I am using Ubuntu 14.04 and I have created a virtual machine with the same ISO. In the virtual machine the terminal window shows up with a strange transparent gradient that makes it unusable. How can I fix this?
The default video driver for KVM/qemu libvirt type VMs is the cirrus driver and that is the root issue. Years ago, there were problems with the vmvga driver, and cirrus was made the default. Issues with the vmvga driver have long since been fixed.
For a new VM defintion, specify the vmvga driver.
To fix an existing VM then use virsh edit and change this line:
<model type='cirrus' vram='9216' heads='1'/>
to this:
<model type='vmvga' vram='9216' heads='1'/>
If the VM name is, for example, desk_tt then the defintion file will be /etc/libvirt/qemu/desk_tt.xml. Myself, I make a copy before changing things.
sudo cp desk_tt.xml desk_tt.xml.original
then, and you MUST use virsh edit do NOT edit the file directly, as virsh edit will do a bunch of checks upon save and exit. From any directory do:
virsh edit desk_tt
There is probably a way to make the change using virt-manager, but I do not use it, and so do not know how.
Note: the default editor used by virsh edit is as defined by the $EDITOR environment variable, or VI if it does not exist. add export EDITOR="/bin/nano" to your ~/.bashrc file to set, for example, nano as your default editor.
Note: Readers might be tempted to increase the video ram, vram, in the above line, as depending on your screen size it probably isn't enough. At the time of posting this answer, the vram parmeter is ignored.
The default video driver for KVM/qemu libvirt type VMs is the cirrus driver and that is the root issue. Years ago, there were problems with the vmvga driver, and cirrus was made the default. Issues with the vmvga driver have long since been fixed.
For a new VM defintion, specify the vmvga driver.
To fix an existing VM then use
virsh editand change this line:to this:
If the VM name is, for example, desk_tt then the defintion file will be
/etc/libvirt/qemu/desk_tt.xml. Myself, I make a copy before changing things.then, and you MUST use
virsh editdo NOT edit the file directly, asvirsh editwill do a bunch of checks upon save and exit. From any directory do:There is probably a way to make the change using
virt-manager, but I do not use it, and so do not know how.Note: the default editor used by
virsh editis as defined by the $EDITOR environment variable, or VI if it does not exist. addexport EDITOR="/bin/nano"to your~/.bashrcfile to set, for example, nano as your default editor.Note: Readers might be tempted to increase the video ram, vram, in the above line, as depending on your screen size it probably isn't enough. At the time of posting this answer, the vram parmeter is ignored.
The driver type can also be edited from the menu on the virtual machine terminal: View > Details > Video Cirrus
I selected VMVGA for the model, restarted the virtual machine and my terminals were no longer suffering from a transparent background.