Unable to move or resize guest Window

[skilleter]

Hi,

I'm running VB 5.1.30_Ubuntu r118389 on Xubuntu 17.10 with the corresponding guest additions.

Everything works fine with different guest OS's (Windows XP, 7 and 10, Ubuntu 16.04) except that I cannot move or resize the guest window. If I click on the title bar and try and move the window, the host system just beeps and the stays in the same place when I move the mouse.

Likewise, if I click on the window control button (top left corner of window) the usual menu (Unmaximise, Minimise, etc.) does not appear and the host just beeps.

If I click on the 'Unmaximise' window control, the guest window does resize slightly (and the guest OS changes resolution to match).

Other non-VB windows can be moved, resized, etc, as you'd expect.

Any ideas how to fix this?

Thanks

John

[socratis]

I'm running VB 5.1.30_Ubuntu

It looks like you're using the distro's fork version of VirtualBox. You can either ask in their forums for help, or completely remove/uninstall/delete/purge their version and install the official version from the Downloads section of VirtualBox (https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads).

[KPearson]

I'm on Linux Mint, and have downloaded the latest version of VBox from the download page, so I'm not using my distribution's fork of VBox. But when I was, I had this problem.

It seemed that if I added my username to /etc/group under vboxusers, the problem went away (after a re-login or reboot -- don't remember which).

This time, however, my name is in /etc/group, but still no luck moving or resizing. The only difference for my experience from the OP is that my computer doesn't beep. It just doesn't grab and move/resize.

[socratis]

It seemed that if I added my username to /etc/group under vboxusers, the problem went away

I do not believe that this is necessary to move an application window in your desktop. Something else is going on with your setup, because I can move my VirtualBox windows just fine in my Mint 17^[1]. Are you sure you downloaded the appropriate version of VirtualBox?

[1] uname -a
    3.13.0-143-generic #192-Ubuntu SMP Tue Feb 27 10:45:36 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[KPearson]

I downloaded the version from the virtualbox site because I'm required to use the latest version. Because of the way that version is set up, it uses QT, which isn't the default for Mint. I have to do that because I host our cloud product on my own server, and for that to work, I have to have vBox v5.2.

I have found a work-around. I use "Shade" for double-clicking on the title bar, and while it's shaded I can move the windows. This will have to do until the Mint developers catch up and include version 5.2 in the repositories.

So, I'm pretty sure I don't have the right version, but I do have the "right" version so I can do my work. The latter is more important to me than the former.

It should still work, however, because a window manager is supposed to do just that, manage windows.

I think though, that there's something incompatible with the included QT libraries that come with vBox 5.2 but which aren't communicating right with my WM.

Thank you for your response.

[socratis]

I think though, that there's something incompatible with the included QT libraries that come with vBox 5.2 but which aren't communicating right with my WM.

Not generally speaking. For your setup, I cannot make any comments since I don't have it in front of me. I bet that if you install a fresh Mint, you won't have any problems, so the question becomes what's the deviation on your system...

[KPearson]

I think you're right. I don't have the problem at home on my Mint laptop. Even though it's an upgrade, it's acting right. But it's also the repository version because I don't run work VMs at home without using my work laptop, which is my primary workstation. I have a desktop I used specifically for the VMs I run to test customer issues, and that one works right, too. It didn't until I added my username in /etc/group. Then after a reboot It started working.

But both my desktop and laptop are fresh installations of Mint 18.3, so I'm baffled why it's not working the same. I'm not going to work much more on it because shading and moving, then unshading works good enough.

I'll get it working though. I usually get what I want working how I want. I've used Linux as my only desktop OS for the better part of 22 years...

Thank you for your input. You've given me some hints I'll follow-up on as I get around to it.

[socratis]

I did a quick search for "linux mint can't move windows". It came back with a lot of results... From Compiz, to Desktop Cube, to Window Decorations, to...

In the Compiz Manager, you will find the Move Window checkbox in Window Management.

That last one was a... d'oh moment

If you manage to find the solution, it might help a future searcher if you post it...

[skuda]

Same problem here using Arch Linux.

@Kpearson, did you finally find the culprit?

[Particle]

Same problem on Debian. I use VirtualBox from the virtualbox.org repo and have seen this behavior on both Debian 9 and Debian Testing. It seemed to start when kernel 4.13/4.14/4.15 came out--I don't recall which one. I figured it was a glitch with the MATE desktop and had been meaning to try others, but I haven't gotten that far in my testing.

More interestingly, I've recently started having an issue where not only can I not move or resize VirtualBox windows once any VM has started, the desktop environment in my guests can't initialize correctly.

I would encourage you guys to post a screenfetch at least so that we can try to figure out an environmental factor that we may have in common.

Code: Select all

particle@tim:~$ screenfetch 
         _,met$$$$$gg.           particle@tim
      ,g$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P.        OS: Debian testing buster
    ,g$$P""       """Y$$.".      Kernel: x86_64 Linux 4.16.0-1-amd64
   ,$$P'              `$$$.      Uptime: 2d 18h 58m
  ',$$P       ,ggs.     `$$b:    Packages: 2409
  `d$$'     ,$P"'   .    $$$     Shell: bash 4.4.19
   $$P      d$'     ,    $$P     Resolution: 2560x1440
   $$:      $$.   -    ,d$$'     DE: MATE 1.20.0
   $$\;      Y$b._   _,d$P'      WM: Metacity (Marco)
   Y$$.    `.`"Y$$$$P"'          GTK Theme: 'BlackMATE' [GTK2/3]
   `$$b      "-.__               Icon Theme: mate
    `Y$$                         Font: Cantarell 11
     `Y$$.                       CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X 16-Core @ 32x 3.4GHz [35.0°C]
       `$$b.                     GPU: Radeon RX Vega (VEGA10 / DRM 3.23.0 / 4.16.0-1-amd64, LLVM 6.0.0)
         `Y$$b.                  RAM: 9125MiB / 32044MiB
            `"Y$b._             
                `""""

As a note, ibus doesn't seem to be the cause. I've tried with and without ibus enabled since that is known to cause some keyboard input issues with certain applications.

[skuda]

Here is mine:

Code: Select all

skuda@skuda ~/Desktop $ screenfetch 
                   -`                 
                  .o+`                 skuda@skuda
                 `ooo/                 OS: Arch Linux 
                `+oooo:                Kernel: x86_64 Linux 4.16.9-1-ARCH
               `+oooooo:               Uptime: 2d 20m
               -+oooooo+:              Packages: 2694
             `/:-:++oooo+:             Shell: bash 4.4.19
            `/++++/+++++++:            Resolution: 1920x1080
           `/++++++++++++++:           DE: XFCE4
          `/+++ooooooooooooo/`         WM: Xfwm4
         ./ooosssso++osssssso+`        WM Theme: Default-4.6
        .oossssso-````/ossssss+`       GTK Theme: Clearlooks [GTK2]
       -osssssso.      :ssssssso.      Icon Theme: gnome
      :osssssss/        osssso+++.     Font: Sans 9
     /ossssssss/        +ssssooo/-     CPU: Intel Core i7-4702MQ @ 8x 3.2GHz [57.0°C]
   `/ossssso+/:-        -:/+osssso+-   GPU: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Haswell Mobile 
  `+sso+:-`                 `.-/+oso:  RAM: 3101MiB / 15736MiB
 `++:.                           `-/+/
 .`                                 `/

[ksey]

Ive got the same problem since a couple of days. I'm using the official repo with the latest release.

Code: Select all

 ~ screenfetch 
                          ./+o+-       ks_private_dev@ks-tpnew
                  yyyyy- -yyyyyy+      OS: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic
               ://+//////-yyyyyyo      Kernel: x86_64 Linux 4.15.0-22-generic
           .++ .:/++++++/-.+sss/`      Uptime: 46m
         .:++o:  /++++++++/:--:/-      Packages: 2670
        o:+o+:++.`..```.-/oo+++++/     Shell: zsh 5.4.2
       .:+o:+o/.          `+sssoo+/    Resolution: 3840x2160
  .++/+:+oo+o:`             /sssooo.   DE: GNOME 
 /+++//+:`oo+o               /::--:.   WM: GNOME Shell
 \+/+o+++`o++o               ++////.   WM Theme: Adwaita
  .++.o+++oo+:`             /dddhhh.   GTK Theme: Ambiance [GTK2/3]
       .+.o+oo:.          `oddhhhh+    Icon Theme: Humanity
        \+.++o+o``-````.:ohdhhhhh+     Font: Cantarell 11
         `:o+++ `ohhhhhhhhyo++os:      CPU: Intel Core i7-7700HQ @ 8x 3.8GHz [49.0°C]
           .o:`.syhhhhhhh/.oo++o`      GPU: GeForce 940MX
               /osyyyyyyo++ooo+++/     RAM: 2639MiB / 23981MiB
                   ````` +oo+++o\:    
                          `oo++.

[ksey]

Ive just figured out that the problem disapears on a wayland session and is only existant on a Xorg session for me.

[socratis]

Hmm, so far we have:

• Three different OSes: 1) Debian testing buster, 2) Arch Linux, 3) Ubuntu 18.04 bionic
• Three different kernels: 1) x86_64 Linux 4.16.0-1-amd64, 2) x86_64 Linux 4.16.9-1-ARCH, 3) x86_64 Linux 4.15.0-22-generic
• Three different DEs: 1) MATE 1.20.0, 2) XFCE4, 3) GNOME
• Three different WMs: 1) Metacity (Marco), 2) Xfwm4, 3) GNOME Shell

It seems like they've added that "feature" I've always wanted (lock guest size/position), but only for Linux hosts!

[Ultradrom]

Good news.

Problem: unable to move and resize guest vm window.
My system: fresh install Xubuntu18.04(XFCE,kernels:4.15.0.20.23, 4.15.0.22.23) + VirtualBox5.2.10_Ubuntu_r121806 + some software.
(same problem with downloaded VirtualBox 5.2.12 from virtualbox org)

FixVer1: kill process "xbindkeys", start vm, move window is ok.
FixVer2: comment ALL uncommented lines in "~/.xbindkeysrc", kill & restart process "xbindkeys", start vm, move window is ok.
FixVer3: (before: make cfg backup!) reset cfg of xbindkeys by command "xbindkeys --defaults > ~/.xbindkeysrc", kill & restart process "xbindkeys", start vm, move window is ok.
FixVer4: while vm window is started: select any other inactive window, now you can move or resize inactive vm window by borders and title.
FixVer5: while vm window is started: "Shade" vm window, now you can move window, un-Shade vm window.
FixVer6: (crazy) switch from xfwm4 to Compiz by command "compiz --replace", now you can move or resize vm window.

Curiously is on same Xubuntu18.04 XFCE system:
- XFCE+xfwm4 + xbindkeys = FAIL to move/resize vm window.
- XFCE+Compiz + xbindkeys = OK to move/resize vm window.