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I am running Linux Mint 14 and can play sound when I start my x session through mdm. however, when I start my X session using startx in user space, I am unable to get any sound play.

What could be wrong? how do I go about playing sound in an X session when running X in userspace? Is this even possible?

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i have a very similar question. i want to be able to xinit and get sound:… –  ixtmixilix Feb 23 '13 at 23:40
After your session started, are you able to play any sound with your user? like when you use some mediaplayers? If not, maybe you need to add your user to the according group that is allowed to play audio. In most distributions its called sound or audio or something like that. Check /etc/group to find the according group –  mauro.stettler Feb 24 '13 at 10:07
@mauro.stettler : Thanks. That was the solution. I added the audio group (I am using Mint 14)by executing sudo usermod -G audio myloginname, logged out logged back in and could play sounds :-). Would you like to post this as an answer? –  Lord Loh. Feb 24 '13 at 17:16
cool. ok, i'll post the answer –  mauro.stettler Feb 25 '13 at 1:13
@LordLoh. You didn't need -a? On my system that would add you to the audio group and remove you from all other groups –  Michael Mrozek Feb 25 '13 at 3:59

1 Answer 1

up vote 3 down vote accepted

you need to add your user to the according group. most distributions have some group called sound or audio. so you have to add your user to that group and then relogin.

sudo usermod -a -G audio myloginname
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