Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
grahamperrin
Posts: 57
Joined: 27. Apr 2008, 15:19

Windows 10 20H2

Post by grahamperrin »

scottgus1 wrote:… normal Windows 10 2004 …
grahamperrin wrote:… I'll review the problem this week …
If I'm not mistaken, I found Windows 10 20H2 properly seamless a few days ago. Today it's opaque (not seamless). Uninstalled guest additions, restarted, reinstalled, restarted, no improvement.
AndyMH
Posts: 7
Joined: 2. Apr 2017, 11:26
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: windows 7 & XP
Location: UK

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

Post by AndyMH »

Don't know how this forum views 'piggybacking' on other's posts, on the LM forum it is frowned upon, so ask for forgiveness in advance :D.

Scenario - run win7 as a guest under linux mint, current LM20.2 Cinnamon. Preferred mode of operation = seamless and it works flawlessly. Can I still get an upgrade to win10 for free? Yes you can.

Clone the win7 VM in VB and update. Works, I now have a win10 VM.

Win not going full screen, find I have to re-install guest additions. Now get full screen. Try seamless mode. It toggles between showing seamless as*:
https://i.imgur.com/VxYYL9x.jpg
or non seamless mode as:
https://i.imgur.com/K6RxRSq.jpg
Seems it is failing to set the win10 desktop transparent. For comparison, this is win7 in seamless mode, showing my LM desktop as normal:
https://i.imgur.com/womAoeT.png

Also found that initially the win menu background was transparent - difficult to get at the shutdown commands and had to Alt+F4, turned off 3D accelaration in VB settings and that fixed the problem. Also told VB that it was win10 not win7 in setting > general > basic (didn't seem to make any difference).

Virtualbox: 6.1.26 r145957 - Qt5.12.8
guest additions: 6.1.26
extension pack: 6.1.26 r145957
Graphics controller: VBoxSVGA
Have also attached the log file if it helps.

Base hardware is a Thinkpad T430, i7-3632, 16GB RAM with 8GB allocated to the win10 VM and an external 2560x1080 monitor.

'Proper' seamless mode would be nice.

* sorry tried the img tags and failed.
Attachments
Win10.log.tar.gz
(25.57 KiB) Downloaded 3 times
ofthecent
Posts: 5
Joined: 20. Mar 2022, 09:18

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

Post by ofthecent »

The seamless feature works intermittently. It's bizarre. First, I was getting no difference between the full-screen mode and the seamless mode. Then the seamless mode started working correctly. Then it stopped working after I maximized the window. There is definitely something going on.
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: Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Post by csmccarron »

Any update on a fix for Seamless Mode? It is acting like full screen mode 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: Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Post by csmccarron »

This is still broken in VirtualBox v7.0.
vansid
Posts: 1
Joined: 7. Feb 2023, 17:00

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

Post by vansid »

I'm having the same problem, seamless mode is basically just fullscreen mode. Here is some info, please let me know if more info needs to be provided:

VirtualBox v7.0.2 r154219
Host: Ubuntu Linux 22.04, x64, kernel 5.15.0-56-generic
Guest: Windows 10, x64, 22H2
Guest Additions: 7.02 r154219
Extension Pack: 7.02 r154219

Does anyone have a fix or a workaround?
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: Windows 10 Guest - Seamless Mode not so Seamless.

Post by csmccarron »

Host: Windows 10 22H2 19045.2728
Guest: Windows 10 22H2 19045.2673

As you can see from the images below, seamless mode is broken. Been this way for a very long time. I am using the VBoxSVGA graphics controller and have Enable 3D Acceleration disabled because it too is broken. Enabling 3D Acceleration does not fix the seamless mode issue, instead it causes more issues. When 3D Acceleration is enabled the guest seems to have issues transparency on & off and does not draw objects correctly in the guest. Seamless mode starts out kinda working and then as soon as you open the start menu in the VM it basically goes into a full screen mode, but I can still use the hosts task bar.

VM Running in a Window
VM Running in Window
VM Running in Window
Seamless1.jpg (94.88 KiB) Viewed 2047 times
VM Running Full Screen
VM Running Full Screen
VM Running Full Screen
Seamless2.jpg (39.75 KiB) Viewed 2047 times
VM Running in Seamless
VM Running in Seamless
VM Running in Seamless
Seamless3.jpg (114.2 KiB) Viewed 2047 times
I do hope one day this will be fixed.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

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

Post by scottgus1 »

For all broken-Seamless sufferers, for troubleshooting purposes, when each new version comes out, in addition to trying your existing VM, try a fresh new VM with a fresh new install of the OS and GAs, just to see if this might be something damaged in the OS.
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