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ewall
Asked: 2011-06-11 12:20:42 +0800 CST

PCIe sound card drivers certified for MS Windows Server 2008?

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I am looking for options on sound cards with drivers certified for use on Windows Server 2008 x64 (required for a Nuance/Dragon product)...

Google searches reveal lots of rumors that SoundBlaster and ASUS cards might work okay with drivers from Windows Update. Others say you can get these cards to work by disabling the signed driver requirement--which is not an acceptable solution here.

The only card I find whose manufacturer says the drivers are supported on Windows Server editions is the SIIG DP SoundWave 5.1 PCIe card. Are there any others? Thanks, all!

windows-server-2008 64-bit pci-express

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    It's rare to find desktop-only hardware that is certified for Windows server. Since there are many inexpensive sound cards, you may want to consider the approach of trying one of the cards certified for the corresponding desktop version (Vista). I only run Windows server at home, and have done this with a variety of hardware over the years, and they usually work.

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  2. Are you trying to input audio or output audio with this sound card? If it's input, you can connect almost any USB microphone and Windows Server 2008 will recognize it as a USB recording device (no additional drivers needed). Even the Xbox 360 headset will be recognized.If it's output, you can purchase a USB DAC and convert digital files to analog.

    Here are some high end USB microphone vendors:

    Rode Podcaster http://www.rodemic.com/microphone.php?product=podcaster

    Samson C01U http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1810#servsupport

    USB DAC Vendor: http://www.firestone-audio.eu/shop/

    If you really need an internal sound card, your best bet is going to be one of those Creative or ASUS sound cards w/ Vista drivers. Very few vendors, if any, are going to pay the expense for official WHQL driver certification for Windows Server when the number of potential users is a few thousand at most.

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