I'm running Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 64-bit in a virtual machine. I have a very odd issue with media playback. audio playback doesn't work from an app. the test sounds in "Sound" settings don't work -- but only after i try to play a file! what's also perplexing is that any media playback through my web browser -- Google Chrome -- works!
Recording audio works through my USB microphone.
A hint of where to start would be great :) thanks!
update
i have followed the advice at: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProcedure
after running:
killall pulseaudio; rm -r ~/.config/pulse/* ; rm -r ~/.pulse*
and restarting, i went immediately to "Test Sounds" and woolah -- the sound works.
however, opening any media playback app -- Rhythmbox, Audacity, Movie Player, etc. -- results in some sort of bug immediately after playback. In Audacity, for example, this manifests as a brief movement across 1-2 seconds worth of waveform, and a "freezing" of the playback... other programs also simply 'freeze', and no sound ever emits from the speaker.
additionally, if i return to the "test sound" after trying to play a WAV or MP3 in a media playback app, the test sound buttons no longer work. funnily, audio from Chrome is still possible!
i also tried: sudo apt-get update;sudo apt-get dist-upgrade; sudo apt-get install pavucontrol linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-utils lightdm ubuntu-desktop linux-image-
uname -rlibasound2; sudo apt-get -y --reinstall install linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-utils lightdm ubuntu-desktop linux-image-
uname -rlibasound2; killall pulseaudio; rm -r ~/.pulse*; ubuntu-support-status; sudo usermod -aG
cat /etc/group | grep -e '^pulse:' -e '^audio:' -e '^pulse-access:' -e '^pulse-rt:' -e '^video:' | awk -F: '{print $1}' | tr '\n' ',' | sed 's:,$::g'whoami`` to no avail (it didn't work, same problem exists)