Qubes 4.2.4 no sound sent to external speakers

User Support General
1

**Problem: No sound on Qubes OS 4.2.4

Hi everyone.

This is the first time I have EVER posted online to ANY platform so please forgive if I am breaking any user protocols and I would welcome any directions to correct if needed.

Background. I have a self-built desktop PC designed to be my ‘daily driver’ for the next number of years and to be powerful enough to run Qubes OS (details below). The machine runs flawlessly. I have two identical SSDs installed, one loaded with Linux Mint 22.1 (LM) which I continue to use daily in the meantime or alternatively I can boot into the second SSD loaded with Qubes OS, which I am still familiarising myself with. When running LM, the sound routes through the bundled Pipewire service and works perfectly with the output to external speakers. Using this same hardware, switching to Qubes OS also apparently running the Pipewire service produces no sound although everything else seems to work as expected. I have tried playing music/videos from different qubes as well as playing Youtube videos in the Firefox browser using both the Fedora and the Debian templates but although videos play, there is no sound. Clearly my speakers from the line-out connection is functional since it works in LM and the display within the sound settings when running Qubes OS show volume bars pumping in time to sound from my videos etc. when they are played but it seems there is a connection missing between the two. Finally, I note in my Qubes OS, there is no ‘Speakers USB Audio’ entry in ‘devices’ under the ‘Output’ tab but this is present and selected when I’m in LM. Herein lies the problem I think.

I am a fairly experienced Linux user but no expert in computers. I can use the terminal for basic functions but my knowledge extends no further. I have tried everything within my limited knowledge and spent many days researching to fix this but I am now completely stuck. I don’t know how to do relevant diagnostics and interpret results – but I’m good at following instructions! Can someone help please. Thank you.

Hardware specifications

Motherboard Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro DDR4

CPU Intel Core i5 14500 24M

DRAM 32GB 3600MHz (CL16)

Storage (x2) Samsung 990 PRO PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2

Software

BIOS F28

Default with three changes

  1. Secure Boot – disabled

  2. DRAM set to ‘Profile 1’

  3. Virtualisation – enabled

Qubes OS version 4.2.4

Kernel – tried both version options available with install, then upgraded to current version 6.15.10-1 all with identical performance but no sound

Thank you again to anyone who can help.

2

USB is in separate VM - sys-usb. You need to attach usb audio device to your sound server VM (default dom0)

3

Thank you kindly for your suggestion. I have indeed been reading where other people solve their audio problems with a sys-audio VM. Before I go down that road, I need clarification. Although my Linux Mint OS (on the same computer) says ‘Speakers USB Audio’ under ‘Devices’ in the audio Output tab of Sound Settings, my speakers are plugged int the ‘Line out’ port on the back of the PC, there is no USB connection involved so I don’t understand why USB is even mentioned. Surely this similarly applies to my Qubes OS system. Why should I need to start building new VMs to get sound? Videos play by running the OS ‘straight out of the box’ then why isn’t the sound there as well? I still think a basic piece of software/codec or something is missing.

4

Check what audio device you have by issuing command in dom0 terminal:

lspci
5

Hi again, sorry for delay.
Checking in dom0, I see that I have no pulseaudio installed. I have the default pipewire service and says it is running. I should like to try the sys-audio approach now. I can’t find any official install instructions and forums give various opinions, many of them outdated. Can you tell me how to proceed please. I suspect I create a new qube, calling it ‘sys-audio’? I then download a package? I now get confused. Do I download into dom0, my new sys-audio qube or my default (Fedora) template (or specific VM’s where I want/need sound)? Thanks again for your patience.

6

I’ve used this guide:

I’ve set listed policies, not from salt.
This is for r4.2

For r4.3 there are some changes in policies that are listed near the end of thread.

7

Hi. A more relevant reply to your previous question now that I’ve worked out how to cut/paste from domo,
My audio device
lspci
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S HD Audio Controller (rev 11)

and the audio service running is
[ci@dom0 Desktop]$ systemctl --user status pipewire
● pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia Service
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service; enabled; preset: enable>
Active: active (running) since Thu 2025-11-20 14:05:22 PST; 13min ago
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire.socket
Main PID: 4549 (pipewire)
Tasks: 3 (limit: 4621)
Memory: 12.7M
CPU: 229ms
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire.se>
└─4549 /usr/bin/pipewire

Nov 20 14:05:22 dom0 systemd[4541]: Started pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia S>
lines 1-12/12 (END)

Hoping that’s relevant info.
I’l now have a look at your latest advice and see how far I get. Many thanks

8

It should work in dom0 with no problem.
Since it’s PCI device and don’t work in dom0 attaching it to sys-audio won’t resolve your problem.

lsmod | grep -i audio

or

lsmod | grep -i intel

and look for drivers for intel audio.

PS: there is pulse audio command to see to look for running devices but I’m away from home and can’t check it (don’t remember now).
Anyone can help?