virtualbox.org

Yesterday my Windows 10 guest downloaded and installed updates and after restarting the guest the screen resolutions that match my host are no longer available. The host is a MacBook Pro Retina with a Thunderbolt display as a secondary screen and the guest is set up to use both monitors in full screen mode. The resolution on the MacBook is 1680x1050 and the resolution on the Thunderbolt is 2560x1440. The Windows 10 guest no longer have those resolutions available.

This was working fine until Windows updated itself. I have uninstalled guest additions and re-installed them again without help.

I am running VB 5.1.6

Does anyone have any idea on what to do?

Thanks,
Rune

Did you actually tried to change the resolutions on the guest? Not just look at them, but change them. I remember vaguely a solution where you modify the resolutions and reboot and try again to change the resolutions.

Another solution that was posted and I keep a snippet of is:

mpack recently wrote:Usually the display size you're stuck in is the highest possible 4:3 ratio, because VirtualBox and the Window guest have gotten tied into a knot telling/asking each other only about 4:3 ratio options, because that's the size of your default virtual monitor (your actual monitor of course isn't relevant to the VM). If you shut down all VMs, then in the UI go to File|Preferences|Display and set MaxGuestDisplaySize to "None" then you should be able to select any display size you like in any VM.

Thanks for the quick answer!

Yes, I have tried changing the resolution and you are right - all the available resolutions are 4:3, except 1280x1024 for some reason...

The MaxGuestDisplaySize was already set to None, so I changed it to Automatic (just to force a change) and that left me with no choice but a very small resolution. I then changed it back to None and restarted the VM, but the problem remained. Just to be sure, I changed the setting to Automatic, closed VB altogether, restarted, changed to None, closed VB and restarted. No change though...

Uninstall the GAs, reboot, install the GAs? Maybe? After having set the MaxGuestScreenSize to "None" of course.

Full disclosure: mine has always been set to "Automatic" and I've never had a problem, but that solution has helped a lot of people.

Tried uninstalling GA, setting to Automatic, reinstalling GA - result, same, but fewer options (high resolutions missing)
Uninstalled GA, setting to None, reinstalling GA - back to square one...

Thanks for your continued support!

Rune

Please post a VM log file. With the VM fully shut down, right click and "Show Log" in the GUI, save "VBox.log" (ONLY) to a zip, and attach the zip here.

Here it is.

Rune

00:00:01.039903 GUI: UIMachineLogicFullscreen::sltHandleNativeFullscreenWillEnter: Machine-window #0 will enter native fullscreen

You are starting this VM as full screen (FS). Have you tried starting in "normal" mode and then switch to FS? And there is no point in having resolutions in FS. It's either FS or it is not.

00:00:01.747715 GUI: 2D video acceleration is disabled

No comment. You'll need to enable that.

Finally, have you tried a simpler setup to begin with? That is start only with one screen in the VM settings. Take all the steps mentioned in previous posts. Take it to FS after you've logged in (that's the only place where the GAs are running). Take it out of FS before you shut down. Then add a second monitor to the VM and repeat the process. See how that goes.

Yes - I have tried starting in windowed mode (not full screen), with one and two monitors, with and without 2D and 3D acceleration. Same issue.

There is a point to resolutions in full screen: the host uses the full screen to display the guest, but the guest does not utilize the full screen because it forces itself to display on a limited set of resolutions. So I get the guest screen displayed in the center of the host screen, with large, black borders on either side. Or I can choose a larger resolution where parts of the guest screen are beyond the bounds of the host screen. What I cannot choose is a guest resolution that matches the host resolution.

Note that this is not a new install, this is an existing VM that I've used for a long time and where the full screen "simply worked" and adjusted its resolution automatically. All was good until I updated Windows... So somehow the new Windows updates restrict the VB graphics drivers (I assume) to a limited set of resolutions.

The only update I found that had anything to do with graphics was KB3193494. I also tried uninstalling that update, but the problem persists.

Thanks for your continued support!
Rune

With ONE screen configured in the VM settings, the VM open and in full screen on your MacBook, open up Terminal (in your host) and issue the command:

• VBoxManage controlvm "Windows 10 WIMS" setvideomodehint 1680 1050 32

Then switch to the Thunderbolt display and run there full screen. If it's not running as it should, issue again the command:

• VBoxManage controlvm "Windows 10 WIMS" setvideomodehint 2560 1440 32

I do believe that your VM is called "Windows 10 WIMS" based on the log you posted. If not, adjust accordingly. If that doesn't work:

1. Right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager. Select "Show in Finder".
2. ZIP the selected ".vbox" file and attach it in your response.

Please find attached the .vbox file. The commands you specified were executed without response (no error message nor confirmation).

Thanks again,
Rune

Here is a new "Windows 10 WIMS.vbox". I have removed all the display related keys, so basically I reset it to default. Before you do anything:

• Close VirtualBox, make sure nothing is running in the Activity Monitor that starts with "vbox" (make sure to show All Processes).
• Rename your "Windows 10 WIMS.vbox" to something like "Windows 10 WIMS.vbox.old". We don't want to mess anything up.
• Copy the attached "Windows 10 WIMS.vbox" to your VMs folder.
• Before launching the VM, make sure that in VirtualBox preferences, Display, MaxGuestScreenSize = Automatic. That's the default.
• Launch the VM. Go full screen without even touching the resolution.
• I took the liberty to enable 3D acceleration on your VM. You can thank me later
• You really have to delete the filter for the keyboard. Really bad idea.

Good morning - and first of all: thank you very much for your efforts!

I've followed your instructions to the letter, but unfortunately without result.

When the MaxGuestScreenSize was set to Automatic, the result was a smaller guest screen resolution than before. There were fewer options also, and all of them lower resolutions than the host screen.

I then shut down the VM and changed that setting back to None. Then I got the same options as yesterday.

Finally, just to try, I set the setting to Hint and then set the minimum resolution below to 1680 x 1050. That resulted in the same resolution I have with None, but now that resolution (1400 x 1050) is the highest possible.

Thanks for the 3D

About the keyboard filter... I have no idea what that is or how it got there, but it is now removed

Thanks again,
Rune

Damn, I thought that it would work. My guess at this point is that something is rotten in the Windows guest size that pretty much refuses to change its resolution. I wouldn't know where to start looking.

Unless someone else has any ideas, I'd start by searching for "force windows to change resolution".

Update 1: While looking for this, Google suggested "force windows change resolution command line". Following that, the first link pointed me to http://superuser.com/questions/89302/an ... mmand-line which included a link to QRes (http://qres.sourceforge.net/) and NirCmd (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html), which I trust as a software shop for EVERYTHING they do ^[1]. Give them a shot, see what comes out of it. You should of course take a snapshot or a backup before attempting any changes.

^[1] : In fact I keep a copy of their website on my computer and I simply update it from time to time

Yeah - I agree with you on suspecting Windows to be the culprit...

Thanks again for all your help! I'll attack Windows and see what I can find out. If and when I sort it out I'll post the solution here

All the best,
Rune