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Nyxynyx
Asked: 2014-04-23 08:31:04 +0800 CST

Resolution doesn't change when resizing Virtualbox window

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I've installed Ubuntu 64bit on Virtualbox 4.2.16. Guest Additions were installed in Ubuntu as well.

However the display resolution of Ubuntu does not seem to change as the Virtualbox window is resized or if we were to go into Full Screen mode. Any ideas?

virtualbox

9 Answers

  1. I had this problem as well running a newly installed version of VirtualBox (VirtualBox 6.0). I tried installing the aforementioned packages but had no luck. My solution was simpler than I had anticipated. While the machine is powered off, go to:

    Settings (of the VM) > Display > Graphics Controller > and select "VBoxVGA"

    VirtualBox had set this option to "VMSVGA" by default for me. Fortunately, I noticed this subtle difference when comparing the settings between some of my virtual machines. I hope this works for you as well!

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  2. just type: sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-additions-iso

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  3. Best Answer

    Install the latest version of virtualbox say 4.3.10 or above from here and also it's corresponding guest additions, extensions Or you can also install the latest virtualbox version from the multiverse repository via apt-get. I also faced the same problem in older virtualbox version running Ubuntu 14.04 as guest OS.

    To install guest additions, follow this answer.

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  4. If that happens once you have the guest additions installed, it may help reconfiguring DKMS

    dpkg-reconfigure virtualbox-guest-dkms

    It happens to me every time Kernel is upgraded and the above provides the solution.

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  5. I tried all of the suggested solutions:

    1. In the guest machine (Kubuntu 18.04), I installed 'virtualbox-guest-additions-iso' (thanks to Moshe Beeri)
    2. Installed 'virtualbox-guest-dkms' (thanks to Dr. Windows for the hint)
    3. While the guest machine is turned off, I checked if 'Maximum Guest Screen Size' is set to 'Automatic' (saw this suggestion in another post)
    4. Then I changed the 'Graphics Controller' to 'VBoxVGA'. (thanks to uceieluez)

    Only after the 4th step the resolution of the guest machine has been fixed. Now it automatically resize to fit the virtual machine window.

    I am not sure if the fix was because of changing the graphics controller or all of the above. Anyway, thank you all.

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  6. For those who already have the guest extensions and additions , you should go check for additional drivers and install the proprietary video driver for virtualbox , then reset your machine

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  7. I have installed and removed Guest Additions multible times (either from 'Devices' menu or from terminal) with no luck. I have noticed that while doing this, i was getting some terminal messages regarding DKMS.

    So... i tried to install DKMS separetely and boom! Full screen with high resolution again! So to summarise:

    • Install Guest Additions (Devices->Insert Guest Additions CD image...)
    • Open a terminal and type this sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-dkms
    • Restart

    Hope it helps.

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  8. In addition to ensuring that guest additions is actually installed in the guest machine you should also check the 'Auto-Resize Guest Display' option in the 'View' menu in Virtuablbox (on the host machine).

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  9. I know its an old thread, but I recently had the same issue on an Ubuntu host+guest setup and figured I might be able to help someone in my same boat.

    I had previously installed Guest Additions via sudo apt install virtualbox-guest-additions-iso, and would get the issue where I can either have resizing without 3D acceleration through VBoxVGA, or 3D acceleration with no resizing with VMSVGA (and no imcompatible settings message).

    I uninstalled the additions with sudo apt remove virtualbox-guest-additions-iso && sudo apt autoremove, then rebooted. I then installed Guest Additions the intended way, by inserting the ISO and installing the .run file, and viola, I now have auto resizing display with VMSVGA and 3D acceleration.

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