Since which build is Windows Vista compatible with HD audio?

[Valerio]

Hi! I want to play around with some Windows Vista's beta builds (from 5048 onwards) and since I'd like to have the most complete experience, I would like to know since which build is Realtek HD Audio supported. If I'm not wrong my sound card codec should be Realtek ALC269. I hope not to get told something like "test every build and find it out by yourself" because you know, it would take a very long time considering how much time it takes to install them. So if anybody in here knows the answer to my question, please help me, I would really appreciate it! Thanks in advance!

[oscareczek]

Wikipedia says build 5112 "introduced many of the underlying technologies slated for Vista, including the new networking and audio stacks, parental controls, and fairly complete working build of .NET Framework 3.0, then still referred to as WinFX." Therefore, I'd try everything between 5048 and 5112.

[AlphaBeta]

Therefore, I'd try everything between 5048 and 5112.

There is not a lot of stuff between 5048 and 5112...

[oscareczek]

Oh, right, didn't look at thecollectionbook Then yeah, you have 2 builds to check (if Wikipedia says truth)

[yourepicfailure]

Well actually all builds of vista are technically HD audio capable. You just got to jump through hoops to apply the msuaa patch.

I know for pre-reset you'd have to mess with the registry to make windows think its runng sp2 when you apply the patch in xp compatibility mode.
Wouldn't doubt it if the same technique would work with the early post reset.

[oscareczek]

Show me the proof of 4074 running HD Audio. I dare you.

[BF10]

I found this tutorial here that requires the patch, but according to the original poster, it works on 3718 and 4015.

[ATeamInc]

... but he says it shoukd work on all builds (he tested it with 3718 and 4015)

[Valerio]

Thanks for the replies. I tried to get HD audio working on Longhorn build 4042 days ago by using the official update from Microsoft in order to get the bus driver working and then I modified the Realtek drivers in order to let them install from Device Manager (didn't work on build 4074 though), and it worked, but the audio was corrupted most of the times, sounds and music didn't play as intended. What I'd actually like to know is since which build Vista natively supports HD audio without the need of any tricks regarding CSDVersion and without installing any updates. I think I'll try build 5212 (never tried that one before). I am also not sure about this, but perhaps something changed after build 5231, since in that build there were several improvements regarding the audio and volume control if I remember correctly.

[yourepicfailure]

Strange. I had a laptop with realtek audio and it happily ran with no problems. I also had one with IDT audio and it ran well.

Mind telling me what realtek version you used?

BTW, AFAIR 5231 ran hdaudio out of the box. It was one of the builds I ran on a latitude xt, with sigmatel hdaudio.

[Valerio]

Sorry for the late reply guys, I recently installed Longhorn build 5048 and I got sound to work without any issues and easily too! I saw that post-reset builds have the HD Audio bus driver already pre-installed, so there was no need to install that update meant for XP, I only had to install the Realtek HD Audio drivers with modified .inf files from Device Manager and everything worked like a charm . Oh, @yourepicfailure, Device Manager says that Realtek HD Audio drivers are version 5.10.0.5612. The PC I am using is an Asus EeePC 1000H, I downloaded the driver for XP from their support website if you're interested.

[SistemaRayoXP]

XP SP3 is compatible with hd audio, and there was an update in XP SP2 that contained the HD bus driver. But Vista Final did not require to install any drivers to get sound from HD uadio devices. It "just worked" out of the box. And I think the real question is since which build Vista contained this driver, that didn't require to install any Realtek (Or Conexant or Gigabyte or any external) driver to get sound.

[Zv45Beta]

XP SP3 is compatible with hd audio, and there was an update in XP SP2 that contained the HD bus driver. But Vista Final did not require to install any drivers to get sound from HD uadio devices. It "just worked" out of the box. And I think the real question is since which build Vista contained this driver, that didn't require to install any Realtek (Or Conexant or Gigabyte or any external) driver to get sound.

That was part of the new audio stack that was introduced in Vista. (it allows per-app volume control and so on)
I'd say that the new audio stack was added somewhere in the 52xx build era

EDIT: Confirmed, it was introduced in build 5209 (obviously compiled by media_core)