VirtualBox UI: grey text on grey background

[fleitner]

Hi,

I just upgraded VirtualBox from 5.2 (that comes with Mint which is my host system) to version 6.1, following the steps on the VirtualBox wiki / Linux_Downloads (I can't post URLs)

Unfortunately, the VirtualBox UI is barely readable now. It uses grey text on a slightly lighter grey background. In 5.2, the UI appeared perfectly normal.
I use a dark window scheme, which might contribute to this issue
Edit: I just confirmed, after switching Controls Theme to a non-dark one, the UI is normal. Switching back to the dark theme goes back to the bad visibility.

Has anyone an idea of how to make the UI behave again with a dark theme?

[mpack]

If you are referring to the forked version of VirtualBox that is promoted by your distro, then you need to go to your distro site for support.

[fleitner]

If you are referring to the forked version of VirtualBox that is promoted by your distro, then you need to go to your distro site for support.

As I said, I followed the steps from the VirtualBox website, from www(dot)virtualbox(dot)org(slash)wiki(slash)Linux_Downloads.
(I am not allowed to post links, otherwise I would have)

On that page, I followed the steps under Debian-based Linux distributions.
Before starting the process, I completely removed the version of VirtualBox that comes with my distro.

[mpack]

You threw me by talking about themes. I don't know of any standard VirtualBox feature that can be used to override host OS themes. On my (Windows) host the settings details panel uses a black system font. AFAIK the host OS determines in broad terms how a Window will look.

Obviously, grayed out text normally implies "disabled" for some reason. Are you sure you can still run that VM?

[fleitner]

I've attached three more images that I just took. The only change I made between these is the marked change in the theme window.

Using a light coloured theme for the Controls, the VirtualBox UI looks normal. Using my default dark coloured one makes it barely readable. Out of interest, I also selected another dark theme. There it is even more extreme, with the text really not visible.

The VMs run perfectly. The normal 'disabled' can be seen at the 'Discard' button on these images, which disabled. All other buttons work normally.

[fth0]

In the VirtualBox Change Log for versions 5.2, 6.0 and 6.1, the word dark is nowhere to be found, so I wouldn't expect VirtualBox to explicitly support a dark mode on any host OS. What you see is simply the combination of some colors from the host OS window manager (e.g. font colors) and some colors from the VirtualBox Manager (e.g. background colors). You can find tickets about this in the VirtualBox Bugtracker, one being created over a year ago, so I wouldn't hold my breath.

[fleitner]

Yeah, I don't hold my breath, it's not a real issue anyway as it is working perfectly.
I was just puzzled as I did not expect such a thing going from 5.2 to 6.1, and was hoping that I just did some stupid mistake somewhere and somebody could point me to it.

In any case, thanks @fth0 and @mpack, at least now I know that it's nothing that can be fixed on my side.

Take care!

[HurricaneJohn]

I don't know if this post is dead or not but this is what you do to fix it:

change the command in the shortcut to: VirtualBox -style fusion %U works like a charm.

[Cyb3r_Duke]

Mate, THANK YOU!

Anyway...an option in the menu should be implemented....

[SOLVED]

[Scary Guy]

Greetings! I am shiny and new.

I did find a work around script on Github by Felix E/tribut that I'll put in as code (since a post above mentioned I couldn't link things.) It's slightly different than the one HurricaneJohn mentioned so I don't know if it can be incorporated, but it did at least make the text black for me when I tried it so I figured I'd mention it:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh

# This is a workaround for Virtualbox drawing white text on light background
# when using dark mode, see ticket #18258
exec "$(which -a VirtualBox | grep -v "$(readlink -e "$0")" | head -n1)" -style Fusion "$@"

I consider this to be a bit of an accessibility issue since I have mild autism and bright lights/colors can be really annoying to me. So seeing the #18258 ticket closed as "closed/wontfix" is really disappointing.

[AlfredoBBear]

This is the simplest solution: just go to your Menu Manager (in Linuxmint, mine is Cinnamon Menu Editor), and add the style parameters as suggested by HurricaneJohn.

I don't know if this post is dead or not but this is what you do to fix it:

change the command in the shortcut to: VirtualBox -style fusion %U works like a charm.