Arch Linux

dgalt

Member

Registered: 2015-04-22

Posts: 52

After VirtualBox 5.0 Update - Guest Resolution / Scaling issue

I have Arch running in a VirtualBox vm on a few different machines (windows 8.1 laptop, windows 7 desktop). Everything was working fine, but when I updated to the virtualbox-guest-utils 5.0+ I ran into an issue with what I assume is the scaling (or something) of the guest window. I have downgraded back to an older version of virtualbox-guest-utils, and the problem went away, but this is obviously not a long term solution. The best way to illustrate what is going on is problem just with a couple pictures:

Pre 5.0:
http://imgur.com/HrL8LjV

Post 5.0:
http://imgur.com/3WNYSsh

The only difference between the two images above is the version of virtualbox-guest-utils installed at the time. I've tried playing with the resolution settings and scaling settings in virtualbox, but they don't lead to real solutions (I can setting the scaling higher, but then I have to scroll left and right just to see the whole Arch desktop; setting the resolution to various smaller values also doesn't fix the problem).

As mentioned, this is an issue on both my Windows 8.1 laptop and Windows 7 desktop. It's a larger issue on my laptop, due to my laptop being 3200 x 1800 resolution (vs. 1920 x 1080 on my desktop), which is maybe a clue as to what is going on (or not, I don't really know). This occurs across all applications I've tested.

I'm not sure what other information is relevant. My system is up to date, and I'm using the most recent release version of VirtualBox and virtualbox-guest-utils. Let me know what other information might be helpful.

Thanks

Last edited by dgalt (2015-11-17 15:39:17)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 11,592

Re: After VirtualBox 5.0 Update - Guest Resolution / Scaling issue

Did you update Virtualbox on the host?

Edit: Also see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … s_and_code
Fix it before a mod comes in and yells at you.

Last edited by Scimmia (2015-11-17 04:00:06)

dgalt

Member

Registered: 2015-04-22

Posts: 52

Re: After VirtualBox 5.0 Update - Guest Resolution / Scaling issue

Yes, I'm using the most update to date version of VirtualBox on the host.

And thanks for the heads up. Not sure how to just post thumbnails, so I'll just leave the imgur links (I assume this is OK).

dgalt

Member

Registered: 2015-04-22

Posts: 52

Re: After VirtualBox 5.0 Update - Guest Resolution / Scaling issue

I can also confirm that all the virtualbox utilities are running:

 dan ~ $ lsmod | grep vb
vboxvideo              16384  1
drm                   286720  3 vboxvideo
vboxsf                 45056  0
vboxguest             221184  6 vboxsf

Edit - other details:

Using VirtualBox version 5.0.10 r104061

I get different behavior based on how I have the view settings set. Under View there is the option to "Auto-Resize Guest Display" - if I have this set to True, I get the incredibly small scale that seen in the picture above. If I have "Auto Resize Guest Display" turned off, however, when I reboot the machine and start Xserver the guest display is in a tiny box in the center of the window. If I go into Scaled Mode the font is now very large. This is apparently due to the resolution being set to 640x480. If I then go into view and set Virtual Screen to be as large as possible (it goes up to 1920 x 1200, which is not the max resolution of the laptop monitor) the guest display resizes to be a bit larger and when I go into Scaled Mode the scaling looks closer to what it should be, but it is still not correct (everything is still too small).

Not sure if those are relevant details. Not sure where I should be looking next

Last edited by dgalt (2015-11-17 19:52:08)