[Solved] Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
ShaneM
Posts: 15
Joined: 30. Nov 2017, 19:13

[Solved] Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by ShaneM »

Host:
MacBook Pro 13, 2012 w/ 2560x1600 display
OSX 10.13.1 (High Sierra)
VB 5.2.2 w/ extensions installed, trying w/ and w/o GA installed

Guest:
WIndows 10

Issue:
I'm trying to get full screen resolution and size in Windows 10 guest on my Mac. The native screen resolution is 2560x1600. I have played around with a lot of settings and some custom video modes, and eventually got to the point where Windows is showing 2560x1600, performance is good, and things seem stable - however, it's only taking up about 75% of my screen in fullscreen mode. That's what I'm trying to resolve at this point.

Current settings:
GA NOT installed (otherwise display is really glitchy when I force it to full resolution - however, it shows stable at 1440x900.)
256MB VRAM
HiDPI/2D/3D all enabled
Used command "VBoxManage setextradata "VM-Name" CustomVideoMode1 2560x1600x32" which forced 2560x1600 available in Windows.

I'm attaching two log files. The 1440 version is the one that seems to be stable at 1440x900 but I can't get it to go higher. The 2560 version is the one I'm currently at, with the 2560x1600 resolution working but only taking up 75% of the screen. Any help? Thanks!
Attachments
Win-2017-11-30-10-09-55 2560.log
2560 log
(81.09 KiB) Downloaded 239 times
Win-2017-11-30-09-55-18 1440.log
1440 log
(104.66 KiB) Downloaded 75 times
Last edited by socratis on 25. Jan 2018, 06:34, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Marked as [Solved].
socratis
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Re: Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by socratis »

Apple has been marketing the retina displays, but it's not actually implementing those resolutions. For example, and depending on your Display settings, the effective resolutions you're going to get are: 1) 1680x1050, 2) 1440x900, and 3) 1024x640 pixels. You will never see the 2560x1600 that it's capable of because you wouldn't be able to see anything, it would be too small [1].

So, my feeling tells me that you have selected the middle option or "Best"/"Default" as it is labeled in the Display settings. That's why you see the best performance in the 1440x900 resolution in Windows, because that's what your Mac is set to.

My suggestion would be to install the GAs and stick with the 1440x900 resolution. If you want to get the highest resolution from your Mac (1680x1050), then change the Display settings to "More Space'. But you will never see the resolution that the marketing department touts.

For comparison, my 15" MBPr with theoretical 2880x1800 can only achieve effective resolutions of 1920x1200, 1680x1050, 1280x800, and 1024x640 pixels.


PS: For future reference, you should completely shut down the VM before grabbing the VBox.log. Then you should ZIP it before attaching it to your response. It saves a (virtual) tree or two... ;)


[1]: There are programs that allow your Mac to achieve its native resolution, but you're not going to like the result, trust me...
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chitgoks
Posts: 4
Joined: 7. Dec 2017, 15:34

Re: Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by chitgoks »

this took me a few hours

but what i did was to run virtualbox as administrator and that was when the time it reflected the correct resolution display size

you can do it once. the next time you run virtualbox, you do not need to run it as an administrator
socratis
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Re: Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by socratis »

I'm sorry, but that doesn't make too much sense. Since VirtualBox runs in the context of the user, you wouldn't be able to even see the VM in question, they're not the administrator's VMs, they're the user's VMs.

So, could you please explain in a little bit more detail what was the problem and how exactly do you believe it got fixed?
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ShaneM
Posts: 15
Joined: 30. Nov 2017, 19:13

Re: Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by ShaneM »

@socratis

Thank you for your response.

In my Mac it's set to "looks like 1440 x 900" - but that doesn't mean it's actually 1440x900, surely? It's scaling the display to appear like 1440x900, right?

As for the resolution specifically - in my VB settings it's sent to "Hint" at 2560 x 1400 (?) - in Windows settings it shows as running 2560 x 1600 with 150% text. I'm inclined to believe this is accurate - it all looks crisp and what I would expect at that resolution. You're right - it's very small but the 150% helps a lot.

Are you saying that the native resolution of the Retina panel is not actually 2560 x 1600, is actually something else, and therefore the best I can/should do is something lower (1680x1050, 1440x900 etc)?

I tried changing to "default", restarted VB/Win and now it's still showing 2560x1600, but Windows fills the entire panel now. So - that helped. From my perspective, things are resolved. But, now you've got me wondering if the 2560 resolution is not actually true, and I'm wondering what would happen if I installed GA from my current configuration.
socratis
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Re: Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by socratis »

ShaneM wrote:but that doesn't mean it's actually 1440x900, surely? It's scaling the display to appear like 1440x900, right?
Right. Because at 2560x1600 resolution nothing can be seen, you'll need a magnifying glass. Take a look at MacTracker (really great program). Your model is listed as:
Resolutions: 2560-by-1600 (Retina); Scaled resolutions: 1680 by 1050, 1440 by 900, and 1024 by 640 pixels
The 2560x1600 as I said, you'll never see it natively, unless you use a couple of special programs. The only offerings in OSX are the scaled ones.

The question is: why do you need that resolution in your Windows guest, since not even your host allows you that "luxury". What are you going to gain? I have mine setup so that the OSX is set to "More space" (1920x1200) and the VM to 1280x1024 (most of my VMs) with their native scaling. Didn't have to use any hints or any modes. Just accept the defaults. It looks beautiful ;)

Even when I take the VMs to full screen, they'll go to the resolution that the Mac supports. In your case that would be 1680x1050 or 1440x900, depending on what you have selected in the Display settings.

EDIT: Even when I boot from my external USB to my Win10 installation, I chose the 1920x1200 option on my MBPr. It looks fantastic. I tried the 2880x1800 one, and I really hated it.
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ShaneM
Posts: 15
Joined: 30. Nov 2017, 19:13

Re: Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by ShaneM »

The question is: why do you need that resolution in your Windows guest, since not even your host allows you that "luxury". What are you going to gain? I have mine setup so that the OSX is set to "More space" (1920x1200) and the VM to 1280x1024 (most of my VMs) with their native scaling. Didn't have to use any hints or any modes. Just accept the defaults. It looks beautiful ;)
So, in my situation, the 1440x900 looked pixelated as hell. It looked like it was at 640x480 blown up. Now, I'm at 2560 x 1600 and things run fine, although it feels a little on the laggy side.

I would be happy running it at a "reasonable" resolution instead of native for the panel, if I could get it to do that automatically. It sounds like your suggestion would be for me to choose 1440x900 or "more space" in OSX, then run VM however it defaults, after I reinstall GA. Is that correct? I guess my only concern is that it will go back to 1440x900 and look crappy in doing so.
socratis
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Re: Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by socratis »

No, for your case, the best option would be to start from the OSX Display settings and set that to "More space" (the most-right option). That would give you an effective resolution of 1680x1050, not 1440x900. Then you start your VM accepting the defaults. See how it looks at 1680x1050 full screen.

I prefer windowed mode, so if I had your Mac, I would choose 1280x1024. Even that might not work because of the space occupied from the Menu bar and the Dock. Something more like 1280x960 for windowed mode and then if you take it full screen it will self-adjust to 1680x1050.
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ShaneM
Posts: 15
Joined: 30. Nov 2017, 19:13

Re: Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by ShaneM »

So, when I do this ("More space" and then change "Hint" in VM to "Automatic" or "none"), Win10 still shows 2560x1600 in the settings, and it's back to taking up 75% of the screen, and still laggy.

I try installing GA, and it errors out when installing the first driver - vboxguest.inf

Any suggestions?
socratis
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Re: Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by socratis »

ShaneM wrote:I try installing GA, and it errors out when installing the first driver - vboxguest.inf
??? I don't think I've seen that one before.

Here's what you do (in principle):
  1. First of all, post the .vbox file for the VM. Wait for me to have a look at it, so we'll know what we're dealing with.
  2. Uninstall the Guest Additions. Shut down the VM.
  3. Change the VirtualBox Display settings to Automatic. Shut down VirtualBox for 1 min, just for good measure.
  4. Restart VirtualBox and your VM.
  5. Pick a small size, something like 1280x960 (if you can). Install the GAs and if you couldn't before, then choose 1280x960. Do NOT adjust the display settings anymore from the guest.
  6. Then hit HostKey+F to take it to full screen.
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ShaneM
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Joined: 30. Nov 2017, 19:13

Re: Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by ShaneM »

1) Attached
2) It won't uninstall. Can't find uninstall file in the directory. The directory still contains a lot of GA files, although I thought I had previously uninstalled it.
Attachments
Win.vbox.zip
(2.12 KiB) Downloaded 76 times
socratis
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Re: Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by socratis »

  1. Thanks. You got to "fix" it by removing the CustomVideoMode1 token. From the Terminal run the command:
    • VBoxManage setextradata "Win" "CustomVideoMode1"
  2. What if you go to Control Panel » Programs and Features. Or from the Settings » System » Apps & Features » Related settings, Programs and Features (all the way to the bottom). The GAs should be there, uninstall them from there.
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ShaneM
Posts: 15
Joined: 30. Nov 2017, 19:13

Re: Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by ShaneM »

1) done
2) The latter option at least allowed me to remove it from the list - it wouldn't let me uninstall it, but I'm 99.9% sure I had already done so.
3) done
4) done
5) no option was available. Win shows 1024x768. GA still fails. Tried deleting GA folder entirely again, then restarting, ejecting GA, installing GA again. Still fails. :evil:
socratis
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Re: Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by socratis »

That's really weird. I don't think I've ever seen the GAs failing to install...
Just for kicks, can you right-click on the GAs installer and select the Run-As-Administrator option? BTW, you are trying to run the "VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe", right? Not the "VBoxWindowsAdditions-x86.exe" nor the "VBoxWindowsAdditions-amd64.exe", right?

All the other points are right.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
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ShaneM
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Joined: 30. Nov 2017, 19:13

Re: Screen resolution issues with Mac retina display

Post by ShaneM »

I was letting it autoplay, but I did just try "vBoxWindowsAdditions.exe" , ran as admin and got the same result. When I abort, it tells me to check a log file in the GA folder, but the log file doesn't exist. Here is a screenshot of the install screen when it fails.

Also, I just checked and it is trying to access \Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\vboxguest.inf* - and that folder (vboxguest.inf*) does not exist in that folder - or windows is preventing it from making it.
Attachments
Untitled.jpg
Untitled.jpg (105.58 KiB) Viewed 46525 times
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