Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
Scriptmonkey_
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Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Post by Scriptmonkey_ »

Virtualbox Version: 5.2.42_Ubuntu r137960
Host OS: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Guest OS Version: Windows 10 Version 2004 (Build 19041.508)

Issue:

Seamless mode is effectively the same as Full Screen. Selecting any guest application results in the entire desktop of the guest being shown, obscuring the host OS applications. It is no different to running "full screen" other than there are no virtualbox menus visible on the guest OS.

I feel like seamless should mean that selecting a guest app should only show that application, not obscure everything on the host behind a fullscreen desktop view of the guest, that is if it is meant to emulate the functionality seen within "unity mode" of another popular type 2 hypervisor.
scottgus1
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Re: Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Post by scottgus1 »

Seamless should be a transparent guest desktop. The guest taskbar and all guest windows will appear if a guest window is focused.

Seamless requires Guest Additions.

Start the guest from full normal shutdown, not save-state. Run until you see the problem happen, then shut down the guest from within the guest OS if possible. If not possible, close the Virtualbox window for the guest with the Power Off option set.

Right-click the guest in the main Virtualbox window's guest list, choose Show Log. Save the far left tab's log, zip it, and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.
Scriptmonkey_
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Re: Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Post by Scriptmonkey_ »

Hi Scott,

Yeah I can confirm I have the guest additions installed and they are the same version as the virtualbox version that is running.

Log is attached.
Attachments
log.zip
(32.48 KiB) Downloaded 26 times
scottgus1
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Re: Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Post by scottgus1 »

Ubuntu fork of Virtualbox, which is not technically supported here:
VirtualBox VM 5.2.42_Ubuntu r137960
Virtualbox and Extension Pack must match:
VirtualBox VM 5.2.42_Ubuntu r137960 linux.amd64 (Jun 5 2020 08:26:08) release log
00:00:00.965608 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack (Version: 5.2.18 r124319; VRDE Module: VBoxVRDP)
Guest Additions is not Ubuntu's fork. There may be a conflict:
00:00:11.237599 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Version 5.2.42 r137960 '5.2.42'
Scriptmonkey_ wrote:Seamless mode is effectively the same as Full Screen.
Can you please post three screenshots: One of your host desktop with no guests running, one of your guest on Fullscreen, and one showing the guest on Seamless?
Scriptmonkey_
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Re: Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Post by Scriptmonkey_ »

I wasn't aware of the lack of support for the ubuntu edition. I'll switch over to the official edition in that case but thought i'd post the screenshots you want first anyway.
Guest additions not being the ubuntu fork - I can't seem to find any other version of the guest additions beyond what I have currently.

Thank you for continuing to offer help and support even though this is not strictly covered by these forums. I really appreciate it.

Host with no VM running: https://i.imgur.com/fn2CTHf.png

VM Guest in Full Screen: https://i.imgur.com/1BD0TPF.png

VM Guest in Seamless Mode: https://i.imgur.com/2RNMZai.png

That last image is an odd one it hasn't done that before, its usually been an exact copy of the full screen view aside from an ubuntu menu bar being shown at the top of the screen. I've removed the VBox Extension Pack as I wasn't using any of those features anyway and was under the incorrect assumption I was fine to use it as an individual for work that may be considered commercial (The 100 licence restriction is unreasonable for an individual) so maybe that made a difference but can't be sure.

I'll switch to the official build (not ubuntu) tonight and see if that improves things further.
Scriptmonkey_
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Re: Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Post by Scriptmonkey_ »

I am now running:

Virtualbox 6.1.14 r140239 (Qt5.9.5)

OSE only, no extension pack. I've updated all the guest additions and my kernel modules are now all correct.

I've configured the graphics adapter to vboxsvga as recommended by the settings screen and there's no change in the behaviour observed.
scottgus1
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Re: Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Post by scottgus1 »

Thanks for the screenshot links, but could you please use the forum's Upload Attachment tab?
Scriptmonkey_
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Re: Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Post by Scriptmonkey_ »

scottgus1 wrote:Thanks for the screenshot links, but could you please use the forum's Upload Attachment tab?
Yeah no problem, just the upload size limitation will mean they're compressed quite a bit.

Edit: Images follow

Full Screen Mode:
new-full-screen-mode.jpg
new-full-screen-mode.jpg (115.69 KiB) Viewed 21471 times
Host OS, no Guests open:
new-no-hosts-open.jpg
new-no-hosts-open.jpg (124.35 KiB) Viewed 21471 times
Seamless Mode:
new-seamless-mode.jpg
new-seamless-mode.jpg (121.9 KiB) Viewed 21471 times
scottgus1
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Re: Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Post by scottgus1 »

Thanks for the screenshots, they give a clue. You're not just running Windows 10 2004, you're running Microsoft's MSEdge VM. The base disk and snapshots are both vmdk's, not the default vdi's, possibly indicating this guest was a pre-installed imported OVA rather than a fresh-installed guest from a normal Windows 10 ISO.

Please start a fresh guest and download a normal Windows 10 2004 ISO, put the Guest Additions that came from your new official Virtualbox installation, see what Seamless does then. Also try disabling Settings > Personalization > Colors > Transparency Effects in your fresh new Windows 10 guest.
grahamperrin
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Joined: 27. Apr 2008, 15:19

Re: Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Post by grahamperrin »

Around three months ago I found comparable symptoms with a Windows 10 guest, VirtualBox 5.2.44_4 host on FreeBSD 13.0-CURRENT. What puzzled me, then, was the loss of seamlessness; it did work in the past.

We now have 6.1.18 for FreeBSD (6.1.20 ported, but not yet packaged for 14.0-CURRENT, which I now use).

I'll review the problem this week …
lothario
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Joined: 31. Dec 2012, 11:20

Windows 10 Guest not Seamless

Post by lothario »

I have the same problem with the Windows 10 MSEdge VMs downloaded from Microsoft and imported from an .OVA into an Ubuntu 20 host.

The guest desktop obscures other windows on the host, and there's a window border around guest applications. Pretty unusable.

Here's a link to the screenshot on imgur because of the strangely small upload limits here on the forum.

VirtualBox 6.1.22 r144080, installed from the deb. If it matters, I'm using an external monitor connected to my ThinkPad X1C.
grahamperrin
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Joined: 27. Apr 2008, 15:19

… Guest not Seamless

Post by grahamperrin »

lothario wrote:… Guest not Seamless …
  1. Stop the guest
  2. set it to VBoxSVGA
  3. start.
lothario
Posts: 11
Joined: 31. Dec 2012, 11:20

Re: … Guest not Seamless

Post by lothario »

grahamperrin wrote:
lothario wrote:… Guest not Seamless …
  1. Stop the guest
  2. set it to VBoxSVGA
  3. start.
I had done that already after Virtualbox warned that the Display configuration was not optimal.

Another deal-breaker: Alt+Tab from a "seamless" window of the guest, doesn't show any of the host windows. I can switch from a host window to a guest one, but them I'm stuck in the guest.
grahamperrin
Posts: 57
Joined: 27. Apr 2008, 15:19

Re: … Guest not Seamless

Post by grahamperrin »

lothario wrote: … after Virtualbox warned that the Display configuration was not optimal. …
That order of things sounds not quite right.

Which of these is set?
  1. VBoxVGA
  2. VMSVGA
  3. VBoxSVGA
grahamperrin
Posts: 57
Joined: 27. Apr 2008, 15:19

Re: Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Post by grahamperrin »

Scriptmonkey_ wrote:
VM Guest in Seamless Mode: https://i.imgur.com/2RNMZai.png
OK, I see this now – with a guest based on Microsoft's old MSEdge - Win10.ova – the problem comes and goes.

FreeBSD 14.0-CURRENT host. https://bsd-hardware.info/?probe=062fe5ec40

In some of today's screenshots at https://photos.app.goo.gl/MpXUw5FSRBD6mSCJ7 things appear to be almost entirely seamless, however when the Windows menu or search menu is used, the task bar disappears and menus are incomplete.

Also: an artefact at the top of the screen, and I don't always get the VirtualBox menu bar in seamless mode.
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