How to increase display resolution to more than 800x600 ?

Discussions about using Linux guests in VirtualBox.
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pstein
Posts: 59
Joined: 20. Nov 2008, 20:48
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Ubuntu, CentOS

How to increase display resolution to more than 800x600 ?

Post by pstein »

I installed Ubuntu 9.10 as guest system under WinXP host.

My physical monitor resp. the screen resolution of the host system is 1440 x 1050

I can however increase the display resolution of the Ubunutu/Linux guest system at most to
800x600.
In system->Preferences->Display no other resolutions are listed in drop down menu.

How can I select higher resolutions?

Peter
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: How to increase display resolution to more than 800x600 ?

Post by Perryg »

Install the guest additions
irvin
Posts: 14
Joined: 11. Feb 2008, 19:04

Re: How to increase display resolution to more than 800x600 ?

Post by irvin »

Any ideas how to get a higher Resolutuion without the Guest Additions ?
I'm asking because I use Ubuntu 9.10, 9.04 or even 8.10 as a guest and connect to them via x11vnc.
But when I install then GA I can't use "right mouse click" anymore.

I tried the xorg.conf but this won't work in 9.10 anymore. When I make this my Gnome crashes and I don't have a desktop anymore.
There's talk about a new monitors.xml file which keeps the settings, but i tried with this a lot and it doesn't take effect.
As i have 2 resolutions 640x480 and 800x600 from the start. Where's the file for this input ?
No one really seems to know.
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: How to increase display resolution to more than 800x600 ?

Post by Perryg »

irvin wrote:Any ideas how to get a higher Resolutuion without the Guest Additions ?
I'm asking because I use Ubuntu 9.10, 9.04 or even 8.10 as a guest and connect to them via x11vnc.
But when I install then GA I can't use "right mouse click" anymore.

I tried the xorg.conf but this won't work in 9.10 anymore. When I make this my Gnome crashes and I don't have a desktop anymore.
There's talk about a new monitors.xml file which keeps the settings, but i tried with this a lot and it doesn't take effect.
As i have 2 resolutions 640x480 and 800x600 from the start. Where's the file for this input ?
No one really seems to know.
What is the host OS, your profile does not say. Please update your profile.
I have both Windows and Linux hosts and do not have a problem with the right mouse button. I use TightVNC though and maybe that is your problem area.
I have the GA's installed in all VMs too.
irvin
Posts: 14
Joined: 11. Feb 2008, 19:04

Re: How to increase display resolution to more than 800x600 ?

Post by irvin »

Here I have a host with Windows XP Pro SP3 (32-bit) 4GB RAM. On different other PC's I installed Ubuntu 8.10 and 9.04 (64-bit as a host) with 8GB RAM.
When I installed a guest with Ubuntu. The Problem occurs from start of Version 8.10 I think.
I only install openssh-server and x11vnc which I use to get a login screen after a reboot. I only connect to this machines via PuTTY and tightvnc from Windows machines over the network or internet.
This works fine. But after installing the Guest additions the right mouse click won't work anymore. I reported that in Ubuntu Forums and discussed with the author of x11vnc.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1264443&page=3

Posted a logfile and did a view tests, somethings going wrong when I install the GA.
But, I thought i have to live with it and have now the other Problem with the resolution. As I did this with older Versions 7.04 until 9.04, editing the xorg.conf worked.
But Now nothing happens after editing xorg.conf, even it kills the gnome desktop.

After this I only can log in in terminal mode and that's it's, now gnome desktop etc.

That's why I'm asking for this solution. But in this moment i have a idea. maybe i can install old VESA display drivers in the VM via synaptic ? These should help me with only 1024 I hope. Or is there a way to only install the GA display driver ?

And as I'm writing. Another Problem after the guest additions was that the resolution was very small and strange, couln't set another like 1024x768. But I could resize the tightvnc viewer like I want. this worked.
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