(SOLVED) Need to select VBoxSVGA for FreeBSD 14 guest, but VB 7.0.12 rejects the setting

[oso2276]

Hi folks,

I'm trying to run FreeBSD 14 + KDE desktop under VB 7.0.12.
In order to do so, I need to select VBoxVGA instead of VMSVGA, but VB rejects this setting.

When I change it, VB complains "Invalid Setting Detected!"
Nevertheless I press [Ok] to save it, but when I check again VB has reseted the value back to VMSVGA.

Is there a way to override this config so I can force VB to use VBoxVGA for FreeBSD VMs?

Note that per FreeBSD documentation, I need to select "VBoxVGA" for FreeBSD port of Guest Additons to work porperlly.
https://wiki.freebsd.org/VirtualBox

Host:
Intel i7 10710U (Comet Lake-U / Skylake), 64GB RAM
Windows 11 23H2 - fully patched
VBox 7.0.12

Guest:
2 cores, 16GB, RAM EFI,
LsiLogic for storage controller & Virtio-net for network.
Video VMSVGA 64MB RAM
FreeBSD 14.0 with KDE desktop


Best Regards,
Otto

[scottgus1]

I don't have a Windows 11 host, but on my 10 host running 7.0.12, I can:

1. make a FreeBSD VM
2. open the VM's Display settings and see the VMSVGA video card automatically set
3. set the graphics controller manually to VBoxVGA
4. see the Invalid Settings warning recommending VMSVGA instead
5. leave the graphics controller set to VBoxVGA
6. Click OK anyway
7. The graphics controller stays on VBoxVGA

How does what you are doing differ from the above list?

If nothing, are you using snapshots? A snapshot includes hardware changes. If you changed to VBoxVGA after you made a snapshot, and you then revert to the snapshot, the graphics controller will change back.

[oso2276]

Hi, thanks for your reply.
Unfortunatelly, it did not worked like that in my setup.

So now I'm testing something else.

In General, Basic section, I'll set Type to Other and version to Other/Unkown (64-bit)
On System, Acceleration, paravirtualization interface will be set to KVM
On Display, Screen I just set Graphics controller to VBoxVGA

I will keep testing my FreeBSD install.

[javispedro]

In order to do so, I need to select VBoxVGA instead of VMSVGA, but VB rejects this setting.

When I change it, VB complains "Invalid Setting Detected!"
Nevertheless I press [Ok] to save it, but when I check again VB has reseted the value back to VMSVGA.

This resetting only happens if you have "3D acceleration" checkbox also marked. As I don't believe 3D acceleration is working on FreeBSD*, you should most likely just uncheck this box.

* Maybe with 14, and the linux kms vmsvga driver. But I haven't upgraded yet.

But by the way, the wiki page you quote mentions VboxSVGA rather than VBoxVGA. All of this is also explained on the pkg-message : https://www.freshports.org/emulators/vi ... s/#message

The settings dialogue for FreeBSD guests encourages use of the VMSVGA
graphics controller. Whilst this might suit installations of FreeBSD
without a desktop environment (a common use case), it is not appropriate
where Guest Additions are installed.

Where Guest Additions are installed:

1. prefer VBoxSVGA

2. do not enable 3D acceleration (doing so will invisibly
lose the preference for VBoxSVGA)

You may ignore the yellow alert that encourages use of VMSVGA.

[oso2276]

Thanks mate. I did check so many older links, posts, wikis and guides that I failed to read in detail the official Freebsd doc
I will test tonight and report back.

Best Regards

[oso2276]

Hi folks, all good now using VBoxSVGA on FreeBSD VMs.

just wanted to note that there was one step missing in the quoted instructions for FreeBSD VBox guests
https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handb ... virtualbox

We need to add all users that will acess the gui to "wheel" group.

Code: Select all

sudo pw groupmod wheel -m username

else we will get some VBox errors poping up after we logon to FreeBSD through the GUI.

Now FreeBSD VM works with autoresize screen

Also, the version of VBox guest additions port bundled with FreeBSD 14 is 6.1.48.
I tested this with Host Win11 23H2, VB 6.1.48 / Guest FreeBSD 14
I also tested this in a second FreeBSD VM under Host Kubuntu 23.10, kernel 6.5.12, VB 7.0.12 / Guest FreeBSD 14

Best Regards