VirtualBox will not Resize Window

This is for discussing general topics about how to use VirtualBox.
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ASolar
Posts: 7
Joined: 12. Jul 2015, 23:31

VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by ASolar »

=== SPECS ===
Virtual Platform: GNOME CentOS 7
From: OSX 10.10.4
00:00:00.710145 OS Product: Darwin
00:00:00.710149 OS Release: 14.4.0
00:00:00.710152 OS Version: Darwin Kernel Version 14.4.0: Thu May 28 11:35:04 PDT 2015; root:xnu-2782.30.5~1/RELEASE_X86_64
00:00:00.710222 DMI Product Name: MacBookPro11,3
00:00:00.710291 DMI Product Version: 1.0
00:00:00.710300 Host RAM: 16384MB total, 7511MB available

=== PROBLEM ===
Virtual Box Screen Resolution is stuck at 1024x768 in OSX with CentOS 7 & Ubuntu 14.04 (grayed out)
Full Screen = Doesn't Work
Resize = Doesn't Work

=== COMMAND LINE VIRTUAL BOX TESTING ===
$ vboxmanage getextradata global GUI/MaxGuestResolution
No value set!
$ vboxmanage setextradata global GUI/MaxGuestResolution auto
Value: auto

=== CAUSE ===
Virtual Box Video Detect Settings for NVIDIA OSX?
XORG?
X11?

=== VBOX.log ===
00:00:11.839883 GUI: UIFrameBufferPrivate::NotifyChange: Screen=0, Origin=0x0, Size=1024x768, Sending to async-handler
00:00:11.839940 GUI: UIMachineView::sltHandleNotifyChange: Screen=0, Size=1024x768
00:00:11.839950 GUI: UIFrameBufferPrivate::handleNotifyChange: Size=1024x768
00:00:11.839976 GUI: UIFrameBufferPrivate::performResize: Size=1024x768, Directly using source bitmap content

SEE ATTACHED SCREEN SHOT
Attachments
Screen Shot 2015-07-12 at 5.42.16 PM.png
Screen Shot 2015-07-12 at 5.42.16 PM.png (103.74 KiB) Viewed 36865 times
Perryg
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Re: VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by Perryg »

ASolar
Posts: 7
Joined: 12. Jul 2015, 23:31

Re: VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by ASolar »

I did take a look at the website:
http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch01.h ... ize-window

Here is what my settings look like... (for some reason even after I select 2d and 3d it grays it out on startup is this related?)

(see screenshot)
Attachments
Settings After Virtual Machine Startup
Settings After Virtual Machine Startup
Screen Shot 2015-07-13 at 11.12.12 PM.png (38.05 KiB) Viewed 36834 times
Initial Settings
Initial Settings
Screen Shot 2015-07-13 at 11.10.23 PM.png (48.52 KiB) Viewed 36834 times
ASolar
Posts: 7
Joined: 12. Jul 2015, 23:31

Re: VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by ASolar »

NOTE: Selecting SCALE MODE ( host key + C ) still doesn't work. Make screen look very odd. I know this should work for linux because I've seen it before.

This has something to do with VIRTUAL SCREEN being grayed out.

(see screenshot)
Attachments
VIRTUAL SCREEN being grayed out
VIRTUAL SCREEN being grayed out
Screen Shot 2015-07-13 at 11.23.15 PM.png (82.26 KiB) Viewed 36833 times
loukingjr
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Re: VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by loukingjr »

@ASolar, Perryg posted the link to Guest Additions in the manual. He did that so you would Install the Guest Additions into your Guest.
OSX, Linux and Windows Hosts & Guests
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ASolar
Posts: 7
Joined: 12. Jul 2015, 23:31

Re: VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by ASolar »

http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html
Doesn't have a section for OSX for some reason?

In the past I've been able to get Virtual Box to do arbitrary resolutions without adding any libraries.

Do you mean I have to add something special to Virtual Box 5.0.0 just to resize? Shouldn't the video resolution automatically adjust without doing some type of weird setting?

8)
loukingjr
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Re: VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by loukingjr »

It doesn't have section for OSX because there are no guest additions for OSX guests. You are not installing guest additions in an OSX guest, you are installing them in a CentOS 7 guest. Guest additions were always required. The only was you could adjust a guest's screen size without installing them yourself is if you installed a guest that had them pre-installed such as Linux Mint.
OSX, Linux and Windows Hosts & Guests
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ASolar
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Joined: 12. Jul 2015, 23:31

Re: VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by ASolar »

Thanks!

I'll have to research this out a bit further. It looks like yum / rpm won't install some packages maybe needed on the Linux system.

From: http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html#idp96235792
SAYS: to install DKMS

http://linux.dell.com/dkms/
http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter ... x-projects

It still seems odd to me that I need to install something like (DKMS / VBoxGuestAdditions.iso) just to get my window to resize.

Thanks again for the help!
ASolar
Posts: 7
Joined: 12. Jul 2015, 23:31

Re: VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by ASolar »

Part of what I'm not understanding is why we need to install DKMS to get window resizing to work?

DKMS looks to be mostly related to Dynamic Kernel Modules (from early 2000 / Dell Project?) and not really Video Display Detection. Also Virtual Box knows that my screen resolution is okay at 1024x768 and it also shows (grayed out) 1920x1200. The max display size on a Mac / OSX 10.10.4 is 2880 x 1800 with NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB. Perhaps the crux of the problem is that Virtual Box doesn't detect the host/native display size. Why do we need to install DKMS and if we do why isn't DKMS supported as a standard Linux YUM / RPM package ("yum search dkms" shows nothing)

Is there any other standard way of getting video displays to resize or Virtual Box without installing DKMS?
loukingjr
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Re: VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by loukingjr »

DKMS has nothing to do with resizing the screen. It is recommended so every time there is a Kernel update you don't have to rebuild the Guest additions. DKMS does it for you.
OSX, Linux and Windows Hosts & Guests
There are three groups of people. Those that can count and those that can't.
ASolar
Posts: 7
Joined: 12. Jul 2015, 23:31

Re: VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by ASolar »

Okay, so according to the Virtual Box Help (http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch01.h ... ize-window) preserving the aspect ratio in scale mode (host key + C) works only on Windows hosts and on Mac OS X hosts. I have Mac OS X running a Linux Client so everything should be okay.

The problem is when I resize Virtual Box it ignores the aspect ratio or stays fixed at 1024x768. When I ask Virtual Box to take a Screen Shot of the display it shows the screen shot with the corrected Aspect Ratio even though my display is smooshed.

(see attached screenshot)

Do you have Virtual Box working with screen resizing that keeps the aspect ratio on OSX?

:cry:
Attachments
Screen Shot 2015-07-15 at 12.53.55 AM.png
Screen Shot 2015-07-15 at 12.53.55 AM.png (55.97 KiB) Viewed 36812 times
Perryg
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Re: VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by Perryg »

The guest additions are installed in the guest. While the guest is running click the device tab at the top and select to insert guest additions. This will mount the additions in the virtual CD drive and you install them in the guest using the terminal. For the correct way to install kernel mod packages in CentOS you need to read and follow the instructions here viewtopic.php?f=29&t=15679

Use the fedora section as it is the same as CentOS.
UberGeekDude
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Re: VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by UberGeekDude »

I have a Windoze 10 VM and experiencing the same "issue" with greyed out screen resolution in the VM.

For me, the screen size adjustment was within the Windoze screen resolution settings: right-click the desktop, select Display Settings, and change the Resolution to max (1600x1200) was available.

One setting in the VM, I checked 2D and 3D acceleration that increased the Video Memory to 256MB. Not sure that helps, though.

Regards.
BillG
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Re: VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by BillG »

And you think that your problem is related to a problem with a Linux guest on an OSX host four years ago?
Bill
socratis
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Re: VirtualBox will not Resize Window

Post by socratis »

UberGeekDude wrote:the screen size adjustment was within the Windoze screen resolution settings
This is technically correct, good advice.
BillG wrote:your problem is related to a problem with a Linux guest on an OSX host four years ago?
And this is correct too, that's why the thread gets locked and returns back to its "grave"...
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