Win10 VMDK guest on Manjaro host

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lpmanjaro
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Joined: 13. May 2021, 18:51

Re: Win10 VMDK guest on Manjaro host

Post by lpmanjaro »

Those were nice thoughts, fth0, but none helped, always 4:3. I am concluding that the issue is one of Manjaro (Host OS) as Vbox always comes up 4:3, not 16:9. (The physical display IS 1920x1080.) Strange as the manjaro "display" app shows 1920x1080.
I need to figure out a way to get another host OS to "host" vbox and see if that changes the ratio.
lpmanjaro
Posts: 55
Joined: 13. May 2021, 18:51

Re: Win10 VMDK guest on Manjaro host

Post by lpmanjaro »

After all the efforts I've expanded I think vbox simply does not support 16:9 ration. The best I can get is 1920x1440 which is currently workable even though the text is very small. I'll simply live with it and 'hope" Oracle either denies it, or fixes it. (Even my other Linux distro's do not offer 16:9 in a virtual environment. )
mpack
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Re: Win10 VMDK guest on Manjaro host

Post by mpack »

lpmanjaro wrote:After all the efforts I've expanded I think vbox simply does not support 16:9 ratio.
Strange that I have no such problem with any of my VMs.

The host OS is not relevant. All that's really required is a host monitor large enough to show a window of the selected size. And of course appropriate drivers in the guest OS.
fth0
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Re: Win10 VMDK guest on Manjaro host

Post by fth0 »

mpack wrote:Strange that I have no such problem with any of my VMs.
After rethinking the issue at hand, I'm also making one of the observations like the OP:

On my macOS host with a Retina display (5120x2880, 16:9), inside the Windows 10 guest OS (1920x1080, 16:9), the Settings > Display > Resolution dropdown list offers the current resolution of the VM window, independent of its aspect ratio, and a list of common 4:3 resolutions. Are you being offered 16:9 resolutions (other than the current one) in this dropdown list in your Windows 10 VMs?

PS: The resolution list offered in the View > Virtual Screen 1 menu of the VM window is fixed in the source code, BTW.
lpmanjaro
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Joined: 13. May 2021, 18:51

Re: Win10 VMDK guest on Manjaro host

Post by lpmanjaro »

Mpack: The host monitor is a 1920x1080. The host os is Manjaro. The virtualization is vmdk of 2 seperate Win10's which each run as hosts on the same physical PC in 1920x1080 as shown in windows setting. >When running the windows in virtual all the selections of display sizes are 4:3, none are 16:9. I also have 2 other Linux distros and they also will not virtualize as 16:9. So I have a single host Manjaro, and 4 different virtual os's where each of the virtual hosts will only display, or allow me to choose anything other then 4:3. All of the virtual os's run native and will run 16:9 (!920x1080) on a native 16:9 display.
What would you suggest I change in os or host that would let the virtual os's display 16:9 ? (Bare in mind I've tried a LOT of different parms, including pretty much all of the "setextradata" settings in vbox regarding display as well as the display settings in vbox preferences, such as hint or auto etc.)
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
Regards
scottgus1
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Re: Win10 VMDK guest on Manjaro host

Post by scottgus1 »

So far, it appears that the Virtualbox "monitor" is a 4:3 monitor. Thus the screen sizes when the OS is running in a VM will only show 4:3, aside from the Guest-Additions-generated screen size for when the window has been manually resized or when the VM has ben set full-screen.

When the OS is running natively it has access to the physical hardware, which happens to be 16:9. When the OS runs in a VM it only has access to the virtual hardware, which is only 4:3. This is why the difference in native vs Virtualbox scree sizes is demonstrated, and probably explains this:
lpmanjaro wrote:(Even my other Linux distro's do not offer 16:9 in a virtual environment. )
Mpack has posted a list of actions to make the VM show 16:9 sizes. Regrettably I have not been able to make it work myself. I'm no doubt missing something. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=68966#p328601

As you pointed out:
lpmanjaro wrote:vbox simply does not support 16:9 ration.
Virtualbox's monitor is 4:3, not 16:9, so the VM OS will only report 4:3 sizes, unless we can figure out what I'm missing from Mpack's list.

A 3rd-party program could help. I have used 12Noon's "Display Changer" on my flight simulator PC to set lower resolutions just while FSX was running so 3-wide screens could have decent frame rates. "Qres" may also work. Try something like these to force a screen size.

One other thing, "XY problem"-wise, why do you need 16:9 display sizes in the dropdown? Maybe knowing your actual problem rather than the solution you have decided on might help us get you to a better solution.
lpmanjaro
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Joined: 13. May 2021, 18:51

Re: Win10 VMDK guest on Manjaro host

Post by lpmanjaro »

Scottgus you set me to thinking, when I/we reviewed the log there was a strange setting of 1920x1043 which was what vbox was seeing. Finally (Comes the dawn:-)) the actual Manjaro display reserves about 36 pixels at the bottom of the display for manjaro "stuff" and that is most likely why vbox does NOT see the full 1080 virtual display parm. Like I said, comes the dawn....
The reason I want virtual Windows to display 1920-1080 is, Manjaro is my main daily OS, but occasionally I need/want to access my old windows system to run something that is not available in Manjaro, and even there I am slowly getting replacement "stuff" for Manjaro that replaces the things I go to windows for.
Sorry for loooong story, but I want the Manjaro system bar at the bottom of the display when virtual windows takes up the rest of the display.
Ctl-f get me close to what I want, but to get back to manjaro I have to ctl-c to see the Manjaro system bar.
So that is the best workaround and I will live with that.

Think we should close this experience, I've learned a lot from all the contributors and thank each and everyone that took the time to respond and help me learn more about vbox and Manjaro.
Regards
scottgus1
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Re: Win10 VMDK guest on Manjaro host

Post by scottgus1 »

Glad you have something that works!
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