Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
Nobbilus
Posts: 7
Joined: 19. Nov 2022, 13:50
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 10
Location: Germany

Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by Nobbilus »

Hello,
  • I'm useing VB 7.04 r154605, Extension Pack 7.0.4 r154605
  • My host is running Linux Mint 21 Vanessa Cinnamon Edition 64bit 16GB RAM, Kernel 5.15.0-53. Details attached as HostInfo.txt
  • My guest is running Windows 10 Pro 22H2 Build 19045.2311 64bit 4GB RAM
Since the upgrade to VB7 the fonts are broken in the windows start menu, on the login screen and settings menu
as shown in the attached picture (shows the Windows Update screen). After a while the start menu becomes blank (just white).

When I remove the VirtualBox Graphics Adapter (WDDM) through computer management everything looks fine until the next boot up (besides screen size).

Upgrade Guest Additions... from VirtualBox menu crashed the guest, had to remove the graphics adapter first.

Thanks for your assistance
Nobbilus
Attachments
WindowsUpdate.jpg
WindowsUpdate.jpg (48.53 KiB) Viewed 2538 times
HostInfo.txt
(3.51 KiB) Downloaded 2 times
vbox.log
(111.22 KiB) Downloaded 3 times
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by mpack »

AFAIK, VirtualBox doesn't provide any fonts or themes for the guest OS (other than ye olde BIOS fonts of course, which are not what we're discussing). Every pixel painted by a Windows guest is put there by Windows, so I don't really see how a Win10 guest can paint the borders of Windows, and only mess up with fonts. Instead I'd say that the Windows theme was messed up.

That said, you can easily test if the behaviour changes when 3D acceleration is disabled or enabled.

Also, we don't have much use for partial logs, and your cuts off just as it starts to get interesting. Complete logs will fit every time if you zip them.
Nobbilus
Posts: 7
Joined: 19. Nov 2022, 13:50
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 10
Location: Germany

Re: Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by Nobbilus »

Thank you mpack, when 3D acceleration is disabled, it seems to work normal. :D

About the logfile, I followed the instructions described here:

Minimum information needed for assistance. (not allowed to post urls yet...)
... or right click the guest in the VirtualBox main manager and select show log. Then choose save.
Did it again, now it is 93kB, should be small enough to upload it without the need to zip.

If I didn't get it right, maybe you could provide me some kind of command line to supply the appropriate log to you.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by mpack »

You omitted the log.

We prefer zip even if the log can be uploaded without it. Server storage space is not infinite. Sorry, I can't give you tuition on the easiest way to do this in a Linux host as I'm not a Linux user - plus I imagine it would depend on which shell you installed.

On Windows hosts you can simply right clock the log and choose "Send to | Zip folder".
Nobbilus
Posts: 7
Joined: 19. Nov 2022, 13:50
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 10
Location: Germany

Re: Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by Nobbilus »

Tried to upload the log again. Hope it is complete this time. I enabled 3D acceleration again and started the vm.
The logfiles VBox.log.1, VBox.log.2 and VBox.log.3 are also included.
sfc /scannow
found some errors and fixed them.
dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
and
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
found nothing to complain about.
Attachments
VBox.log2.zip
(70.4 KiB) Downloaded 2 times
VBox.log.zip
(64 KiB) Downloaded 4 times
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5668
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by fth0 »

I've noticed two issues that may or may not play a role here:
VBox.log file wrote:
00:00:02.180014 rtldrNativeLoad: dlopen('D3DCompiler_47.so', RTLD_NOW | RTLD_LOCAL) failed: D3DCompiler_47.so: Kann die Shared-Object-Datei nicht öffnen: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
00:00:02.180034 VMSVGA: Single DX device mode: enabled
00:00:02.218195 Skipping CPU adapter: llvmpipe (LLVM 13.0.1, 256 bits)VMSVGA: Feature level 0xb000
00:00:02.303004 GetAdapterLUID: native stubVMSVGA: Adapter [Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (IVB GT2)]
I think I've seen that error message before (in VirtualBox 7.0.x), but I cannot really assess it.
VBox.log file wrote:
00:00:06.603187 Display::i_handleDisplayResize: uScreenId=0 pvVRAM=00007f2f3c000000 w=1024 h=768 bpp=24 cbLine=0xC00 flags=0x0 origin=0,0
[...]
00:00:18.336766 Display::i_handleDisplayResize: uScreenId=0 pvVRAM=00007f2f3c000000 w=1366 h=670 bpp=32 cbLine=0x1558 flags=0x1 origin=0,0
Windows guests always switch to the 1024x768 resolution during boot, and to the final resolution later on. In most use cases, the final resolution is larger than the boot up resolution, but in your case, the final resolution of 1366x670 has a smaller vertical resolution. For a test, select another resolution (e.g. 800x600, 1024x768) from the VM window's View > Virtual Screen 1 menu and restart the VM. Does the issue persist?
Nobbilus
Posts: 7
Joined: 19. Nov 2022, 13:50
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 10
Location: Germany

Re: Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by Nobbilus »

Changed the resolution to 800x600 and 1024x768, the issue persists.

In Google searching for the issue I found something on forums(dot)virtualbox(dot)org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=107499, but The requested topic does not exist. :(
fth0 wrote:00:00:02.180014 rtldrNativeLoad: dlopen('D3DCompiler_47.so', RTLD_NOW | RTLD_LOCAL) failed: D3DCompiler_47.so: Kann die Shared-Object-Datei nicht öffnen: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
fth0
Volunteer
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Re: Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by fth0 »

Further random ideas:

You could try if modifying the graphics driver/setup on the host OS and/or installing DXVK or Vulkan related packages on the host OS makes a difference.

If the issue only occurred with VirtualBox 7.0.4, but not with VirtualBox 7.0.(0|2), check the new Font Scaling setting in the global VirtualBox Manager preferences.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
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Re: Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by mpack »

fth0 wrote:check the new Font Scaling setting in the global VirtualBox Manager preferences.
??? Surely that concerns scaling of Qt fonts in the manager. It will not affect fonts in the guest OS, e.g. on the Windows Start menu.
fth0
Volunteer
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Re: Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by fth0 »

I'll agree that it's probably too far fetched. I wrongly (*) expected the QT Font Scaling to also apply to the VM's window decorations belonging to the VirtualBoxVM process. Then I thought about an application specific corruption of the hosts' graphics implementation (perhaps caused by a miscalculation resulting in a small negative -> large positive value), which then gets used by the 3D acceleration.

(*) I just checked that the fonts only get scaled in the VirtualBox Manager and not in the VirtualBoxVM process.
Nobbilus
Posts: 7
Joined: 19. Nov 2022, 13:50
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 10
Location: Germany

Re: Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by Nobbilus »

fth0 wrote:Further random ideas:

You could try if modifying the graphics driver/setup on the host OS and/or installing DXVK or Vulkan related packages on the host OS makes a difference.

If the issue only occurred with VirtualBox 7.0.4, but not with VirtualBox 7.0.(0|2), check the new Font Scaling setting in the global VirtualBox Manager preferences.
Installing DXVK related packages didn't make a difference. I have no clue on how to modify the graphics driver/setup on the host os or what changes are probably helpful...

The issue started with the first "stable" release 7.0.0.

For now I will stick to the workaround and disable 3D acceleration.
If there are any other suggestions on this issue or someone would like to investigate further on this topic, I should now get notifications about posted replies.
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5668
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
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Location: Germany

Re: Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by fth0 »

Thanks for reporting back! :)
Nobbilus wrote:I have no clue on how to modify the graphics driver/setup on the host os or what changes are probably helpful...
Me neither. My general idea was that your combination of host and guest OSes is probably not rare, but so far you're the first and only user reporting the "rectangles", so we're looking for something that differentiates your setup from that of other users.
Nobbilus wrote:For now I will stick to the workaround and disable 3D acceleration.
Ok, no problem! We'll see if other users report a similar issue or if it gets fixed automatically.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by mpack »

Thought occurs: is "Transparency Effects" disabled in the VM's settings? Anyway make sure it is disabled. I'm thinking that perhaps this has to do with the font background being transparent, rather than because the object being rendered is a font. If so then icons and maybe cursors would also be affected.
Nobbilus
Posts: 7
Joined: 19. Nov 2022, 13:50
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 10
Location: Germany

Re: Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by Nobbilus »

mpack wrote:Thought occurs: is "Transparency Effects" disabled in the VM's settings? Anyway make sure it is disabled. I'm thinking that perhaps this has to do with the font background being transparent, rather than because the object being rendered is a font. If so then icons and maybe cursors would also be affected.
I Checked it, "Transparency Effects" were already disabled.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: Square font on WIN10 since upgrade to VB7

Post by mpack »

In that case I'm thinking it's a messed up theme in Windows rather than a problem with VirtualBox: as I mentioned at the beginning, VirtualBox has little or no input of what color if pixel the guest OS chooses to paint at a particular location. I can't even think of any potential API failure that would confine itself to how guest fonts are rendered on certain guest dialogs.
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