Guest resolution not resized on fullscreen with Guest Add'ns

[tugkan]

Hello everybody,

As the subject line summarizes(!), my guest resolution is not resized when I go fullscreen.

Here is my setup:

My host OS is Debian Squeeze.
I have virtualbox-ose 4.0.10 .
My guest OS is Debian Wheezy (kernel 3.0).
I have virtualbox-guest-x11 4.1.0 and virtualbox-ose-guest-x11 4.1.0 on my guest OS.
I have 128MB video memory on my VM.
Under Machine menu in my VM, Auto-resize Guest Display is checked but greyed out.
This could be relevant: 'Switch to Seamless Mode' option is also greyed out.

All the postings I find online suggest it should work. Could it be that the virtualbox version on the host does not match the version of the Guest Additions?
Any suggestions?

Thanks.
Tugkan

[Perryg]

I have virtualbox-guest-x11 4.1.0 and virtualbox-ose-guest-x11 4.1.0 on my guest OS.

This is a version that comes from the VirtualBox source but changed and compiled by Debian. If you want us to troubleshoot your issue you would need to install the official VirtualBox guest additions (at a minimum) or seek assistance from the Debian forums.

[tugkan]

I have virtualbox-guest-x11 4.1.0 and virtualbox-ose-guest-x11 4.1.0 on my guest OS.

This is a version that comes from the VirtualBox source but changed and compiled by Debian. If you want us to troubleshoot your issue you would need to install the official VirtualBox guest additions (at a minimum) or seek assistance from the Debian forums.

Thanks for the quick response. Is it a problem that my guest OS is debian wheezy?

When I choose 'Install Guest Additions' from the Devices menu, VirtualBox first looks for an iso image locally and then tries
http://dlc.sun.com.edgesuite.net/virtua ... Debian.iso
and fails.

[Perryg]

The problem is as I said. You have the guest additions installed that are provided by Debian. The OSE and x11 are a direct give-a-way.
You need to remove them first. Wheezy comes with the Debian version of VirtualBox guest additions installed by default and causes issues if you try to mix them. Open the package manager and search for virtualbox and remove them all. Then install the ones from VirtualBox.
Make sure that you have installed the necessary packages to compile external modules first.

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install dkms build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)

[tugkan]

I have done all that except installing the Guest Additions from VirtualBox. As I mentioned

When I choose 'Install Guest Additions' from the Devices menu, VirtualBox first looks for an iso image locally and then tries
http://dlc.sun.com.edgesuite.net/virtua ... Debian.iso
and fails.

Where should I look for the Guest Additions?

On my host OS (Debian Squeeze) I have installed VirtualBox 4.0.10 from Debian squeeze-backports. Would I have to remove that and reinstall a non-Debian package as well?

Thanks,
Tugkan

[Perryg]

Truthfully I would remove it all and install the official release from VirtualBox. No backport needed.

But start the guest and open the synaptic package manager and type virtualbox in the search. Uncheck (remove) anything that says VirtualBox and has a check mark. See screen shot.

Screenshot.png (51.43 KiB) Viewed 13173 times

[tugkan]

Thanks. I had already removed all debian packages on the guest.

Now, I have also installed the official release VirtualBox (4.1.2) on the host. Resizing does not work yet.

This time, I got a bit further installing Guest Additions from the Devices menu:

An iso image was mounted (title: VBOXADDITIONS_4.1.2_73507) in the guest.

After approving in the two windows that follow, a third window comes up with the message

Error autorunning software
Cannot find the autorun program

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
Tugkan

[Perryg]

Open a terminal and type sudo -i and press enter plus your password and enter again.
Now open the places and the CD/DVD drive.
Drag the appropriate *.run (x86 or amd) to the terminal and drop it, click the terminal to get focus and hit enter.
Watch for any error messages and reboot when done.

[tugkan]

Open a terminal and type sudo -i and press enter plus your password and enter again.
Now open the places and the CD/DVD drive.
Drag the appropriate *.run (x86 or amd) to the terminal and drop it, click the terminal to get focus and hit enter.
Watch for any error messages and reboot when done.

Thanks again. Sorry for pestering, it feels close.

There was only one *.run file. I dragged it onto the terminal with root shell. Pressing enter resulted

Code: Select all

~# 'media/cdrom0/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run'
-bash: media/cdrom0/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run: Permission denied
~#

When I added sudo, no error:

Code: Select all

~# sudo 'media/cdrom0/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run'
~#

However, rebooting have not helped. How can I check whether the Guest Additions are installed?
Auto-resize Guest Display and Switch to Seamless Mode options are still greyed out.

Thanks,
Tugkan

[Perryg]

Ooops you have Debian. sorry.
Put an sh at the beginning of the command.
And you don't need sudo if you are at #

[tugkan]

It worked!
Thanks a lot for your help. Thanks for putting up with my incompetence.
Tugkan

[lmsilveira]

I am having a similar problem. I cannot get more than 640x480. Guest Additions is installed (installation done in Safe Mode) and "Auto Resize Guest Display" is set.

My OS is Fedora 15 and my version is from VirtualBox-4.1-4.1.2_73507_fedora15-1.i686. Guest Additions is version 4.1.2. My guest is Windows XP SP3.

No mater what I do, the screen stays always at 640x480. Strangely enough, in Safe Mode I do get 1024x768.

The wierdest thing is that at home I have basically the same setup (same host OS, same guest OS, same version of VirtualBox rpm; of course the hardware is slightly different) and it works like a charm. Worked from the get go!

Any help is greatly appreciated since as is, this is unusable.

Best regards,

-lm


ps - I can provide logs or config files if it helps

[Perryg]

@lmsilveira,
If this is a full version of Windows and you have installed the guest additions (in the guest) then it will work.
Look at the task bar by the clock. Do you see the VBox icon?
What happens if you click and drag the windows larger or hit the host-f (full screen) toggle?

[lmsilveira]

@lmsilveira,
If this is a full version of Windows and you have installed the guest additions (in the guest) then it will work.
Look at the task bar by the clock. Do you see the VBox icon?
What happens if you click and drag the windows larger or hit the host-f (full screen) toggle?

Hi. Thanks for the reply. This is indeed a full version of Windows (XP SP3 as I mentioned). Guest editions is installed. The VBox icon is shown in the taskbar. Moving the mouse over it I see

Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest Additions 4.1.2r73507

If I drag the window and enlarge it, the window does enlarge but the guest machine's window stay at the same size in the center of the window. After a couple of seconds the host window shrinks again automatically and frames the guest window. I bieleve this happens because I have the "Auto-resize Guest Display On". If toggle that off and then enlarge the host window, it stays "enlarged" but the guest windows stays the same size inside it.

The guest window always stays the same size. If I hit the host-f toggle I get a warning that it is going to full screen mode. When this happens, the guest window is floating in the middle of the screen, with the exact same size. If I try to change settings on the Windows guest to increase form 640x480 onwards, it seems to accept it but then it jumps back to that definition.

It is quite wierd. If I boot in safe mode the guest window pops up in 1024x768, but booting normally always leaves me at 640x480.

I am not sure how to proceed. Any help is appreciated.