iTunes on PC with no soundcard

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Level 2

380 points

iTunes on PC with no soundcard

I'm setting up a headless server with Windows Home Server 2011. I want to use iTunes with 3 Airplay devices and the remote app on an iPad. Everything works OK, once iTunes is up and running.

The problem is, the server doesn't have a soundcard, and iTunes pops up a message to tell me so every time I start it. iTunes is in the startup folder, but the message prevents iTunes from running. I have to log on and OK the message, which is a pain on a headless server. Power cuts are pretty frequent, and I don't want to have to manually OK this message every couple of weeks.

Is there any way around this, short of fitting a sound card?

Posted on Jan 20, 2012 6:39 PM

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Answer 1

Katrina S.

Level 7

24,131 points

Jan 20, 2012 6:45 PM in response to clockworks

Did you see this thread from 2 years ago?

No idea if it works, since I'm not running itunes on a server. But the "virtual audio cable" part sounds reasonable - assuming it fakes having a sound card installed in a system to get past these types of errors.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2618614?start=0&tstart=0

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Answer 2

clockworks Author

Level 2

380 points

Jan 20, 2012 6:53 PM in response to Katrina S.

Yes, I saw that when I was googling for an answer to my problem. Looks a bit too complicated for my liking, plus I'm using a 64bit OS, so it's a different iTunes package. Might still work, but I'd rather not risk messing with the registry unless it's a guaranteed fix.

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Answer 3

Katrina S.

Level 7

24,131 points

Jan 21, 2012 6:39 AM in response to clockworks

I think you're out of luck then. BTW, I am not sure the 32-bit vs 64-bit is even an issue. itunes itself is still a 32-bit program. The 64-bit installer simply installs 64-bit drivers (for CD burning, ipod service, a few others).,

I suspect the itunes program is checking some registry key(s) to make sure a sound card is available. Since Apple is not going to say what registry key that is, it seems to me you have 4 choices:

1) install a sound card (if the server will even allow this - some don't)

2) install sound card emulator software

3) install Process Monitor http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645and spend hours figuring out what registry key it is, and changing it to satisfy itunes

4) put up with OKing the message

You can give feedback to apple here

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

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Answer 4

clockworks Author

Level 2

380 points

Jan 21, 2012 6:49 AM in response to Katrina S.

I think you are right. I've seen plenty of posts on various forums from people who have similar problems, and no easy solution.

Option 1 is undoubtedly the easiest. In fact, I ordered a cheap USB "sound card" from eBay this morning. It's supposed to work with Win7 and Vista, so I hope it'll work with WHS2011.

I would've gone for an internal sound card, but the server only has PCI-e slots, and I couldn't find a cheap card to fit.

I'd not heard of "sound card emulator" software before - I'll look into that.

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Answer 5

Katrina S.

Level 7

24,131 points

Jan 21, 2012 7:14 AM in response to clockworks

The emulator software is mentioned in that old thread I linked to - the "virtual audio cable" program that clanders mentioned in the last post. there might be other companies that have similar.

If you're going that way,I would definitely go into windows services on your server and set the ipod service to not have a dependency on RPC.

Best of luck, and thanks for the points!

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Answer 6

clockworks Author

Level 2

380 points

Jan 21, 2012 7:18 AM in response to Katrina S.

I found an emulator called vcard. Unfortunately it won't run on WHS2011. Fingers crossed that the USB device will work.

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Answer 7

clockworks Author

Level 2

380 points

Jan 21, 2012 7:29 AM in response to Katrina S.

Do you mean set the iPod service to start automatically? At present, it's set to manual, with dependancy on RPC. All this is a bit above my level, but I guess that means it's started when called by another program?

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