Arch Linux

Fedal987

Member

Registered: 2026-04-23

Posts: 2

Audio Output Not Working in Arch Linux KDE Plasma 6 on Wayland

I am currently running Arch Linux with KDE Plasma 6 on Wayland inside VMware, and I am experiencing an issue where audio cannot be played.

Symptoms:

No audio playback device can be found. Opening Spotify to play music shows a stuck progress bar (network issues have been ruled out).
I have already tried an AI-recommended fix for audio playback devices, but I still cannot hear any sound. However, internal music applications and audio visualization components are working correctly.

Possible cause of the bug (inferred):

During a routine sudo pacman -Syu update earlier today, some systemd files were corrupted.

I reinstalled systemd from a live environment and regenerated initramfs, while also clearing the pacman cache.

The preliminary judgment is that forcibly overwriting systemd and systemd-libs may reset or overwrite all systemd configuration files and dependent libraries.

After an entire afternoon of following AI-assisted repair steps, audio playback still does not work, and I have run out of options. Is there a better method to fix it?

The AI’s suggested fix was to change the VMware sound card driver to HDAudio, but I could not find this option in VMware Workstation 25H2.

Last edited by Fedal987 (2026-04-23 10:56:54)

Fedal987

Member

Registered: 2026-04-23

Posts: 2

Re: Audio Output Not Working in Arch Linux KDE Plasma 6 on Wayland

This is my *systemctl --user status pulseaudio pipewire-pulse pipewire pipewire-media-session wireplumber* output

Fedal987@archlinux ~> systemctl --user status pulseaudio pipewire-pulse pipewire pipewire-media-session wireplumber
Unit pulseaudio.service could not be found.
Unit pipewire-media-session.service could not be found.
● pipewire-pulse.service - PipeWire PulseAudio
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire-pulse.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Thu 2026-04-23 17:55
:44 CST; 28min ago
Invocation: a38debd7e6ba4687953357abae478db0
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire-pulse.socket
Main PID: 1038 (pipewire-pulse)
Tasks: 3 (limit: 9451)
Memory: 11.2M (peak: 12.4M)
CPU: 11.045s
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.
slice/pipewire-pulse.service
└─1038 /usr/bin/pipewire-pulse

Apr 23 17:55:44 archlinux systemd[1019]: Started PipeWire PulseAudi
o.

● pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia Service
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service; e
nabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Thu 2026-04-23 17:55
:44 CST; 28min ago
Invocation: fc4f3684f6a34411bef1524ea49bd31d
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire.socket
Main PID: 1035 (pipewire)
Tasks: 3 (limit: 9451)
Memory: 8.2M (peak: 8.7M)
CPU: 6.001s
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.
slice/pipewire.service
└─1035 /usr/bin/pipewire

Apr 23 17:55:44 archlinux systemd[1019]: Started PipeWire Multimedi
a Service.

● wireplumber.service - Multimedia Service Session Manag
er
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/wireplumber.service;
1;32menabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Thu 2026-04-23 17:55
:44 CST; 28min ago
Invocation: aa33589d631e44299d94adefc0b1025b
Main PID: 1036 (wireplumber)
Tasks: 6 (limit: 9451)
Memory: 13M (peak: 13.8M)
CPU: 121ms
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.
slice/wireplumber.service
└─1036 /usr/bin/wireplumber

Apr 23 17:55:44 archlinux systemd[1019]: Started Multimedia Service
Session Manager.
Apr 23 17:55:44 archlinux wireplumber[1036]:
9mwp-device: SPA handle 'api.libcamera.enum.manager' could not be l
oaded; is it installed?
Apr 23 17:55:44 archlinux wireplumber[1036]:
9ms-monitors-libcamera: PipeWire's libcamera SPA plugin is missing
or broken. Some camera types may not be supported.
Apr 23 17:55:44 archlinux wireplumber[1036]:
default: Failed to get percentage from UPower: org.fr
eedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner
Apr 23 17:55:44 archlinux wireplumber[1036]:
spa.bluez5: BlueZ system service is not available

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,855

Re: Audio Output Not Working in Arch Linux KDE Plasma 6 on Wayland

Please use [code][/code] tags. Edit your post in this regard.

No audio playback device can be found.

aplay -lL
lspci -d ::04xx

Do you simply lack https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x8 … -firmware/ ?

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