windows 7 desktop shrunk

[Otto1965]

Hello to the forum from a new member,

I have a problem for days now and coluldn't find any help in the internet so I've decided to ask in this forum:

I am running an MacBook Pro 2,7 GHz Intel Core i5 with macOS High Sierra Version 10.13.6., Virtual Box is installed for two years now and running well, current version is 5.2.16 r123759 (Qt5.6.3). Guest is Windows 7 Professional 32-bit SP1.

Some days ago I had the well-known hda-error ("Failed to load unit 'hda'..."), tried some troubleshooting and failed, so I decided to recover the entire folder "VirtualBox VMs" from Time Machine (don't know if this was very clever or very stupid).

Now I have the phenomenon that Windows starts again, but the desktop is shrunk to a small blue bar in the center of the display.

VirtualBox_Windows 7 (32-bit)_13_08_2018_18_18_45.png (4.31 KiB) Viewed 1831 times

Astounding for me is that, if Windows is started in safe mode, the desktop is built pretty normal and readable.

Has anyone in this forum an idea what to do? I would be very happy if recovery was possible without a new installation of windows, as I have several apps running that need external support to be configurated. Thank you for any help and advice.

Best wishes,

Otto

[socratis]

We're going to need to see a VM log from a complete VM run:

1. Start the VM from cold-boot (not from a paused or saved state) / Observe error / Shutdown the VM (force close it if you have to).
2. With the VM completely shut down (not paused or saved), right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager and select "Show Log".
3. Save only the first "VBox.log", ZIP it and attach it to your response. See the "Upload attachment" tab below the reply form.

Also, the "recipe" of the VM, the ".vbox" file:

1. Right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager. Select "Show in Finder".
2. ZIP the selected ".vbox" file and attach it to your response.

And finally, the "VirtualBox.xml" file, located in "/Users/<you>/Library/VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml".

[mpack]

To me this looks like an old problem with a VM being shut down while hidden (minimized to task bar on Windows hosts, I have no idea what OS X hosts do). E.g. shutting down the host while a minimized VM is still running. The Windows guest remembers the 0 size display for next session, but the host imposes a certain minimum size for a guest window.

I'm not sure if this would be visible in the log. Perhaps it would, as a handleDisplayChange to a 0,0,32bits size.

[socratis]

I'm not sure if this would be visible in the log.

Same here, that's why I asked for the .vbox and the VirtualBox.xml files as well. I want to compare them with a working version (mine), and see if it's a problem that is due to a bad setting/suggestion/hint in VirtualBox, or because the Win VM has gone bezerk and needs to be adjusted from within the guest. Force change the display settings? After a safe mode restart? After uninstalling the GAs?

I think we'll know better when we have the evidence asked...

[mpack]

AFAIK the problem is that the Windows guest is helpfully remembering the last setting chosen for the current display, but who really knows.

From memory, the fix is to boot in safe mode, force a display size change (new size doesn't matter, just so long as it's different and thus forces Windows to remember a new setting), then shut down the VM and reboot. You can then switch it back to the preferred display size, shut down and reboot once more.

[socratis]

That's it! (I think).
I knew there was a workaround, I just couldn't remember the procedure...

[Otto1965]

Thank you to both of you for your suggestions and your help!

Of course I first tried mpack's workaround, but I'm sorry I failed several times, using different display settings and even rebooting the entire MacBook. The result was always the same - safe mode works, normal mode doesn't.

Please find attached the logs you asked for. Two of them were easy to find, but I dind't find the .xml you requested. I dont even have a path /Users/Otto/Library, only /Users/Otto/VirtualBox VMs, but there is no .xml-file inside. Could this be the problem? I admit I doubt it because I looked in timemachine for the same path, and did't even find it in backups from dates when virtualbox worked without problems.

Thank you for your support, I'm looking forward to your answers,
Otto