Windows 10 Desktop issue on VirtualBox

[Ed1975]

Hi Guys, the folks at TechNet said I should ask this question here, so here goes:

I am running Win10 Tech Preview [Build 9926] on Oracle VM VirtualBox (v. 4.3.20) under Windows 7 64-bit.

The main issue I have with Win10 so far - and which is virtually stopping me doing all other things on the OS - is that it doesn't fit on my screen.

My monitor is square (it seems Win10 is only designed for widescreen monitors?) and runs natively at 1280x1024. But I can only view Win10 at 1024x768, despite my high-end graphics card.

I think this may be the reason Win10 doesn't fit my screen - the Desktop is too large and I have to use SCROLLBARS everytime I want to do ANYTHING - view the Start Menu/Taskbar, view icons on the Desktop, close or navigate apps - you name it.

This makes using Win10 an extremely frustrating experience and makes it virtually worthless.

Does anyone have any advice on how to fix this issue? The TechNet guys suggested this might be a VirtualBox issue, not one with Windows10.

Thanks! Ed

[loukingjr]

In the Windows terminal (command prompt?) run…

Code: Select all

    VBoxManage setextradata "<full path name to .vdi>" "CustomVideoMode1" "WxHx32"

put the full path name to the .vdi file in quotes and W and H would be the Width and Height you want.

see Chapter 9.8.1 of the user manual.

[Ed1975]

Thanks!

But I get the following response in Command Prompt:

"VBoxManage" is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file

What now?

[loukingjr]

try VBoxManage.exe

[mpack]

On Windows hosts you need to provide the full path to VBoxManage.

Alternatively, you can put this batch file into your Windows folder, saved as "VirtualBox.bat" :-

Code: Select all

@echo off
"c:\program files\oracle\virtualbox\vboxmanage.exe" %*

Then you don't need to type the path anymore.

[Ed1975]

Thanks again.

I've tried: E:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe setextradata "<C:\Users\Ed\VirtualBox VMs\Win10 Preview.vdi>" "CustomVideoMode1" "1280x1024x32"

and VBoxManage.exe setextradata "<C:\Users\Ed\VirtualBox VMs\Win10 Preview.vdi>" "CustomVideoMode1" "1280x1024x32"

and setting up the batch file.

I get the same response, either VBoxManage.exe or E:\Program is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file


Any thoughts as to what I'm doing wrong? the Oracle application is on my E drive, but the virtual drive is on my C drive.

Thanks...

[loukingjr]

try…

Code: Select all

VBoxManage.exe setextradata "\Users\Ed\VirtualBox VMs\Win10 Preview.vdi" "CustomVideoMode1" "1280x1024x32"

Isn't the E: drive in Windows normally the CD/DVD drive? See this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=65715&p=310509#p310484

[Ed1975]

Hmm...tried it but got the same error message as before at the Command Prompt.

Btw, D is my CD drive, E the SSD where I keep most of my programs.

Cheers!

[loukingjr]

I don't have a WIndows host but from the thread I posted apparently Windows can't find VBoxManage unless one runs the command from the directory the VirtualBox program is in…

I used this to get 1920 x 1200 resolution in Build 9926 and it worked fine (once I had opened the command-prompt (I use a Windows 8.1 host) in the C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox folder, since VBoxManage was not found, otherwise).

[Ed1975]

Cheers.

In the virtualbox directory on E, I tried:

E:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe setextradata "<C:\Users\Ed\VirtualBox VMs\Win10 Preview\Win10 Preview.vdi>" "CustomVideoMode1" "1280x1024x32"

Get error message:

VBoxManage.exe: error: could not find a registered machine named "<C:\Users\Ed\VirtualBox VMs\Win10 Preview\Win10 Preview.vdi>"

VBoxManage.exe: error: Code: VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80bb0001), component VirtualBox, interface IVirtualBox, callee IUnknown

VBoxManage.exe: error: Context: "FindMachine<"Bstr<a->argv[0]>.raw<>, machine asOutParam <>>" at line 804 of file VBoxManageMisc.cpp

Any thoughts? I have triple-checked the location of Win10 Preview.vdi...

[loukingjr]

well one thing is you need to remove the less than and more than symbols... <>

[Martin]

And you need to enclose the program path with " " because it contains a blank...

[Ed1975]

And you need to enclose the program path with " " because it contains a blank...

Do you mean like this:

E:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\"VBoxManage.exe" setextradata "C:\Users\Ed\VirtualBox VMs\Win10 Preview\Win10 Preview.vdi" "CustomVideoMode1" "1280x1024x32"

I also tried:

E:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe setextradata "C:\Users\Ed\VirtualBox VMs\Win10 Preview\Win10 Preview.vdi" "CustomVideoMode1" "1280x1024x32"

In both cases, the VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface came up, but in both cases I got the error message:

Syntax error: Not enough parameters.

The reason seems to be, that the Cmd Prompt always interrupts the line at "VBoxManage.exe" setextradata "C:\Users\Ed\VirtualBox with the VBoxManage.exe program and then complains it doesn't have enough parameters (the "VMs\Win10 Preview\Win10 Preview.vdi" "CustomVideoMode1" "1280x1024x32" part).

Any further thoughts? Thanks!

[michaln]

Any further thoughts? Thanks!

If you have a lot of time, keep asking and eventually you'll get there. If you don't, read up on VBoxManage in the VirtualBox manual ( https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch08.html ). Hint: It is very unusual for a VM name to end in ".vdi".

[loukingjr]

I had to look this stuff up.

Because your VirtualBox program in not on your C: drive, the first thing you need to do is change directories to the E: drive,
In the CMD Prompt run:

Code: Select all

cd E:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\

then run…

Code: Select all

VBoxManage.exe setextradata "C:\Users\Ed\VirtualBox VMs\Win10 Preview" "CustomVideoMode1" "1280x1024x32"

That should work. (I think).

you may need a final \ after the word Preview in the path.