# Missing audio in libvirt/qemu/virt-manager VM, suspect missing audio driver

**URL:** <https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991>\
**Category:** Guix\
**Created:** [May 4, 2026, 12:08pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991 "2026-05-04T12:08:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Folaht](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/folaht/32/1145_2.png) [@Folaht](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/Folaht)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 12:08pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/1 "2026-05-04T12:08:26Z")

</div>

I sometimes play around with distros, but I’m missing audio.  
And I noticed that for arch, they have a qemu-audio-pipewire plugin and I can’t seem to find in the guix package repository. Nor can I find the audio-pipewire.so library in the guix qemu package.

Is that why I have no audio?

If so, is there a quick way to fix this issue?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aionfork](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/aionfork/32/1243_2.png) [@aionfork](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/aionfork)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 12:26pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/2 "2026-05-04T12:26:51Z")

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clone the guix source and grep for that string

```auto
git clone https://codeberg.org/guix/guix && cd guix
grep -re '\bqemu.*pipewire\b' gnu/packages # or something like that

```

guix search also accepts quoted regexp. once you find the package name, use `guix edit $pkgname`

… or are you already searching in the source?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aionfork](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/aionfork/32/1243_2.png) [@aionfork](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/aionfork)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 12:45pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/3 "2026-05-04T12:45:26Z")

</div>

It looks like arch has something of a metapackage for qemu (see qemu-desktop in the [PKGBUILD](https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/packaging/packages/qemu/-/blob/main/PKGBUILD?ref_type=heads#L1235-1253) if you want).

it looks like that metapackage passes the options needed to build in `build()`. at some point, the `_pick()` function extracts the artifacts and packs them into individual packages… jeez whoever wrote `_pick()` really didn’t want anyone to understand it lol. it’s terse.

you may need to write something like:

```scheme
(define qemu-with-pipewire
 (package
  (inherit qemu)
  (name "qemu-with-pipewire")
  ;; ...
))

```

- Then slightly change the package’s inputs
- add one or two build flags
- ensure that any other files needed are also in their correct place.

However, that’s not a fantastic first package if you haven’t written one before. Iterating on that will take a long time, then you can only know it works by replacing the instance on your system. It’s slightly less burdonsome maybe if it’s in a VM … but not much easier.

Try modifying build flags and inputs for something that already exists or building a package that doesn’t. Definitely refer to “The perfect setup” section in the manual.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Folaht](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/folaht/32/1145_2.png) [@Folaht](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/Folaht)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2026, 4:49pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/4 "2026-05-07T16:49:30Z")

</div>

> … or are you already searching in the source?

No. I’m looking at this as too much work for now.  
Stuff like this takes me a long time and I have yet to create my first package.

VM with audio is not my first priority if it becomes a small project in my list of small projects.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![juipeltje](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/juipeltje/32/1178_2.png) [@juipeltje](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/juipeltje)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2026, 2:18pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/5 "2026-05-08T14:18:45Z")

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I had the same issue. Try installing the `gst-plugins-good` package, that fixed the issue for me.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aionfork](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/aionfork/32/1243_2.png) [@aionfork](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/aionfork)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2026, 11:44pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/6 "2026-05-09T23:44:00Z")

</div>

You will eventually need to write packages, especially if you’re using Guix as a daily driver. Fortunately, it’s much easier than on other distros.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Folaht](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/folaht/32/1145_2.png) [@Folaht](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/Folaht)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2026, 12:05am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/7 "2026-05-11T00:05:19Z")

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That didn’t work for me.  
Does one have to reboot the host for it to work?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![juipeltje](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/juipeltje/32/1178_2.png) [@juipeltje](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/juipeltje)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2026, 2:30pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/8 "2026-05-11T14:30:17Z")

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hmm, i don’t remember rebooting. Did you install it in your user profile or system-wide in your configuration? Cause i installed it system-wide, maybe that makes a difference.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Folaht](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/folaht/32/1145_2.png) [@Folaht](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/Folaht)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 7:28pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/9 "2026-05-12T19:28:56Z")

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User profile, but I tried system-wide and that doesn’t seem to work either.  
I added gst-plugins-base as well to no avail. I have noticed that virt-manager has issues with failing to load gstreamer plugins.

````shell
(.virt-manager-real:15921): GSpice-WARNING **: 21:23:07.102: Failed to create pipeline: pas d’élément « appsrc »
/gnu/store/h0raiynr5liyf8ri2sxkk9mpkdyrvdv8-python-pygobject-3.50.0/lib/python3.11/site-packages/gi/overrides/Gio.py:42: Warning: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
  return Gio.Application.run(self, *args, **kwargs)
/gnu/store/h0raiynr5liyf8ri2sxkk9mpkdyrvdv8-python-pygobject-3.50.0/lib/python3.11/site-packages/gi/overrides/Gio.py:42: Warning: g_object_get: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
  return Gio.Application.run(self, *args, **kwargs)
/gnu/store/h0raiynr5liyf8ri2sxkk9mpkdyrvdv8-python-pygobject-3.50.0/lib/python3.11/site-packages/gi/overrides/Gio.py:42: Warning: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
  return Gio.Application.run(self, *args, **kwargs)

(.virt-manager-real:15921): GSpice-WARNING **: 21:23:07.103: Failed to create pipeline: pas d’élément « autoaudiosrc »```

````

What else have you installed system-wide that might be used by virt-manager?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![juipeltje](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/juipeltje/32/1178_2.png) [@juipeltje](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/juipeltje)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 8:32pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/10 "2026-05-12T20:32:55Z")

</div>

Hmm, that’s strange. I don’t remember the exact error i encountered, but it does look similar to what i had. Aside from `gst-plugins-good`, the only other audio-related package in my system config is `alsa-utils`, but i don’t think that would do anything. I suppose it’s worth a try though.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Folaht](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/folaht/32/1145_2.png) [@Folaht](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/Folaht)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2026, 12:18am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/11 "2026-05-13T00:18:08Z")

</div>

That didn’t work either.

What about virt-manager itself? Do you have that installed system-wide?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![juipeltje](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/juipeltje/32/1178_2.png) [@juipeltje](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/juipeltje)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 2:23pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/12 "2026-05-14T14:23:03Z")

</div>

yes, `virt-manager` is also installed system-wide (do you also have the libvirt-service-type in your config btw?)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Folaht](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/folaht/32/1145_2.png) [@Folaht](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/Folaht)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2026, 8:43am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/13 "2026-05-15T08:43:04Z")

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I see. I didn’t feel the need for virt-manager to be available system-wide. I guess I’ll try that out. For libvirt-service type, I have this in my _/etc/config.scm_

```scheme
(use-service-modules ...
  virtualization)
...
(operating-system
...
  (packages (append (specifications->package '(... 
"alsa-utils"
"gst-plugins-base" 
"gst-plugins-good" 
"virt-manager")) %base-packages))
... 
  (service libvirt-service-type
     (libvirt-configuration (tls-port "16514")
       (unix-sock-group "libvirt")
       (unix-sock-rw-perms "0770")))
  (service virtlog-service-type                     
    (virtlog-configuration (max-clients 1000)))
 ...        

```

Even with “virt-manager” added, it’s still not working, although I haven’t rebooted yet.

Maybe I need to restart the libvirt service.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![juipeltje](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/juipeltje/32/1178_2.png) [@juipeltje](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/juipeltje)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2026, 2:33pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/14 "2026-05-15T14:33:30Z")

</div>

have you specifically tried `gst-plugins-good` instead of `gst-plugins-base`? Other than that i wouldn’t know anymore what the problem could be. For what it’s worth though, the `gst-plugins-good` fix that worked for me was something i found in an archlinux post on reddit, so it could be worth looking for more generic topics about the issue and seeing if you can apply that to Guix.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Folaht](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/folaht/32/1145_2.png) [@Folaht](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/Folaht)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2026, 10:55pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/15 "2026-05-15T22:55:12Z")

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> have you specifically tried `gst-plugins-good` instead of `gst-plugins-base`?

I have now and it did not work. I was using both before instead of only `gst-plugins-base`. I made a typo in my previous comment.

Which sound device do you use?

> it could be worth looking for more generic topics about the issue and seeing if you can apply that to Guix.

That’s what I opened this thread with, although I did not mention that part. I saw topics where the qemu-audio-pipewire plugin was not configured or installed and then noticed that it’s completely missing in guix.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![juipeltje](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/juipeltje/32/1178_2.png) [@juipeltje](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/juipeltje)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 2:41pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/16 "2026-05-17T14:41:08Z")

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I’m using HDA (ICH9) as my sound device. I just booted up my vm to see if it’s still working and audio still works. At this point the only thing i can think of is that i have `(service home-pipewire-service-type)` in my guix home config. Other than that i don’t think i did anything special when it comes to audio configuration.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Folaht](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/folaht/32/1145_2.png) [@Folaht](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/Folaht)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2026, 5:16am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/17 "2026-05-18T05:16:11Z")

</div>

When I try to add that service, I get this error:

```shell
$ guix home container ./home-configuration.scm
guix home: error: service 'pipewire' requires 'dbus', which is not provided by any service

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aionfork](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/aionfork/32/1243_2.png) [@aionfork](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/aionfork)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2026, 8:28am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/18 "2026-05-18T08:28:10Z")

</div>

If your VM mostly builds on `%desktop-services`, then it has `pulseaudio-service`. you can check for that by using `herd status`. Does this VM also have XFCE and X11?

IIRC, this needs to be removed before adding the `pipewire` and `pipewire-pulse` packages along with some way to start `pipewire` as a service under your user.

### D-Bus

This is semi-related, but just in case… You definitely need d-bus session for the user. The `guix home` command there is complaining that `pipewire` doesn’t isn’t accompanied by a dbus session that’s defined in a service via `guix home`.

You probably already have a user d-bus session. `qdbusviewer` below can help you sort that out. Then just figure out what’s starting `dbus` for your user. it’s different depending on how X11 gets started.

For d-bus, `guix home container ./home-configuration.scm` command needs to `--share` a socket file. Otherwise things outside the container can’t talk to the d-bus inside the container – though I don’t even think that container environment can spawn your services. `guix home container` is more useful for checking that your `env` is set up right and for making small changes.

if you run `guix shell qttools -- qdbusviewer`, it’s a GUI that lets you walk through the dbus interfaces. d-feet is a bit better, but there’s no package for it.

`bustle` is available on flatpak, but that’s a bit much to set up if you’re just poking around a system. It’s easy to install on guix once you have flatpak, but IIRC there are a few things required for that. fonts require a quick fix, but it can be confusing. a d-bus portal is definitely needed.

There’s always `dbus-monitor`, but it’s CLI.

```bash
dbus-monitor --session --profile "type='signal',interface='org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties'"

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![juipeltje](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/juipeltje/32/1178_2.png) [@juipeltje](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/juipeltje)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2026, 2:19pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/19 "2026-05-18T14:19:47Z")

</div>

you’ll probably have to add `(service home-dbus-service-type)` to your config as well, that will start a dbus session for your user.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Folaht](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/folaht/32/1145_2.png) [@Folaht](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/Folaht)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2026, 4:49pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/missing-audio-in-libvirt-qemu-virt-manager-vm-suspect-missing-audio-driver/1991/20 "2026-05-18T16:49:23Z")

</div>

Are you using AI to reply?

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