VirtualBox Guest Audio Not Working – 5 Step Fix

You open a video inside your Windows 10 guest on VirtualBox. The picture is fine. But there is zero sound. You check the speaker icon in the taskbar – it shows audio is playing but you hear nothing. Or maybe you hear a crackling sound that cuts out after a second. This often happens right after you update your host operating system (like from Windows 10 to Windows 11, or a big Linux kernel update). You didn't change any VirtualBox settings, but suddenly the guest audio is dead.

The root cause is usually one of two things. First, the VirtualBox extension pack got removed or updated incorrectly during the host OS upgrade. Second, the audio driver setting inside the guest doesn't match what the new host audio system expects. VirtualBox mimics host audio using a backend – like Windows DirectSound, Linux PulseAudio, or ALSA. If your host switched from PulseAudio to PipeWire (common in recent Ubuntu and Fedora updates), the old driver setting won't work.

Let's fix it. These steps work for VirtualBox 6.x and 7.x, for both Windows and Linux hosts. I'll tell you what to expect at each step.

Fix 1: Install or Reinstall the VirtualBox Extension Pack

Open VirtualBox on your host machine. Do not start the guest yet.
Go to File > Preferences (or VirtualBox > Preferences on macOS).
Click Extensions in the left panel. You'll see a list of installed extension packs.
If you see an entry here – for example,
```
Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
Version 7.0.12r159484
```
– and it says Enabled, that's good. But if it's missing, or if the version number doesn't match your VirtualBox version, you need to fix it.
Download the correct extension pack from the official VirtualBox website. Make sure you pick the exact version that matches your VirtualBox installation. For VirtualBox 7.0.12, get extension pack 7.0.12. Mixing versions will break audio.
Back in Preferences > Extensions, click the small folder icon (or use the button that says Add a new package).
Browse to the downloaded .vbox-extpack file and open it.
You'll see a license agreement. Scroll down and click I Agree. After that, you should see a green bar showing installation progress. When done, the extension pack appears in the list with a green checkmark.
Close Preferences.

After this step, restart your guest. If the audio starts working, you're done. If not, move to Fix 2.

Fix 2: Change the Audio Controller in Guest Settings

With the guest powered off (not saved state), right-click the guest in the VirtualBox main window and select Settings.
Go to Audio on the left side.
Look at the Audio Controller dropdown. By default, VirtualBox sets it to ICH AC97 or Intel HD Audio.
Try switching to the other option. For example, if it's on ICH AC97, change to Intel HD Audio. If it's already on Intel HD Audio, change to ICH AC97.
Click OK to save the change.
Start the guest. After the guest boots, test a sound. If you still hear nothing, go back to step 1 and try the remaining controller option.

I've seen this fix work for Windows 10 guests that showed audio devices in Device Manager but still had no sound. Switching from Intel HD Audio to ICH AC97 did it for me.

Fix 3: Change the Host Audio Driver Backend

This one is especially for Linux hosts that upgraded to PipeWire.

In the guest settings (guest powered off), go to Audio again.
Find the Host Audio Driver dropdown. It shows options like Default, Windows DirectSound, PulseAudio, ALSA, and OSS.
If your host uses PipeWire (Ubuntu 22.04+, Fedora 34+, or any newer distro), select PulseAudio even if you think you're using PipeWire. PipeWire talks to PulseAudio apps just fine.
If that doesn't work, try ALSA instead.
Click OK and start the guest. Test the audio.

I had a user with Ubuntu 22.04 host where the audio died after a kernel update. Switching from Default to PulseAudio fixed it immediately.

Fix 4: Update Guest Additions in the Guest OS

Boot your guest and log in.
In the VirtualBox menu at the top of the guest window, go to Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD image...
If you're on a Windows guest, an installer should autoplay. If not, open File Explorer, find the CD drive (usually D:), and double-click VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe.
If you're on a Linux guest, open a terminal and run:
```
sudo mount /dev/cdrom /mnt
cd /mnt
sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
```
Follow any prompts. The installer might ask to rebuild kernel modules – say yes.
Reboot the guest after installation finishes.

Guest Additions include better audio drivers. I've seen cases where an older Guest Additions version didn't support the new host audio stack. Updating it fixed the sound.

Fix 5: Check Guest Audio Device in Device Manager (Windows Guests)

Inside the Windows guest, right-click the Start button and select Device Manager.
Expand Sound, video and game controllers.
Look for something like VirtualBox Audio or High Definition Audio Device. If you see a yellow exclamation mark, right-click it and select Update driver > Search automatically for drivers.
If Windows says the best driver is already installed, try right-clicking the device and selecting Uninstall device. Check the box that says Delete the driver software for this device. Then restart the guest. Windows will reinstall the driver automatically.

I once had a Windows 10 guest where the audio device showed up as "Unknown device" with a yellow flag. Uninstalling it and rebooting brought back the sound.

What to Check If It Still Doesn't Work

If you've tried all five fixes and the guest still has no audio, here are a few more things to check:

Host audio works? Make sure your host machine actually can play sound from other applications. If your host also has no audio, the problem isn't VirtualBox – it's your host audio hardware or drivers.
Guest audio is not muted. Inside the guest, open the sound mixer and check that the volume is turned up and nothing is muted. It sounds silly, but I've caught myself doing this.
Try a different guest OS. Create a quick Linux live USB guest (like Ubuntu) and see if audio works there. If it does, the issue is specific to your original guest OS configuration, not VirtualBox itself.
Reinstall VirtualBox completely. Sometimes the host audio libraries get corrupted. Uninstall VirtualBox, reboot your host, then install the latest version from scratch. Don't use the package manager version from your distro – get it from the official site.

Audio problems in VirtualBox are frustrating, but they're almost always fixable with one of these steps. Stick with it – you'll get the sound back.