Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

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Poil
Posts: 33
Joined: 4. Nov 2016, 11:35

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by Poil »

Hi,

My VM was configured to VBoxSVGA in 6.0.x with dual screen (I was unable to have 2 monitors with VMSVGA) with 3D Enabled. All was working correctly (little slow, I doubt the 3D mode was really working)
  • After upgrading to 6.1 at the firstboot in VBoxSVGA with 3D mode all work correctly.
  • I've switched to VMSVGA, Xorg is unable to start "failed to create screen resources(EE)"
  • I've switch back to VBoxSVGA, now in the GUI I can't enable 3D mode on it.
  • I've start the VM, Seamless mode is no more working (not resizing)
  • I've edit the VM setting via VBoxManage, to enable 3D mode. Not better
  • I disable 3D mode again, only one monitor
  • I've switch back to VMSVGA with 3D Mode, Xorg is now working but only on one monitor
I'm becoming crazy :x

Host: Windows 10 build 18362 x86_64
Guest: Ubuntu 19.10 / 5.3.0-24-generic #26-Ubuntu SMP Thu Nov 14 01:33:18 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

*EDIT*
* So now I've switched back to VBoxSVGA with 3D mode enable and 256MB via vboxmanage. Dual screen is working, the auto-resize is still broken but with a screenlayout profile it does the job.
DeinAbi
Posts: 20
Joined: 17. Jul 2019, 18:41

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by DeinAbi »

socratis wrote:
DeinAbi wrote:But, I am a developer myself I assume assume that the fix should be rather simple
Patches are most welcome! :)
I would actually give it a try, but I have never done anything in C++ sadly :)
DeinAbi
Posts: 20
Joined: 17. Jul 2019, 18:41

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by DeinAbi »

Short Update:

I updated to 6.1 and was using VBoxSVGA adapter to have dual monitor setup working. VMSVGA did not work with dual monitors as already reported.

I was installing/uninstalling the guest additions a few times (also the older pre bug versions) because copy/paste to host from guest and vice-versa did not work. In between those restarts I was also "trying out" if dual monitor was working with VMSVGA in the hope that the re-installation of the guest additions fixed something, but it did not. I do not know when I tried the last time, but the same day I installed virtualbox-guest-x11 and after that copy paste to host was working. Also in the same timespan I updated the guest OS which also installed a new kernel version.

After that I just tried again if VMSVGA would work with dual monitor and voila, it worked. Just as with VBoxSVGA I needed to change the resolution with xrandr (that was done automatically before this bug), but apart from that it works for me.

Sadly I do not know what fixed the issue for me exactly..

Guest OS Ubuntu 18.04
Host OS Windows 10

Code: Select all

➜ lspci -vnn G vga                                                                                                                                                                                      
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: VMware SVGA II Adapter [15ad:0405] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: VMware SVGA II Adapter [15ad:0405]
DeinAbi
Posts: 20
Joined: 17. Jul 2019, 18:41

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by DeinAbi »

So apparently posting the update here jinxed it.

The last few days I never shut down the vm but saved the state instead. Yesterday I shut it down and today after starting there is only one display... Problem is that I again did some stuff that could have affected it... Since sound was not working (i installed ubuntu minimal, in normal ubuntu sound works from the start) I tried changing the chipset (had ICH9 for some reason), changing the sound card and at the end installing pulseaudio which gave me sound in the vm. In between those steps i have restarted the VM a few times, I am not exactly sure if there were still two displays at that time, but i do think so...

So now i use VBoxSVGA again.
Whiskeyjack
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 122
Joined: 28. Aug 2017, 13:14

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by Whiskeyjack »

Resizing and handling "monitor enable/disable" has been improved on Linux guests with VMSVGA adapter. Upcoming 6.1.x release will have the changes. It has still some glitches when more than 2 monitors are configured but the overall usability and stability has been improved.
DeinAbi
Posts: 20
Joined: 17. Jul 2019, 18:41

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by DeinAbi »

I have installed the new 6.1.2 version and also updated the guest additions. After the restart I had two displays working, although I needed to set the correct resolution via xrandr (which used to work without xrandr, but not sure if that has something to do with the window manager I am using now). After that I shut down the VM.

Today I start the VM and again there is only one display working...

Now I turned off the VM and start it again, now two displays are working again... not gonna restart again though :D

I'll try it again later on a fresh VM just to make sure the problem is not within my current VM.
Poil
Posts: 33
Joined: 4. Nov 2016, 11:35

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by Poil »

Hi,

All is working fine with 6.1.2 and VmSvga except some glitchs that was expected :)

Many many thanks !

*Edit* :
After switching back to my host and coming back on my VM, I cannot use the second screen (like it's frozen)
Exiting Integrated mode it's working, switching back to integrated mode it's frozen, exiting I.Mode second screen switch to disabled, enabling it again it's working in integrated mode

*Edit2*
After unplugging a screen (undocking) the 2nd screen disabling automatically :) (no more virtualbox crash)

*Edit3*
24hr after, still no problem, and I didn't reproduce the "frozen second screen" bug

*Edit4*
Some days, I had two or three times the second screen like "frozen". Enabling disabling the screen/composer randomly fix this.
Last edited by Poil on 22. Jan 2020, 09:07, edited 1 time in total.
arne.schmitz
Posts: 2
Joined: 17. Jan 2020, 16:14

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by arne.schmitz »

I installed 6.1.2 this morning and with 3 monitors I still have the problem that vmsvga does not support multiple monitors.

vboxsvga works fine though. All this is running on a Windows 10 host, and Ubuntu guest.

Since the 6.x updates I laso notice a slowdown in Chrome every so often. Not sure what's going on there, but I think the graphics support is really having hiccups with mutliple monitors... I am sticking with vboxsvga for the time being, but hope that more fixes will be coming in!
Poil
Posts: 33
Joined: 4. Nov 2016, 11:35

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by Poil »

arne.schmitz wrote:I installed 6.1.2 this morning and with 3 monitors I still have the problem that vmsvga does not support multiple monitors.

vboxsvga works fine though. All this is running on a Windows 10 host, and Ubuntu guest.

Since the 6.x updates I laso notice a slowdown in Chrome every so often. Not sure what's going on there, but I think the graphics support is really having hiccups with mutliple monitors... I am sticking with vboxsvga for the time being, but hope that more fixes will be coming in!
Did you update your guest ? For me it wasn't working without
Breed123
Posts: 1
Joined: 21. Mar 2020, 09:55

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by Breed123 »

My solution to this was on Windows 10, VBox 6.1.2, Xubuntu.

1. Go out of full screen mode / seamless mode
2. Enable your second / third monitor
3. Return to full screen mode / seamless mode

Then you can drag and drop around the screens.
PlasticJesus101
Posts: 1
Joined: 26. Jun 2020, 23:57

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by PlasticJesus101 »

This problem has been around for a year or two, and after taking 5-10 tries every time to get the VM to come up correctly for the last year, I finally discovered the following incantation.

I am running Windows 10 host, Fedora 31 guest with KDE.

This is very roundabout, and it sucks, but it reliably gets it to work.

1. Start Linux guest. Get out of fullscreen mode before the Linux guest fully boots.
Most of the time only one monitor will appear at this time. The second monitor never comes to life regardless of enable / disable

2. Log in to Linux and get to your desktop. This ensures that window manager is fully loaded.

3. Resize the guest display by dragging the corner so it only fills part of the whole display.

4. Go to 'View Menu' and select View/[missing monitor]/Enable
This appears to have no effect, but don't fret. This is part of the fun.

5. Open up a console and 'sudo shutdown -h now'
This causes a clean shutdown

6. Restart Linux guest from virtualbox manager
You should now have both displays, although they will not be full-screen

7. Use the display manager in Linux guest to set the monitor sizes correctly.

Voila! This really sucks, but it is better than rebooting the VM until it finally comes up correctly.
Zikbull
Posts: 1
Joined: 21. Jul 2020, 09:11

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by Zikbull »

Hi,
Kind of same issue for me.
I can't manage to set up 2 full HD monitors on my VM.
The principal display is OK but on the 2nd I can't display more than 1280*960 resolution.
I set up 256Mo video memory, VBoxSVGA graphical controller and activated 3D acceleration.

Is 256Mo video memory enough to display 2 full HD monitors?
At first, with 128Mo it was enough for 2 full HD monitors with VboxVGA controller.
But with VBoxSVGA, 128Mo is not enough to display any full HD monitors at all.
When I get to 256, I could display only one.
That's why I wander if 256 is enough for 2.

I am running W7 in my VM and my host is W10.

Regards,
derkuci
Posts: 1
Joined: 22. Aug 2020, 03:09

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by derkuci »

I had a similar issue, with a newly installed CentOS 8 guest on Windows 10 host and VirtualBox 6.1.12. Gnome on Wayland works fine with dual monitor, regardless which controller (vmsvga or vboxsvga or vboxvga) is used. But MATE (still on X11) didn't work with dual monitor. I simply can't enable the second monitor (with vmsvga), or the display was blank in the second monitor (with vboxsvga or vboxvga).

I fixed the issue by installing the xorg-x11-drv-vmware rpm.

Note that vmsvga still behaves differently than vboxsvga/vboxvga. With vmsvga, the second monitor won't show up (or be enabled) until a user is logged in via the graphical interface (e.g., gdm). But I am perfectly fine with this.
tsela
Posts: 7
Joined: 18. Jul 2019, 11:04

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by tsela »

Hi all, I'm this thread's OP, reviving it to check with the community whether this problem is still around. In my case, I have a Windows 10 host and Ubuntu 18.04 guest. I'm still running VirtualBox 6.0.24, which works with dual monitor set-up (with both screens max out) consistently and reliably (with VBoxVGA). I haven't dared switching to VirtualBox 6.1 yet because that virtual machine is my work environment and I can't really lose time trying to sort out issues, and the dual monitor set-up is vital for me.

But now I see that VirtualBox has reached version 6.1.22, and I'm wondering if the problem is still present or whether it's safe for me to upgrade VirtualBox. So asking to everyone who's had issues in the past: is it now actually solved?
Disorder75
Posts: 1
Joined: 20. Jun 2021, 15:08

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by Disorder75 »

tsela wrote:Hi all, I'm this thread's OP, reviving it to check with the community whether this problem is still around. In my case, I have a Windows 10 host and Ubuntu 18.04 guest. I'm still running VirtualBox 6.0.24, which works with dual monitor set-up (with both screens max out) consistently and reliably (with VBoxVGA). I haven't dared switching to VirtualBox 6.1 yet because that virtual machine is my work environment and I can't really lose time trying to sort out issues, and the dual monitor set-up is vital for me.

But now I see that VirtualBox has reached version 6.1.22, and I'm wondering if the problem is still present or whether it's safe for me to upgrade VirtualBox. So asking to everyone who's had issues in the past: is it now actually solved?
Hi,
i confirm that the problem is still present on Windows10 host and Ubuntu guest.
VirtualBox version 6.1.22 r144080
GuestAddictions version 6.1.22 r144080
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