Problem playing audio files in Word (.docx) on Mac OS

I get this error when I just tried again

The virtual machine 'Ubuntu' has terminated unexpectedly during startup with exit code 1 (0x1).

Result Code:

NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)

Component:

MachineWrap

Interface:

IMachine {85632c68-b5bb-4316-a900-5eb28d3413df}

And this error

and

You must specify a machine to start, using the command line.

Usage: VirtualBoxVM --startvm <name|UUID>Starts the VirtualBox virtual machine with the given name or unique identifier (UUID).

lllaass wrote:

I could not install Ubuntu with Virtual box. Even looked it up with Google and some other users had same problem with Monterey.

Don't know what to tell you. Screen shot of Linux Mint 20.3 (Ubuntu) running in VirtualBox 6.1.30 on a Late 2015 5k iMac.

The link gives me the error:

The file you requested has been deleted

Upload a file to share, or find out more about file sharing with file.io

Whatr app are you using to try the audio file on our Mac?

Do you know on what platform the document was prepared?

Can you determine extension of the audio file?

Better yet would be to provide a screenshot of what Get Info shows about the audio file.

You said "This Word file works well on the Windows operating system. "

you mean the audio file plays

On what specific Window platform using what specific app?

Microsoft Word and Windows are written to be heliocentric and assume that documents created there are only viewed by other Word users on Windows. That's why these referenced media objects play on Windows because the application/operating system interface is designed to just handle it.

MS Word on macOS very likely is written differently with respect to referenced media objects due to macOS, and the security between the operating system, the application, and the filesystem. Are you using Word 16.55 on Monterey?

Pages is not a Word clone, and media only plays in an original Pages document itself, not Word documents opened, and translated into Pages internal (.pages) document format.

If you want cross-platform documents with consistently playable embedded media, then convert them to PDF and use Adobe Acrobat Pro DC to embed (or possibly reference) that media in the PDF. Apple's Preview cannot do this as it is a PDF reader.

I think you are out of luck. On my Mac they do not play in Libreoffice nor MS Word on the Web. They do play on my Win 11 PC in Libreoffice.

It does play on my Ubuntu w/LibreOffice

I tried Virtualbox w/Ubuntu but VirtualBox does not work in Monterey.

I am now installing Ubuntu in VMware Fusion free personal licence. I will let you know

The only definitive thing I could find was from 2012. It said it can't be done.

Best option would be to host the audio clips on a web server and hyperlink to the audio files in the document.

Or, convert it to a PDF. I don't know if the Windows version of Word can embed the audio into a PDF, so you may have to use Acrobat to make the file.

When I try to create a document with audio files on my Mac, it seems to just link and I don't see a way to embed the file. There might be a way, but I didn't see it on the Insert Media button. The file size with two 5MB audio clips inserted was only 21K, so they aren't being embedded.

Apple engineers are not attempting to create a Windows clone named macOS so MS Office applications work as they do on Windows. If you want media in that Word-generated PDF, then you will need to purposely use Adobe Acrobat Pro DC to individually add that media to the PDF.

I could not install Ubuntu with Virtual box. Even looked it up with Google and some other users had same problem with Monterey.

I did get the ame Ubuntu ISO to install wirth the free personal VMware Fusion player. Unlike with MOnterey I could get the audio file to attempt to open in the VLC player, but got this error

VLC is unable to open the MRL 'file:///run/user/1000/snap.libreoffice/lu3358fub69r.tmp/lu3358fub6lm.tmp'.

When I did the same with a real Ubuntu OS it played the file the but the name was only /lu3358fub69r.tmp, without the additional temp file name appended to it.

In Monterey double clicking on the mp3 resulted in nothing hapenning.

Why is Apple so weak in this area? Apple engineers have no solution to this problem :(

Apple didn't write Word.

Could have made an alternative and better product :)

They did. It's called Pages. I only use Word when I have to for work. I generally create documents in Pages and export to Word for work.

lllaass wrote:

I tried Virtualbox w/Ubuntu but VirtualBox does not work in Monterey.

Just a minor correction. VirtualBox does run in Monterey. It doesn't run on M1s.