on this forum by JasonBee. It has only the three files I found necessary to install the driver on my machine. However, the original poster suggested collating a folder which includes all of the following files:
It may be that including every one of these files is the key to making this fix compatible with all versions of XP. The ones I have already given you are the first, and the last two. All the ones in the middle you will have to locate yourself for the moment. I may include them in future updates but alas, I'm a college student and have very little time. :P
Thanks for the idea folks, I'm having the same sort of issue - only I get scrambled audio. I've tried a number of different fixes on different sites and either the drivers crash the virtual machine, or they give me scrambled audio. I can make out the XP system sounds (just barely), but music and what not are completely un-listenable.
My question is about the removal of previous drivers - what file names do I look for.?
Originally, my audio device would show up with an exclamation mark next to "multimedia audio controller"...I deleted two files that I recognized from my previous installations of drivers, and then ran the fix. Now the device shows up as "Microsoft WINMM WDM Audio Compatibility Driver" - with the same exclamation point next to it.
Getting pretty frustrated, but I need to get this working! Please help!