virtualbox.org

Hey,

So I have been using Virtualbox 4.1.2 for a bit now and had 3d enabled under the VM settings. I typically have the VM in full-screen mode and as such the toolbar would be centered at the bottom of the screen and disappear/reappear when I moved the cursor over the bottom (as it should). However, at one point randomly I rebooted the VM and though the toolbar is visible upon start-up right before the machine fully loads the screen blinks and then the toolbar disappears altogether and cannot be seen nor reappear by moving your mouse cursor over the top nor bottom of the screen. When I disabled 3D mode in the settings and rebooted the problem was gone. Is there a work-around?

I am running Virtualbox 4.1.2
On a Windows 2K8 r2 server
My machine is a ASrock 350 m1 - E-350 AMD CPU

Thanks for your help,

Phil

So I was able to fix the problem (at least for now and as far as I can tell) and thought it might be helpful for others to explain what I did. I had previously read section http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html#guestadd-3d of the manual and thought that since the experimental WDDM Direct3D video driver was available and supported by my system I could install that in lieu of the the basic Direct3D acceleration setting. Well I had installed the WDDM in the guest system along with guest additions and had experience the disappearing mini-toolbar while in full-screen as described below.

In trying to find answers I thought I would try and install the base Direct3D support in safe mode. In doing so I first encountered the problem that when I booted in safe mode and when I tried to click on the install guest additions nothing happened at all. I read a few more blogs and came across someone response who answered this query by the following steps; download the ISO file for Guest Additions directly from virtualbox.org, mount that file to the CD/DVD devices, and run install. From there I was able to enter the Guest Additions setup and since in safe mode choose Direct 3d Support upon installation options. After installing and rebooting I now have back the mini-toolbar in full-screen mode and can run basic 3D programs.

This is likely obvious to many people but just in case thought it could help those who were in my place.