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Troubleshooting sound in Windows applications

Select the section that best matches the problem:

No sound plays at all

If no sound is playing at all in the Windows Terminal Services session, use the following checklist to resolve the problem:

Things to check Description
Can the Secure Global Desktop client play sound? Only the following clients can play sound:
  • the Sun Secure Global Desktop Client running on Windows 2000/XP Professional, Linux, Solaris Sunrays or Mac OS X;
  • the Native Client for Linux;
  • the Native Client for UNIX running on Solaris;
  • the Native Client for Mac OS X.
Does the client have an audio device? To be able to play sound, the client must have an audio device. If the client has a device, check that it works.

On UNIX/Linux client platforms, the user must also have read and write access to the /dev/audio device.

Note On Solaris, if the AUDIODEV environment variable has been set to a different device, the Sun Secure Global Desktop Native Client tries to use this device before trying the /dev/audio device.
Has the audio service been enabled on the Secure Global Desktop server? By default, the audio service is disabled for a Secure Global Desktop array. Check that the audio service has been enabled on the Array properties panel in Array Manager.
Has the sound quality been changed? By default, Secure Global Desktop uses Medium Quality Audio. Changing the sound quality to Low Quality Audio or High Quality Audio limits the audio formats used in the Terminal Services session and may mean that the client can't play sound.

Reset the sound quality to Medium Quality Audio on the Array properties panel in Array Manager.
Is the application running on a Windows 2003 server? You can only play sound in Windows 2003 Terminal Services sessions.
Has sound been enabled on the Windows 2003 server? By default, sound is disabled for Windows Terminal Services sessions. See the instructions for enabling sound.

Sound is muffled or distorted

If sound is muffled or distorted, adjust the audio quality and compression settings to see if this improves the sound.

You adjust:

Note The net gain of compressing audio data, which is pre-compressed, may be limited.

Not all users require sound

If you enable sound on the Windows 2003 application server and enable the Secure Global Desktop audio service, all users will be able to play sound in their Windows Terminal Services session. However, playing sound increases the amount of network bandwidth used and so you may want to restrict its use. Currently, the only way to do this is to disable sound for groups of users on the Windows 2003 server. To do this:

  1. Either:
  2. Select the group policy object you want to edit.
  3. Click Computer configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Terminal Services, Client Server Data Redirection.
  4. Open Allow audio redirection.
  5. Click Disabled.
  6. Click OK.

Changes to this setting only apply to new Windows Terminal Server sessions.

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