How to change the resolution?

[vinhtq115]

I installed Mac OS X but it always run 1024x768. How to change it to 1366x768?

[Perryg]

Post the guests log file (as an attachment)
See Online Users Manual for the location of the file.

[rpmurray]

Running OS X as a guest in VirtualBox limits you to the display resolutions you can select.

From the User Manual:

EFI provides two distinct video interfaces: GOP (Graphics Output Protocol) and UGA (Universal Graphics Adapter). Mac OS X uses GOP, while Linux tends to use UGA. VirtualBox provides a configuration option to control the framebuffer size for both interfaces.

To control GOP, use the following VBoxManage command:

VBoxManage setextradata "VM name" VBoxInternal2/EfiGopMode N

Where N can be one of 0,1,2,3,4 referring to the 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1440x900 screen resolution respectively.

The video mode for both GOP and UGA can only be changed when the VM is powered off and remains persistent until changed.

I've found through experimentation that if you use N = 5 you can also get a resolution of 1920x1200.

[Bobbins]

just in case anyone else has issue's i have also found the following to work:

open Finder and go to the OS X drive on the left. Open the folder called Extras. Right Click on the file com.Apple.Boot.plist and open it with TextEdit.

Code: Select all   Expand viewCollapse view

<key>Graphics Mode</key>
<string>1920x1080x32</string>

Select "Save As" at the top and save it to the desktop, un-checking the tick box under Unicode and then save it as com.apple.boot.plist. After that drag and drop it into the extras folder and overwrite the original file, entering your password set up during account creation.

Once you have done this close down your Virtual Machine. Then in normal windows using your search option, load CMD.

To start with type the following: cd "C:\Program Files\Oracle\Virtualbox" Once you have done this types the following: vboxmanage setextradata "Name of virtual machine" "CustomVideoMode1" "1920x1080x32" and press enter. The sizes here you will need to set as you screen resolution. You can usually find out by right clicking on your desktop and selecting Screen Resolution or Options. Replace "1920x1080x32" with whatever resolution you're using.

This worked perfectly fine for me.

[kkshethin]

my virtaul machine name is mac an i wanted 1280*1024 resolution. In terminal i did

VBoxManage setextradata "mac" VBoxInternal2/EfiGopMode 3

It worked, thanks.

[mascondante]

I tried all instructions here and to no avail. Changing the "Graphics Mode" and setting custom video mode as well as the VBoxManage setextradata "OSX" VBoxInternal2/EfiGopMode 5 command. I got a higher resolution but no more than 1280x1024. Is there any other way to make it happen?

[joeybagofdonuts]

I tried this with a windows 7 guest host and i don't get more than 1024x768. What gives?

[socratis]

@joeybagofdonuts
With a Windows 7 host or with a Windows 7 guest? This is the Mac guests forum, so if you meant a Windows 7 host, then the answer is in the FAQ: Mac OS X guest on a Windows Host.

[aClockworkOrange]

Also I found that you can't use 'spaces' in your vm name, for example use:

VBoxManage setextradata “elCapitainNew" VBoxInternal2/EfiGopMode

instead of

VBoxManage setextradata “el capitain new" VBoxInternal2/EfiGopMode 3 (this is not going to work)

[ccole]

Thank you! Taking the spaces out of the VM worked for me.

Also I found that you can't use 'spaces' in your vm name, for example use:

VBoxManage setextradata “elCapitainNew" VBoxInternal2/EfiGopMode

instead of

VBoxManage setextradata “el capitain new" VBoxInternal2/EfiGopMode 3 (this is not going to work)

[socratis]

Why does bad advice and subsequently thank yous keep pilling up? If your VM has a space in its name, it has a space in its name. Not even Turing can change that.

Now, since you know how to use the Terminal, could you post the output of the command:

   VBoxManage list vms

so we can see what we're dealing with?