virtualbox.org

Experiencing a problem with the Virtualbox display driver, in that even when automatic resize is turned off, starting the VM in the GUI will invariably shrink the client display to be less than the host display resolution. Once this 'shrinkage' has happened you find that the client's display options are locked, and the resolution cannot be increased. The other issue of course, is that on Windows any undersizing of the desktop trashes the icon layout, so it's not acceptable to have this happen.

I've checked the VM's XML file and name="GUI/AutoresizeGuest" value="off"/ seems to suggest this shouldn't be happening. But, it is.

I don't have this problem if I use the generic VGA display driver instead of the Virtualbox additions driver. But, this is obviously slower as it has no acceleration. The other workaround is to start the VM with vboxheadless, but this isn't ideal as it then means you cannot perform certain mangement tasks such as saving state.

I was wondering what display hardware virtualbox emulates? Is there a standard driver for this hardware which doesn't do this automatic-resizing thing?

Virtualbox OSE 4.120 r80170
Host: Debian 6, Gnome desktop.
Client: Windows XP sp3.

Anteaus wrote:I was wondering what display hardware virtualbox emulates?

If you are not using the guest additions then the display has a standard VESA interface, but does not simulate a specific board.

If you are using the guest additions then it's my understanding that the guest OS is talking to the GA driver, not to hardware, hence no hardware simulation is done.

I suspect you were thinking of installing a third party driver - nope, that won't work unless it's VESA, and you unload the GA driver - in which case the graphics will be slower.

Thx for very quick reply.

Basically it seems I need a fix for the enforced autoresize problem.

It looks as if it is a fairly common issue, trawling around I can find other references to what must be the same issue, but not found any fix so far.

Might take a look at the registry keys mentioned in the driver .inf, see if there are any relevant-looking settings.