Unable to get full screen resolution of the Host OS.

[simonsharry]

Hello,

My Fedora 8 guest on a Windows XP host shows up in a smaller 1024x768 resolution even though my host OS shows up in a bigger 1280x1024 resolution.

In my Gnome session, I went to System-->Administration-->Display, and:
1. Changed the monitor type from 'Generic LCD Display' to 'LCD Panel 1280x1024'. The setting did get saved.
2. The Video Card was showing 'Unknown Video Card'. I *tried* changing it from 'vboxvideo' model to 'intel -experimental mode setting driver...'. Nothing happened, though!

Assuming this is VirtualBox issue... what can I do to utilize the full resolution
1. that my monitor and display adapter are capable of offering? and
2. that my host OS is already happily using?

If this is NOT a VirtualBox issue but rather a Fedora device driver issue, then
1. please let me know, and
2. please accept my sincere apologies but not knowing this (basic) fact and posting to the wrong forum.

Many thanks in advance.
/HS

PS: My display adapter string (from Windows XP host OS) is: 'Intel(R) 82845G/GL Graphics Controller'

[morvael]

Maybe this thread will help you:
http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=4310

[med]

You have probably tried all these things, but I managed to get resolutions over the default 1024x768 to work on my Ubuntu 7.10 virtual machine by doing the following:

1. Install Linux Guest additions
2. Open /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Confirm that you have the following entries:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "vboxmouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Generic Video Card"
Driver "vboxvideo"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

It may not look exactly the same in your configuration, but the presence of "vboxmouse" and "vboxvideo" indicates that the additions are installed properly from what I've read.

3. As explained in the user manual, add a subsection under the Section "Screen" that lists the resolution modes you want to have available within Ubuntu under System>Preference>Screen Resolution. This is how it reads in my xorg.conf file:

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Generic Video Card"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Again, this may look different in your configuration file.

After I made this change, I was able to switch to 1280x768 which is native to my XP install. I can then switch to Full Screen mode and all I'm looking at is Ubuntu. It works nicely so far.

[med]

Sorry I meant I was able to switch to 1280x1024, not 1280x768.

[grfilho]

Were any of you able to get 32bit depth resolution from the Linux guest or are we limited to 24?

I have the same problem and this evening I will try to solve it.

[slasher_steve]

Thanks for your suggestions, med. I am running Fedora 18 and Virtual Box on my 27" iMac. Your suggestions helped me configure the display to use the full resolution. I was able to Install Linux Guest additions and modify /etc/X11/xorg.conf easily. First I backed it up, just in case. As root I simply added 1 line to the existing file. Below I show the whole "Screen" section as I found it. I simply added the Modes line inside the existing "Screen" subsection.

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Section "Screen"
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      24
    Modes "2560x1440" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"
  EndSubSection
  Device       "Device[0]"
  Identifier   "Screen[0]"
  Monitor      "Monitor[0]"
EndSection

After I restarted Fedora I got a beautiful 2560x1440 display automagically.

Thanks!

Code: Select all