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I have Ubuntu Server 14.04 with Xfce desktop on top of it and I want it also to play music with VLC. However, no sound is coming out. There's also no sound from other media players I installed for testing. What I want is not streaming, but for the sound to come from the server box's speakers.

I believe I have ruled out hardware breakage, my guess is I haven't got the proper packages installed, although Xfce did come with a sound server installation.

I'm not new to Linux and Ubuntu, but I don't know the first thing about audio configuration and how to test it, I've only run desktop distros so far with audio all set up and ready. Can somebody give me some pointers on:

a) What packages need to be installed for VLC to be able to play sound?

b) What checks can I run if all the packages are there and I still don't get audio?

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Note: not a duplicate of this: askubuntu.com/questions/184449/play-music-from-server I don't want to stream, and I don't want to use mpd, but VLC only. – Bennypr0fane Feb 7 '15 at 13:47
up vote 2 down vote accepted

Solved!

Taken on 2015-02-08, at 22:09:03

In the Configuration menu in Pavucontrol, Analog stereo input was selected.

When I chose Analog stereo duplex, the system audio out was activated and I got sound!

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up vote 0 down vote

Test this:

Open a terminal,

Press Ctrl+Alt+T

Run it:

sudo -i
apt-get update
apt-get install --reinstall alsa lame vlc 
adduser <username> audio
reboot

Open a terminal,

Press Ctrl+Alt+T

Run it:

sudo -i
alsamixer

Adjust the volume of your system, and unmute the master control.

enter image description here

Now You can play music in terminal with vlc:

vlc -I ncurses /path/to/filename.mp3

or

vlc -I ncurses /path/to/music_folder
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Thanks, unfortunately I'm still not getting sound. I can see that it is playing in the VLC command line (progress bar moving), and in Pavucontrol, the volume meter moves in the rhythm of the music. Here are screenshots from Alsamixer and pavucontrol: <a href="zimagez.com/zimage/screenshot-2015-02-07-212331.php&qu‌​ot; target="_blank" title="Taken on 2015-02-07, at 21:23:31"><img src="zimagez.com/miniature/screenshot-2015-02-07-212331.png&‌​quot; alt="Taken on 2015-02-07, at 21:23:31" /></a> – Bennypr0fane Feb 7 '15 at 20:25
    
!Alsamixer !Pavucontrol1 !Pavucontrol2 – Bennypr0fane Feb 7 '15 at 20:32
    
You will know that the master control is muted if there is MM. To unmute, just press on the M key of the keyboard. – kyodake Feb 7 '15 at 22:49

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