Window position problem: top of window off screen

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
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whocarez
Posts: 2
Joined: 25. Jul 2009, 03:35
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Windows xp 32 bit

Window position problem: top of window off screen

Post by whocarez »

Hi,

I have som real difficulties with VirtualBox and the window it creates for the guests. This is on Ubuntu 9.04 (jaunty) with VirtualBox 3.0.2, running icewm 1.2.37 as my window manager. I am not using KDE or Gnome. The problem has persisted for some time, and did also occur with VirtualBox 2.x. What happens is that once I start VirtualBox, the main window appears in the middle of the screen, so far so good. Once I select a host (in this case xp 32 bit), the window appears in the upper left corner, but the top of window and left side edge is missing. This makes it impossible to move the window, although by disabling mouse integration and playing around with ALT+right mouse to drag the window in place usually works. This is very annoying though. I have had this problem for some time now, hopefully it is possible to solve it somehow.

I played a little around with 'xwininfo', and it looks like the upper left positions do not take into account the size of the titlebar and left border. On vm-window that appears off screen it is like this:

Absolute upper-left X: 0
Absolute upper-left Y: 0

A window with correct placement should look something like this:

Absolute upper-left X: 4
Absolute upper-left Y: 23

If it matters, my screen resolution is 1920x1200. I have no problems with window placement in icewm besides with VirtualBox. Right now I suspect this might be a bug?

I have to add that this also happens frequently when the resolution is changed by dragging the window corner, then the window jumps back to its initial position.
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Sasquatch
Volunteer
Posts: 17798
Joined: 17. Mar 2008, 13:41
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP, Windows 7, Linux
Location: /dev/random

Re: Window position problem: top of window off screen

Post by Sasquatch »

Check the config file of the VM and look at the top for this line, and modify it accordingly. It should force the window on the right position upon boot, but I don't know about resizing it.

Code: Select all

<ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastWindowPostion" value="4,44,640,506,max"/>
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whocarez
Posts: 2
Joined: 25. Jul 2009, 03:35
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Windows xp 32 bit

Re: Window position problem: top of window off screen

Post by whocarez »

If I power off the virtual machine in a state where the title bar is visible, the coordinates for the window position are saved correctly. However, once I fire it up again, the problem still occurs. This also happens if I choose "Adjust window size" from the Machine menu. Essentially, any change of resolution on the guest makes the window loose its windows position. Looks like the problem is more complicated than this :(
KenJackson
Posts: 27
Joined: 6. Jul 2007, 16:52
Primary OS: Fedora other
VBox Version: OSE Fedora
Guest OSses: WindowsXP, OpenSolaris
Location: Maryland, USA
Contact:

Re: Window position problem: top of window off screen

Post by KenJackson »

I have exactly the same problem, and I'm also very annoyed by it.

I'm currently using VirtualBox 3.0.8 and IceWM 1.2.37 on my Fedora Core 11 host.
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