Enabling sound over RDP with a Windows Server 2003 virtual machine

Virtual Server does not provide sound support out of the box - and in the past I have commented that it is possible to get sound out of a virtual machine if you connect to it via RDP and enable sound remoting under the advanced options of the Remote Desktop client. However - sound remoting is not enabled by default. In order to do this you will need to go into the Windows Server 2003 virtual machine and:

  1. Go into the 'Services' section (under Admin tools, under Control Panel)
  2. Change the 'Windows Audio service' from 'Disabled' to 'Automatic' - and start it
  3. Go to the 'Terminal Services Configuration' section (under Admin tools, under Control Panel)
  4. Double click on 'RDP-TCP'
  5. Select the 'Client Settings' tab
  6. Clear the 'Audio Mapping' check box

You should now be able to RDP into the virtual machine and hear sound. (thanks to Brandon Tyler for pointing this out to me).

Cheers,
Ben