Missing window manager frame on VirtualBox 2.0.4

[Sasquatch]

Erik777, last time I checked, this was about Linux HOSTS, not GUESTS. You obviously have a problem with the Guest. Checking your screenshot, I see no window decorations on the network application. Firefox also has no borders (could be because you mentioned it putting it in fullscreen mode).

Anyway, your post is in the wrong place, unless you wanted to show that it's not just a Host issue. We are already aware of this. I find it hard to believe it's a VB problem though.

[erik777]

lol didn't read the forum title.

as for firefox in fullscreen, i did that to add info to the discussion, that in fullscreen, firefox thought the size of the screen was the same as its display without fullscreen. I opened a dozen or so apps. None of them had titles. If they weren't centered, they were at the top left. but the pict i posted showed that even centered windows were missing their title.

interesting, right after posting i restored a snapshot where the problem still existed. but, after taking another snapshot to save a password change, and rebooting the guest, all windows had titles again. this was, until i applied 57 updates that were due. i rebooted after that and it was back to no window titles and windows not movable, sizable, etc,...

i'm currenly upgrading ubuntu to 9. we'll see if that matters.

as tempting as it is to think this is a newbie issue, i don't mean to brag, but i'm definitely not new to linux/unix/windows. been programming since 1979, although not professionally until 1987. the Centos instance i referred to (which has no probs, yet) is meant to be the host of a desperately needed upgrade of OpenStandards.net, currently on FreeBSD, a site I have barely touched since 2004. I'm looking at using the Ubuntu guest as a dev box. As for the host, while I"m on vista 64 atm, i plan on moving the centos 5 guest to a new machine with centos 5. yes, centos on centos.

[erik777]

ubuntu 9 has corrected the windowless window problem, at least for the time being.

[Sasquatch]

Erik777, I expect that your error was just the crash of the window manager, or not starting one, instead of simply not painting the Title bar. Because you couldn't move them, which others were able to do IIRC, it means that no manager was running.

[erik777]

sasquatch, I'm sure you're right. So far so good with the upgrade to Ubuntu 9. Thanks for your help. I'll be sure to post on the Linux guest discussion next time.

I am thus far a big fan of VBox. I've also been a fan and longtime stockholder of Sun, soon to be Oracle. I just hope Oracle continues the path of Sun and becomes an advocate of open source as well as open standards. I love Sun's new software product line (Glassfish, OpenESB, VirtualBox, MySQL) and hope Oracle continues to develop and keep these technologies open. There is clearly a lot of room for both openness and profit.

[catkin]

Me too!

• ubuntu 8.04.3
• VirtualBox 3.0.4 (3.0.4-50677_Ubuntu_hardy from virtualbox.org, not ubuntu repositories)
• xfwm4 (4.4.2-2ubuntu1)

I prefer a more mature version of ubuntu than 9 so would like to find another solution.

If this is an ubuntu-only bug, maybe the bug is in the ubuntu packaging of xfwm4 (4.4.2-2ubuntu1). If that's correct, the problem could be solved by using another xfwm4, from the Debian repositories or direct from http://mocha.xfce.org/archive/xfce-4.6.1.

I'll try that and post back but would like to hear the community's advice and experience before starting.

[Sasquatch]

There's a PPA for Xfce that you can use to update to the latest Xfce release. Check https://launchpad.net/~jerome-guelfucci/+archive/ppa for the PPA.

[catkin]

Thanks Sasquatch

That solved the problem . The only gotcha was that upgrading xfdesktop4 thunar mousepad xfce4-session xfce4-datetime-plugin (the packages I installed originally to get a minimal Xfce4) did not upgrade xfwm4 which had to be upgraded specifically.

Best

Charles