Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
dhogan
Posts: 5
Joined: 14. Feb 2020, 05:03

Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by dhogan »

Version of VirtualBox: 6.1.2r135662(Qt5.6.2)
Guest additions are installed
Host: Windows 10 Home 64-bit | 28GB memory
Guest: Windows 10 Professional 64-bit | 4GB memory

The Windows 10 64-bit guest is installed properly, and everything seems to work except for Seamless mode. When the Windows 10 guest is running, the VirtualBox will not go to seamless mode. When I put it into seamless mode, it looks smoother but the desktop of Windows 10 client goes to full screen. I have activated, deactivated, and reactivated seamless mode, and restarted the VirtualBox each time to no avail.

I want to only be able to view the host desktop, while being able to open programs in the guest OS. In the end, I just want to have the seamless mode work as intended.

Side note, this is something I got to work partially. By changing the performance options for the client OS, I was able to get it to only take up 1/4th of the host desktop. First I turned everything off and got that result. After reboot, seamless=fullscreen again. I turned back on Smooth edges of screen fonts and Smooth-scroll list boxes, and I got the same result(partial host takeover). After reboot, seamless=fullscreen again. It appears simply toggling these changes can make the guest only take up a portion of the hosts desktop. Sadly, when you click on a window from the guest, the portion that is taken moves on top of whatever is in that area on the host. Hopefully that can hint the developers towards possible areas to look into.

Edit to add screenshots. Host background is grey, guest background is black.
Attachments
Here you can see what happens when I go into seamless mode. Controls are taken over by the guest. I only was able to get print screen from host by selecting the soft keyboard from the input  menu.
Here you can see what happens when I go into seamless mode. Controls are taken over by the guest. I only was able to get print screen from host by selecting the soft keyboard from the input menu.
Windows Host Desktop VM in CTRL+L to Seamless.png (93.29 KiB) Viewed 10914 times
Here you can see the guest taking approx 50% of host screen. Works fine in windowed mode.
Here you can see the guest taking approx 50% of host screen. Works fine in windowed mode.
Windows Host Desktop VM in Windowed Mode.png (21.08 KiB) Viewed 10914 times
Last edited by dhogan on 6. Apr 2020, 22:35, edited 1 time in total.
dhogan
Posts: 5
Joined: 14. Feb 2020, 05:03

Re: Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by dhogan »

Bumping. Anyone? Now that we're all working from home, this has become a bigger issue for me.
dhogan
Posts: 5
Joined: 14. Feb 2020, 05:03

Re: Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by dhogan »

Can anyone running a win10 guest in a win10 host, and has seamless working, please go through your settings with me? This is becoming a major issue for my work flow and causing me much frustration. I would be very grateful if someone could help me figure this out. If this isn't the right place, or I'm not putting helpful information, please advise.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by scottgus1 »

This forum is a good place for the issue to be discussed, just have to wait for someone who knows how to discuss it...

Start the guest from full power off, 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.

Please right-click the guest in the main Virtualbox window's guest list, choose Show Log. Save the far left tab's log, zip the log file, and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.
Franklin
Posts: 4
Joined: 4. May 2020, 22:38

Re: Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by Franklin »

Hi,

I experience the same behavior on my Win10 box.
Interestingly it works with a Win7 VM on the same host system (Kubuntu 20.4).
Franklin
Posts: 4
Joined: 4. May 2020, 22:38

Re: Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by Franklin »

As suggested here are my log files.
The Win7 VM works fine with the seamless mode, the Win10 VM not.
Attachments
VBox_Win10.log
(79.51 KiB) Downloaded 16 times
Franklin
Posts: 4
Joined: 4. May 2020, 22:38

Re: Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by Franklin »

I figured out now, why I could not upload the second file: it is too big. Therefore it is zipped now.
Anyway, hopefully someone finds this useful.

Cheers,
Frank
Attachments
VBox_Win7.zip
(28.92 KiB) Downloaded 19 times
dhogan
Posts: 5
Joined: 14. Feb 2020, 05:03

Re: Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by dhogan »

Sorry for the delay, I need to change my notification settings... File attached. Win 10 home host, Win 10 pro VM.

Note that this is also happening with a new VM installation. Trying to run the VM in Linux Mint has the same results as well.
Attachments
Win10-2020-07-01-17-45-25.zip
Logged as requested.
(34.81 KiB) Downloaded 20 times
m2i
Posts: 8
Joined: 2. Nov 2017, 18:57
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 7, Windows 10

Re: Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by m2i »

Franklin wrote: I experience the same behavior on my Win10 box.
Interestingly it works with a Win7 VM on the same host system (Kubuntu 20.4).
Hi,

same for me, windows 10 hosts.
Win7 VM seamless is fine, Win10 VM seamless still shows VM desktop.
csmccarron
Posts: 50
Joined: 21. Aug 2013, 16:18
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 10 64 & 32, XP Mode
Location: VA

Re: Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by csmccarron »

Virtualbox 6.1.12 Seamless Mode Issue
seamless_mode_bug.jpg
seamless_mode_bug.jpg (49.9 KiB) Viewed 10496 times
Guest: Windows 10 64bit 2004
Host: Windows 10 64bit 2004

Seamless mode has thick boarders around windows and show part of the virtual machine desktop in stead of the host desktop.
nealabc
Posts: 2
Joined: 24. Jul 2020, 21:28

Re: Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by nealabc »

Saw something similar after 2004 Upgrade. Had to disable 3D Acceleration and seems normal now.
csmccarron
Posts: 50
Joined: 21. Aug 2013, 16:18
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 10 64 & 32, XP Mode
Location: VA

Re: Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by csmccarron »

VirtualBox 6.1.16
Host: Windows 10 20H4
Guest: Windows 10 20H4
Seemless_Mode_Broken.jpg
Seemless_Mode_Broken.jpg (97.02 KiB) Viewed 10038 times
Seamless mode is still broken. Disabling 3D Acceleration does not fix this!
dhogan
Posts: 5
Joined: 14. Feb 2020, 05:03

Re: Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by dhogan »

Since I started this ticket, I've run Windows 10 guests in multiple versions of main linux distros, and Windows 10. Seamless does not work any differently in any of those host environments. It simply turns full screen on. I've tried all combinations of video settings for the virtual machine. I've tried different performance settings inside the guest. This has been new installs of win10 in each, as well as using existing ones originally setup in a different host OS.

I really wish that the virtualbox team would acknowledge the issue, either by working on it, or removing the option for seamless on Win10 guests. There are multiple open tickets for this issue, most are closed and point to other tickets. The other tickets have no helpful information in them, just other people reporting the same issue.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by scottgus1 »

I lost track of this topic, sorry.

@dhogan, I see that your VM has 3D enabled and Guest Additions installed, these are good.

@Franklin, your 10 VM does not have 3D enabled, and you're running the Ubuntu fork of Virtualbox. These might not hurt or might hinder good seamless. Update to official Virtualbox and update the GAs in the VM, and enable 3D.

@m2i and @csmccarron, please upload zipped logs like dhogan and Franklin have done, so we can check your VM's setups.

@nealabc, disabling 3D can help or hurt, apparently 10 runs a bit better with 3D enabled, from what I read. You can try enabling 3D again, see if seamless goes south for your VM too, then upload a log.

@all: Windows 10 has known video glitches, like transparent Start menu, etc. when 3D is enabled. Disabling Settings > Personalization > Colors > Transparency Effects in the Windows 10 VM is knwn to fix these glitches, and might fix the seamless problem too.
Franklin
Posts: 4
Joined: 4. May 2020, 22:38

Re: Seamless on Windows 10 client is fullscreen, not seamless.

Post by Franklin »

Thanks!

Enabling 3D worked for me ..
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