virtualbox.org

The problem is inconsistency. To further explain:

I boot up my Linux Mint 18 VM, the machine boots up properly, and I am directed to the start/login screen.

The issue at this step is that even though I have my window set to fill the entire screen (via ctrl+f), the screen only takes up a small box of the screen—leaving the rest of the screen to be filed by black "borders".

What happens after I successfully login is that the screen then and only then readjusts itself. It is not an issue with the guest additions as I already have them configured.

So, you might be thinking: "well, it's only in the logon screen, right? What's the big deal?"

The "big" deal is that it's inconsistent.

For example: If I boot up my machine and then restart from any screen, it then fills in the correct space and looks good (in the new session), even at the start/logon screen.

Confused?

TL;DR:
If I boot up, the OS does not fill up the entire screen even though I have it set to that "view/scale factor". This problem only remains at the logon screen and fixes itself once logged in. When I restart from any point, this issue is no longer there and fills up the entire screen at all times.

My issue with this is that I know it has the capability to stay full screen at all times, and it shows it has that capability. I had it work with an older VM running Mint 17.3.

If it knows it can do it, and I know it can do it, why isn't it implementing it?

My only guess can be that it's being thrown off by something.

Any tips?

EDIT: File added.
EDIT#2: When I refer to screen-size or screen-resolution, I am referring to the screen resolution of the guest VM screen that gets allocated. Throughout the entire discussion, I am leaving the VM at full-screen "view". That factor remains constant, and it remains that way when I boot up. That's not the issue. The issue is that the VM itself does not take up the entire allocated screen space or use the correct resolution when booting up initially.

Post the guests log file ( as an attachment ). Right click on the guest in the Main Manager then click show log. Save and post as an attachment. Compress if it is too large to post.

Perryg wrote:Post the guests log file ( as an attachment ). Right click on the guest in the Main Manager then click show log. Save and post as an attachment. Compress if it is too large to post.

I added the file.

I see the guest additions being loaded several times during your session. Question is did you first remove the Mint version of the additions before you installed the version that matches your host version? If not then a purge of the installed additions making sure they are completely gone and then installing would fix this issue.

Perryg wrote:I see the guest additions being loaded several times during your session. Question is did you first remove the Mint version of the additions before you installed the version that matches your host version? If not then a purge of the installed additions making sure they are completely gone and then installing would fix this issue.

I believe a message came up when I initially attempted to install the guest additions via VB's menu.

If I recall correctly, the message warned of issues if I decided to install the VB Guest-additions with the pre-installed one's still on the machine. I canceled and dug into it.

After removing the guest additions, I went ahead and installed the VB GA.

I didn't run into any errors, but I had continued on thinking I did remove everything that I needed to remove. I can't remember in exact detail as to what I deleted, but this is really the only issue I've had thus far.

Given your discovery, I honestly don't know what to do at this point.

Is there a way to find out if I did delete everything and by extension, a way to delete whatever is causing the issue?

Like I said the best way forward is to delete the guest additions and reboot then check to see if you have a folder in /opt that may have contained the distro version and remove it. After that you can check with dpkg, synaptic, or aptitude to see if any thing is left over and if so remove it as well. Then try the install again and make sure that you do not see any errors or warnings. If you see an issue after that post the /var/log/vboxadd-install.log and the /var/log/Xorg.0.log ( as attachments ) so we can see what it says.

I uninstalled the guest additions using the CD-ISO that I used to install them in the first place (built in VB). The distribution was the latest, which incidentally was the version I installed using VB. This makes sense as I had already installed them prior.

I rebooted.

I then ran the suggested scans/look-ups using dpkg and synaptics (as well as apt). I didn't find anything.

Thinking I had gotten rid of everything, I thought I'd just reinstall the VB G.A. (again). Once again, the message suggesting not to continue (as it found traces of previous G.A. installed) showed up. I canceled.

Out of frustration, I inserted the VBox G.A. ISO and ran the uninstall of the G.A. (even though I knew there was nothing there to uninstall). That apparently did something when I forced it, but I can't remember what the output consisted of. Whether or not it actually did something is beyond me.

Thinking it did do something, I decided to reboot. What happened then was weird: the screen adjusted to my screen (even at start-screen)—which isn't normally the case when you don't have G.A. (in my experience at least).

Now, thinking that I had removed everything, I installed the G.A. from VB's ISO once again. This time, the installation did not flash a warning message and instead just went straight to it.

At that point, I assumed that I had done everything I needed in order to get this to work properly.

It finished, and I rebooted.

You would think that the problem was fixed, but the issue presented itself at the logon screen. Once logged in, of course, not an issue.

I would have left it alone, but running without the G.A. caused the machine only to run in software rendering mode.

I've included the requested files as an attachment.

Something is simply not getting removed the best I can tell. The only suggestion that I have left is to add the vboxvideo module to the /etc/modules and see if it will force an earlier load.

Perryg wrote:Something is simply not getting removed the best I can tell. The only suggestion that I have left is to add the vboxvideo module to the /etc/modules and see if it will force an earlier load.

What's the possibility of this being acknowledged as a bug?

I just created a new machine with the same OS, this time removing everything before installing the G.A. I thought the process was clean, but I'm still suffering at the start screen. Given that this is also happening on my Kubuntu guest, I'm really starting to think it's due to VB's recent update. If I'm not mistaken, there was an update recently. I decided to install it last week or so.

The funny thing is, this hasn't been affecting my CentOS guest, but I'm not sure if it's due to the G.A. or what.

I'll keep playing around with things, but I'm hoping others start having the same problem as I do. This is really starting to nag me.

What's the possibility of this being acknowledged as a bug?

Possible but I and a lot of others do not have this issue. kubuntu uses kde ( which I refuse to use ) and that might have something to do with it. VBox is does not handle kde that well.

Perryg wrote:Possible but I and a lot of others do not have this issue. kubuntu uses kde ( which I refuse to use ) and that might have something to do with it. VBox is does not handle kde that well.

Sorry to bother you again, but when you say you "do not have this issue", do you mean that when you boot/start a VM that they always start at your max-resolution when in full-screen mode?

Or, are you saying that the issue I've described isn't bothering anyone but me?

I am saying I don't see this issue. Guests boot to what ever it was I shut them down with. I do not use KDE and that may have something to do with it not working properly, but I have no way to tell. I would have thought that in the last 30 days if someone else was having this they would have posted a me too to your topic, but here again it may be due to others not using KDE, but then again I have no way to validate the either.

You can always post a ticket at bugtracker, but from experience they do not put KDE issues to the top of their list of to do.

I get the same black border around the login screen but it's consistent.
Namely, it occurs when a guest is first booted AND if I subsequently
switch user, which presents the login screen again.
Once past the login screen, the session is fullscreen and remains that way.

Host is Debian 8, guests are Linux Mint Debian Edition 2 with the Mate desktop.

This behaviour started around VirtualBox 5.0.20 or perhaps 5.0.22 and it's
been the case in all the 5.1 releases I've used - 5.1.2 through to 5.1.20

By chance, do you also have issues getting to the mini-toolbar when in full-screen mode after logging on?

That's something I've noticed happening on my Mint guest but not other guests.

No, currently I have no problems with the mini-toolbar.