Display Failure - Failed to change display parameter (but it actually changed)

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
Post Reply
FranceBB
Posts: 117
Joined: 20. May 2017, 05:07
Primary OS: Fedora other
VBox Version: OSE Fedora
Guest OSses: Windows XP x86
Contact:

Display Failure - Failed to change display parameter (but it actually changed)

Post by FranceBB »

Hey there,
every time I start a VM I get this error message on the right hand side:
Screenshot from 2023-11-09 22-50-35.png
Screenshot from 2023-11-09 22-50-35.png (26.61 KiB) Viewed 3015 times
however each and every VM is started with the right resolution, namely 1920x1080 in full screen, so it seems to be a false positive.
I'm not really sure what's causing this but it happens on all my guests.
I'm running Fedora 40.
Everything points to it being a permission issue, but I don't really know how to get it sorted as I'm already part of the group vboxusers.
I also checked the permissions of the .vbox files and they're indeed read and write for my username.

Virtualbox 7.0.97 r160153
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5678
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: Display Failure - Failed to change display parameter (but it actually changed)

Post by fth0 »

Do you also get this error message when using VirtualBox 7.0.12 or a VirtualBox 7.0.13 test build?
FranceBB
Posts: 117
Joined: 20. May 2017, 05:07
Primary OS: Fedora other
VBox Version: OSE Fedora
Guest OSses: Windows XP x86
Contact:

Re: Display Failure - Failed to change display parameter (but it actually changed)

Post by FranceBB »

fth0 wrote: 10. Nov 2023, 15:08 Do you also get this error message when using VirtualBox 7.0.12 or a VirtualBox 7.0.13 test build?
Yes, but I actually found out why and now I really feel stupid for even opening this topic.
At start time, Virtualbox reads the settings in the configuration file and tries to send a hint notification to the guest about the resolution change and the last recorded position in the screen, however the guest is effectively running in full screen and at full resolution (as it should), so those values in the hint don't really make sense and are in direct conflict with what it's set to, hence resulting in an error (it's not actually a permission denied in the sense that you can't change 'cause you don't have enough permissions but rather that you can't change it 'cause it doesn't make sense).

The solution, in case anyone faces the same situation with the "error" popping up?
Easy, just go into "view" and disable the "auto-resize guest display".
This will avoid the warning from popping up when you're in full screen.

;)
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5678
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: Display Failure - Failed to change display parameter (but it actually changed)

Post by fth0 »

Thanks for the explanation, but I'm not convinced yet. ;)

I haven't seen this error message being reported so far, and I'm wondering how you got into this situation or how to reproduce it ...
Post Reply