6.0.12 on ubuntu 18.04 with ubuntu 16.04 xfce guest vm - can't resize screen

[tuxian]

Hi,

I've just updated from vbox 6.0.10 to 6.0.12 on Ubuntu 18.04 with an Ubuntu 16.04 guest vm running xfce. Guest additions have been updated in the VM.

Guest vm was originally running with VBOXVGA Graphics controller (with 3D acceleration enabled). Guest vm screen/desktop worked fine under 6.0.10 (incl resizing).

Based on the startup prompt telling me to change graphics controller mode I've tried switching to VMSVGA (with 3rd accel on or off). That gives me a guest vm screen that I can resize, but the vm desktop background doesn't refresh to fill to the new size and I cannot use the extra space allocated.

I also tried VBoxSVGA - that just gives me a black screen.

So I've had to switch back to the deprecated VBOXVGA for now.

How do I fix this properly?

Thanks in advance.

IanG

[tuxian]

In answer to my own question...
After a bit more investigation I found I had 5.1.x versions of virtualbox-guest-utils and virtualbox-guest-x11 repo packages installed in the VM, despite running Vbox 6.0.12.
I removed these, reinstalled Guest additions and switched Graphics Controller to VBoxSVGA (with 3D accel) and I can now resize the VM screen as before.

[socratis]

Ubuntu 16.04 guest

reinstalled Guest additions and switched Graphics Controller to VBoxSVGA

VBoxSVGA is for Windows guests only. Everything else should be using VMSVGA, please switch to that. I won't mark the thread as [Resolved] yet, I'd like your feedback on that...

[tuxian]

I did try VMSVGA initially after removing the old repo packages. But switching to VMSVGA (with or without 3D accel.) gives me a VM with a screen that I cannot resize which is why I tried VBoxSVGA.

Interestingly (or possibly not ) the /usr/bin/xfce4-display-settings utility also fails to run within the VM when I switch to VMSVGA, but runs fine under VBOXSVGA.

In case it's useful, the tail end of the strace when I try to startup /usr/bin/xfce4-display-settings contains:

Code: Select all

recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc575663d0, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc575663d0, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN|POLLOUT}], 1, -1) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLOUT}])
writev(3, [{"\2\0\4\0\256\0@\1\0\10\0\0\0\0\2\0+\0\1\0", 20}, {NULL, 0}, {"", 0}], 3) = 20
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 1, -1)    = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])
recvmsg(3, {msg_name(0)=NULL, msg_iov(1)=[{"\1\1\10\1\0\0\0\0 \0\240\4\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0", 4096}], msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, 0) = 32
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc57566470, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc57566470, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN|POLLOUT}], 1, -1) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLOUT}])
writev(3, [{"\20\0\6\0\16\0@\1_NET_SUPPORTED\377\377", 24}, {NULL, 0}, {"", 0}], 3) = 24
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 1, -1)    = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])
recvmsg(3, {msg_name(0)=NULL, msg_iov(1)=[{"\1\0\t\1\0\0\0\0\234\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0", 4096}], msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, 0) = 32
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc575664a0, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc575664a0, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN|POLLOUT}], 1, -1) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLOUT}])
writev(3, [{"\24\0\6\0d\1\0\0\234\1\0\0\4\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\377\377\377\377", 24}, {NULL, 0}, {"", 0}], 3) = 24
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 1, -1)    = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])
recvmsg(3, {msg_name(0)=NULL, msg_iov(1)=[{"\1 \n\1L\0\0\0\4\0\0\0\0\0\0\0L\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"..., 4096}], msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, 0) = 336
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc57566440, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc57566440, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}, {fd=4, events=POLLIN}, {fd=9, events=POLLIN}, {fd=11, events=POLLIN}], 4, 0) = 0 (Timeout)
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN|POLLOUT}], 1, -1) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLOUT}])
writev(3, [{"\24\0\6\0 \0\240\4)\1\0\0\4\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\377\377\377\377", 24}, {NULL, 0}, {"", 0}], 3) = 24
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 1, -1)    = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])
recvmsg(3, {msg_name(0)=NULL, msg_iov(1)=[{"\1 \v\1\1\0\0\0\4\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"..., 4096}], msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, 0) = 36
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc57566490, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc57566490, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN|POLLOUT}], 1, -1) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLOUT}])
writev(3, [{"\24\0\6\0 \0\240\4#\1\0\0\6\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\377\377\377\377", 24}, {NULL, 0}, {"", 0}], 3) = 24
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 1, -1)    = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])
recvmsg(3, {msg_name(0)=NULL, msg_iov(1)=[{"\1 \f\1\1\0\0\0\6\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"..., 4096}], msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, 0) = 36
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc57566440, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc57566440, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN|POLLOUT}], 1, -1) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLOUT}])
writev(3, [{"(\0\4\0 \0\240\4d\1\0\0\0\0\0\0", 16}, {NULL, 0}, {"", 0}], 3) = 16
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 1, -1)    = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])
recvmsg(3, {msg_name(0)=NULL, msg_iov(1)=[{"\1\1\r\1\0\0\0\0008\24@\1k\0w\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0", 4096}], msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, 0) = 32
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc575664f0, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc575664f0, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}, {fd=4, events=POLLIN}, {fd=9, events=POLLIN}, {fd=11, events=POLLIN}], 4, 0) = 0 (Timeout)
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}, {fd=4, events=POLLIN}, {fd=9, events=POLLIN}, {fd=11, events=POLLIN}], 4, 0) = 0 (Timeout)
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN|POLLOUT}], 1, -1) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLOUT}])
writev(3, [{"\16\0\2\0 \0\240\4", 8}, {NULL, 0}, {"", 0}], 3) = 8
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 1, -1)    = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])
recvmsg(3, {msg_name(0)=NULL, msg_iov(1)=[{"\1\30\16\1\0\0\0\0d\1\0\0\5\0\23\0J\2i\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0", 4096}], msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, 0) = 32
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc575660f0, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc575660f0, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN|POLLOUT}], 1, -1) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLOUT}])
writev(3, [{"(\0\4\0 \0\240\4d\1\0\0\0\0\0\0", 16}, {NULL, 0}, {"", 0}], 3) = 16
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 1, -1)    = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])
recvmsg(3, {msg_name(0)=NULL, msg_iov(1)=[{"\1\1\17\1\0\0\0\0008\24@\1k\0w\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0", 4096}], msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, 0) = 32
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc57566150, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
recvmsg(3, 0x7ffc57566150, 0)           = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
--- SIGSEGV {si_signo=SIGSEGV, si_code=SEGV_MAPERR, si_addr=0x10} ---
+++ killed by SIGSEGV (core dumped) +++

[socratis]

Once more, in case it didn't stick... With Linux guests you use either the VMSVGA, or the older VBoxVGA (no "S").

[tuxian]

Understood - I've switched back to VBoxVGA for now.