Seamless does not work with Microsoft Edge windows in guest (#18022)

[jimav]

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ModEdit; related ticket: #18022: Seamless not working (desktop is not removed) with Ubuntu 18.04 host, Win10 Guest

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Win10 64b Guest, Ubuntu 18.04 64b Host, Xorg, VBox 5.2.18 r124319 (Qt5.9.5)

Upon entering seamless mode, the guest's desktop background is not removed as it should be; the guest background image covers everything else on the Host screen (except for Gnome's side-bar and top-bar). Please watch this short demo video:

http://abhweb.org/downloads/private/vbo ... ss_bug.ogv]

If I open other Host windows, the guest window AND the guest-desktop image together go the bottom of the window stack; if I then click in the guest window, the guest window pops to top of stack along with the guest desktop background, so the other Host windows are not visible. As it says in the docs (https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04. ... esswindows) the guest "background" should be removed, leaving the guest windows visible side-by-side host windows.

I'll attach VBox.log from a session consisting of: Boot Win10 guest, open Edge browser window, enter Seamless mode (bug appears), Host+L to exit seamless, shut down guest OS.

Note: This was originally reported at https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/18022 but I was asked to make a forum post, so here it is.

[socratis]

There are issues with the X11 interaction. A lot of issues. And with the multitude of combinations of DE/WM/OSes, it's really difficult to address. So much so, that the developers have pretty much declared the X11 related issues as user supported. Which means if a competent user knows how to fix it by changing the source code, fine. Otherwise they won't devote any more time, any time soon.

There is call for help from the developers for end-users to pitch in helping with this: 3D support for X11 guests. Also, see a relatively recent comment about this:

Just to summarise the situation: we do not currently have free developer time (as in developers with the required skills who are not already taken up with other work) to investigate this bug, much as we understand that it is annoying to the people affected. This situation might change, but that is not something we can promise. Of course, I quite understand that if this means that something else fits any individual's requirements better than VirtualBox then it is a sensible solution to use that instead.

However, the fact that VirtualBox is open source means that users who are interested have another option to get changes made, by doing the work themselves or crowd-sourcing the work. If you go this way of course, please communicate with us before starting and while doing the work, as we hate to see work go to waste due to misunderstandings like mismatches with our development style. Though this is more a fix than a feature, so likely to be easier to integrate.

See also the X11 guest 3D wiki page. Windows guest 3D is not user-maintained, but we are still rather limited in what we can do.

I would kindly request that as of now people do not add unneeded information to this ticket, such as that this is still not fixed or does not work for a given person. However, if you would like to subscribe to the ticket please add a "me too" comment, and we will delete the comment and add your nickname to the "CC" list.

PS. Try to switch the seamless mode on and off more than once. There was a recent report that switching the seamless mode on/off/on a couple of times actually worked... Try to use the HostKey+L combination, it's faster

[jimav]

The same problem occurs with Wayland, so it appears to not be related to X11 specifically.

Does that change the support situation?

STEPS TO REPRODUCE USING WAYLAND (in Ubuntu 18.04):
1. Log out
2. Log in again, after selecting "Ubuntu on Wayland" in the "gear" menu on the login screen
3. Start Win10 VM
4. Start Edge browser
5. Host+L (switch to seamless mode)

RESULTS: Background is not removed; the windows desktop covers all the host's windows

[socratis]

Does that change the support situation?

Not really...

[jimav]

Ok, it seems that seamless works with other kinds of Guest windows. Microsoft Edge browser windows, specifically, seem to not work (i.e., the background is not removed when going to seamless mode).

If Firefox is used instead of Edge (in the guest), then seamless works as expected.

If MIcrosoft Internet Explorer is started independently (e.g. from the Start menu), then seamless works.

However if a website is first opened in Edge, then "view in Internet Explorer" is used, the IE window appears but seamless mode does NOT work (the win10 desktop background is not removed).


I changed the title to say that the problem involved Edge browser windows