Is there a fast way to 'reset' sys-audio?

User Support General
1

So I have sys-audio set up and it works reasonably well. Every now and then tho some AppVM ‘loses connection’ to sys-audio: Audio from said AppVM doesn’t play anymore and the AppVM name disappears from pavucontrol’s playback list.

Restarting the AppVM and sys-audio fixes the situation, but this is a pain in the butt especially in circumstances such as:

  • dispVMs/Incognito browser tabs which will be lost after restart;
  • during a (video)call, where a fast fix should be needed.

In general, is there some script/systemd magic that I can set in place so that I can get back audio capabilities without having to restart VMs?

1 Like
2

systemctl --user restart pipewire might work. At least for me it does in dom0, maybe it’s the same in a dedicated AudioVM. (After running the command, I often also have to restart the audio player software in the AppVM and/or replug my headphones.)

3

What are you using as template? minimal? classic? fedora? debian?..

4

First of all, to reproduce this:

  • Shutdown an appVM
  • Restart said appVM
  • Enjoy no audio on said appVM lol.

I just tried @rustybird suggestion. Running systemctl --user restart pipewire in the ‘muted’ appVM changes nothing. Same in dom0. Running it in the audio-vm has the following effect:

  • Muted appVM stays muted.
  • The other appVMs where audio worked keep working.
  • If I run the command while pavucontrol is open, ‘system sounds’ is duplicated. The effect disappears if I close/reopen pavucontrol.

Template is fedora, for everything.

To me this feels like a problem at the level of intercommunication between qubes, not an pipewire ‘internal’ problem…

5

and you never try de reconfigure a new template and retry?
I’ve trying my sys-audio with debian-minimal and fedora-minimal and all of them are ok :confused:

6

Well I followed some guide around to set it up (I guess this? Proper guide on how to use sys-audio (AudioVM) must be created - #4 by BEBF738VD ) but information about this is terrible… basically there is no authoritative source on how to do this properly. I don’t know, may I have effed up some qubes policy files?

In any case:

  • giving qvm-start-daemon appVM name in dom0 results in audio connected to audio-vm. Skipping.
  • giving it in audio-vm works the first time (appVM: Starting AUDIO ), but nothing changes and the appVM stays muted. It also does not appear on pavucontrol. Giving the command again results in: appVM: AUDIO process exists. Skipping.
7

Not this? :

i always use it for all audio Vms i had making and it always work (i did it on 3 laptops)

8

Updated the qubes policy file to reflect the one in the guide. It was very similar to mine. I also restarted Qubes and nothing changes. If I turn off any appVM and then on again it’s muted.

9

There’s another weird thing going on (not new on my system unfortunately). Every time I turn off/kill sys-audio it starts again immediately. This makes it impossible for me to change sys-audio template.

10

try to uncheck to start on boot and then reboot your pc.

11

No change.