2 separate Icons for VM Manager and VMs after upgrading to 6.0.2 - is there a way to combine them?

[Mobius]

Before upgrading to the latest version of Virtual box, I would have one taskbar icon which would house the windows for both the "Oracle VM VIrtualBox Manager" as well as any currently running VMS.

Now, after upgrading to 6.0.2, the VMS all run under a separate taskbar icon.

I know this may seem nitpicky but I am trying to reduce clutter and wasted space on the taskbar and am hoping there is a way to get this to behave the way it did before! Any help would be great appreciated

[socratis]

I'm afraid not. What used to be a single executable "VirtualBox.exe" is now broken in two parts; the "VirtualBox.exe" which is the Manager, the front-end, and "VirtualBoxVM.exe", which is the backend that actually runs the VM. The separation was done for security reasons, as to not have the front-end potentially interfering with the VMs, and vice versa.

[bblackmoor]

That is really freaking annoying. I came here specifically to report it as a bug.

[socratis]

I came here specifically to report it as a bug.

A bug is something that's advertised/expected to work in way A, but it works in way B. This is not a bug! You have two different processes.

Unless you want to lose the ability to switch VMs within Windows (think Super/Alt-Tab), you could try to convince the developers to add a "key" to not show any icon/process for the VirtualBoxVM.exe. I'm not really sure you want to do that...

[mpack]

A feature working as intended is, by definition, not a bug.

In any case I personally don't understand the issue: the manager GUI and the VM are separate programs, so naturally they appear separately on the taskbar. If you don't want the manager around, close it. If you don't want to see the manager at all, launch your VM from a desktop shortcut.

[Larry Menard]

I upgraded from v5 to v6 today, and I share the OP's annoyance, to a degree. I frequently run multiple VMs at once, and my taskbar is already pretty busy with launchers, so I would have preferred the ability to group the VMs under the same entry as the Manager.

Having said that though, I see that all the VMs I run are at least all grouped under one entry, so it is really only costing me one taskbar slot. I can live with that.

[Dim4ksan]

It also interfered at first, but then I got used to it.

[Larry Menard]

In any case I personally don't understand the issue: the manager GUI and the VM are separate programs, so naturally they appear separately on the taskbar. If you don't want the manager around, close it. If you don't want to see the manager at all, launch your VM from a desktop shortcut.

With all due respect mpack, that is looking at it from an Internals point of view, not a Usability point of view. Maybe some of us do want both the Manager and the running VMs quickly accessible.

I personally prefer to not use desktop shortcuts because they invariably get buried behind open windows. The easiest alternative (IMO) is to pin launchers to the Taskbar.

[mpack]

With all due respect mpack, that is looking at it from an Internals point of view, not a Usability point of view.

No, I'm looking at it from a factual point of view: the manager is an entirely separate program to the VM, so of course it has a separate taskbar slot. Your invalid expectations are the only reason to think otherwise.

There are of course technical explanations too: e.g. perhaps the devs could make the manager appear as a notification icon, but that may be incompatible with being cross platform.

Incidentally, I have a desktop icon to quickly access the manager, pinned to taskbar or start menu would work too. The manager window opens in 3 seconds, I just tested it, and that was from cold (not already in cache) so I doubt the assertion that the manager needs to be kept running for convenience reasons.

[Larry Menard]

Your invalid expectations are the only reason to think otherwise.

I'm curious as to what you consider "invalid" about my expectations.

[mpack]

The invalid part is expecting two separate applications to share one process. IMO it makes as much sense as expecting a Windows Explorer view to share a UI and a taskbar slot with applications launched from inside the folder being viewed: which is not how Windows works.

I'm not really interested in having an involved discussion about this, as neither of us have any say in the matter.

[Larry Menard]

OK then, to whom does one report condescending and rude moderators on this forum?

[socratis]

An opinion that you don't particularly like, is neither condescending nor rude, it's simply an opinion. Like it or not...

But in any event, feedback can be added to the Suggestions » Feedback & comment to the Administrators and Moderators.

[mpack]

I'm going to lock this anyway as the level of discussion doesn't seem like it's going to improve.