VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Discussions about using Linux guests in VirtualBox.
xorbe
Posts: 34
Joined: 4. Apr 2013, 02:50

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by xorbe »

Whiskeyjack wrote:As of revision 138395 GA should be able resize virtual monitors on Wayland guests as well. That is when vmsvga graphics adapter is used. The new GAs are available in https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Testbuilds.
Will try the testbuilds. No matter what I do, openSUSE Tumbleweed guest on Win10 host snaps back to 800x600 with VMSVGA + VBox 6.1.8 -- and VboxVGA only crashes now. (No 3D selected.)

edit: no dice, same problem with testbuild vbox+ga. Resizes, but VMSVGA snaps back to 800x600 about a second later (x11 session). Host: 4K + 2080Ti + 446.14. Guest: kernel 5.6.14, KDE 5.18.5

I tried both GA r138064 and GA r138395, neither worked for x.org, both snap back to 800x600 here.

Reverted to GA 6.1.4 (+ vbox 6.1.9 r138395), graphics works at least.
Last edited by xorbe on 3. Jun 2020, 10:59, edited 3 times in total.
Whiskeyjack
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 122
Joined: 28. Aug 2017, 13:14

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by Whiskeyjack »

What is your desktop environment. just saying "is not working for me" is not enough.
xorbe
Posts: 34
Joined: 4. Apr 2013, 02:50

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by xorbe »

Whiskeyjack wrote:What is your desktop environment. just saying "is not working for me" is not enough.
KDE 5.18.5

SOLUTION

Run this command to kill kscreen, which is addicted to forcing the "preferred mode" (starting with KDE 5.15) which is 800x600 by default, and then change resolution.

Code: Select all

qdbus-qt5 org.kde.kded5 /kded unloadModule kscreen
Or get pissed off about it and move /usr/lib64/qt5/plugins/kf5/kscreen and restart which is more permanent until that rpm upgrades. Or just move /usr/lib64/libexec/kf5/kscreen_backend_launcher
Last edited by xorbe on 3. Jun 2020, 13:06, edited 4 times in total.
Whiskeyjack
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 122
Joined: 28. Aug 2017, 13:14

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by Whiskeyjack »

kscreen sabotages screen resizing by resetting to the preferred screen resolution the driver reports. in vmwgfx case it is 800x600. In x11 case there is a workaround. just do an online search with vmwgfx kscreen resolution etc. in short it is not our bug. the solution here is to switch to another desktop environment or to x11. Either of those will solve the problem. if not just let us know.
xorbe
Posts: 34
Joined: 4. Apr 2013, 02:50

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by xorbe »

Whiskeyjack wrote:kscreen sabotages screen resizing by resetting to the preferred screen resolution the driver reports. in vmwgfx case it is 800x600. In x11 case there is a workaround. just do an online search with vmwgfx kscreen resolution etc. in short it is not our bug. the solution here is to switch to another desktop environment or to x11. Either of those will solve the problem. if not just let us know.
Can I make a wrapper that discards the 800x600 requests ...
Last edited by xorbe on 3. Jun 2020, 12:32, edited 1 time in total.
Whiskeyjack
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 122
Joined: 28. Aug 2017, 13:14

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by Whiskeyjack »

I have just tested OpenSUSE Tumbleweed wıth gnome desktop. It defaults to wayland and upon installing the latest GA from the test builds page I was able to resize the monitor.
xorbe
Posts: 34
Joined: 4. Apr 2013, 02:50

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by xorbe »

Whiskeyjack wrote:I have just tested OpenSUSE Tumbleweed wıth gnome desktop. It defaults to wayland and upon installing the latest GA from the test builds page I was able to resize the monitor.
I doubt Gnome uses kscreen. I did work around the issue a couple of hacky ways listed above. Kill kscreen via qdbus. Or move kscreen libs so they won't load. I don't see how to filter out 800x600 requests yet.

I found a KDE command named kscreen-doctor, and one of the things it says is "followPreferredMode: true", and I bet there's a way to turn that to false.
Whiskeyjack
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 122
Joined: 28. Aug 2017, 13:14

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by Whiskeyjack »

told you already either dont use KDE or use x11. dont get this obsession about a specific desktop environment. and if you still want to complain go to whoever implemented kscreen thingy or vmware.
xorbe
Posts: 34
Joined: 4. Apr 2013, 02:50

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by xorbe »

Whiskeyjack wrote:told you already either dont use KDE or use x11. dont get this obsession about a specific desktop environment.
Frankly, this is highly hostile towards your users.
Last edited by xorbe on 3. Jun 2020, 19:25, edited 1 time in total.
oceanjeremy
Posts: 9
Joined: 24. May 2020, 01:16

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by oceanjeremy »

xorbe wrote: But why does vbox 6.1.4 VMSVGA work but vbox 6.1.8 doesn't. The only thing that changes is vbox.
I think it's because the bug started in Guest Additions 6.1.8, and if you install VBox 6.1.4 you're probably getting Guest Additions 6.1.4 (or something like that).

To me it seems like you've got three options:
  • You could go back to VBox 6.1.8, install the newest Guest Additions testbuild, and fix the resolution issues particular to KDE.
  • You could go back to VBox 6.1.8, but downgrade only Guest Additions.
  • Or you could stick it out in VBox 6.1.4 and see if future upgrades fix the problem without the need for added tweaking on your end.
Third option seems like the least amount of work to me...
xorbe
Posts: 34
Joined: 4. Apr 2013, 02:50

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by xorbe »

oceanjeremy wrote:
xorbe wrote: But why does vbox 6.1.4 VMSVGA work but vbox 6.1.8 doesn't. The only thing that changes is vbox.
I think it's because the bug started in Guest Additions 6.1.8, and if you install VBox 6.1.4 you're probably getting Guest Additions 6.1.4 (or something like that).

To me it seems like you've got two options:
  • You could go back to VBox 6.1.8, install the newest Guest Additions testbuild, and fix the resolution issues particular to KDE.
  • Or you could stick it out in 6.1.4 and see if future upgrades fix the problem without the need for added tweaking on your end.
Easiest way: KDE System Setting -> Startup -> Background Services -> uncheck KScreen. The problem is instantly fixed without reboot.
oceanjeremy
Posts: 9
Joined: 24. May 2020, 01:16

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by oceanjeremy »

Ahhh, I understand your question now: Why is Oracle recommending for users to switch to GNOME.

No idea, as I don't work for Oracle. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :wink:

If I had to hazard a guess I'd say it's probably out of frustration because this GA roll-out seems to have been particularly buggy with Linux guests. At times like this I like to remind myself that VirtualBox is a free product.
xorbe
Posts: 34
Joined: 4. Apr 2013, 02:50

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by xorbe »

I just think that "change window manager" and "change distro" (etc) shouldn't be allowed solutions for forum reps to be pushing. The goal is to resolve technical issues, not run away and let them pile up.
Whiskeyjack
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 122
Joined: 28. Aug 2017, 13:14

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by Whiskeyjack »

No one is running away from anything. The mentioned thing is not even a VBox bug. We have no way to solve it. If one insists on using a vanilla KDE + Wayland + wmsvga then he/she cannot resize the monitor. Killing kscreen (as you have pointed out several times now) is also a solution.
mobc
Posts: 5
Joined: 27. Apr 2020, 11:43

Re: VMSVGA adapter does not resize display

Post by mobc »

Hi,
There is a known bug/problem in KDE Plasma

The KDE developers don't have time to solve this bug, so users will have to wait or fix the problem themselves. You can go on the bug page and report that you also noticed the bug and hope the kde developers will fix it. I sent an email to the person in charge of the bug, but the kde developers don't have the time for this which is strange because it has a high impact on usability and adoption/testing of kde on virtual machines (if you don't know how to fix the problem).
I don't blame the developers, maybe they have other things to worry about and there is always the manual fix and maybe as long as the bug is present, more people will learn about the fix.

A person already said in this page that the culprit is Kscreen.

The but can be fixed manually:
" KDE Plasma5 can't change resolution in VM..." . Here is the bug report link:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=407058
The bug report also has the fix for the problem inside the comments.


To fix the problem you have to disable KScreen2.
To enable changing the resolution in PCLinuxOS live iso inside Virtualbox, here's what I did:

I disabled KScreen2 from Start Menu > Background Services > Startup Services and then I increased the display resolution from 800x600 and the change was persistent.
The resolution didn't immediately reset to 800x600 if KScreen2 is disabled. Even if KScreen2 is enabled but its Status is "Not Running", the resolution cannot be changed, so make sure to disable KScreen2.

I expect the fix will work with VMWare, too.
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