Win 8 screen size in Virtualbox

robinbredin

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Hi what is, I'm running Win 8 in Oracle VirtualBox version 4.1.4, and I'm finding the screen size to be small. I also run Ubuntu in virtualBox, and it has a big screen. Anybody any ideas on how to increase the screen size. Thanks:confused:
 

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Hello Robin,

While running the Windows 8 VM in VirtualBox, you should be able to open the desktop from the Metro "Start" screen to change the screen resolution to a higher resolution the same way as in Windows 7 to have the VirtualBox window be larger.

Hope this helps,
Shawn
 

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    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
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Hello Robin,

While running the Windows 8 VM in VirtualBox, you should be able to open the desktop from the Metro "Start" screen to change the screen resolution to a higher resolution the same way as in Windows 7 to have the VirtualBox window be larger.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks Shawn, That worked a bit, it gave me more screen, but with scroll bars to the bottom, and side. But moving around using a mouse was terrible.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7
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    Dell Inspiron 570
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    AMD x2
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    Dell
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI HD 5670
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500GB
    PSU
    Corsair 600W
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    Dell
    Keyboard
    Logitech K300
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    Logitech G400 Gaming
Yeah, I found that I couldn't go above 1024x864 in the VM on my 1920x1080 monitor without getting the scroll bars either. A workaround would be to use fullscreen mode with VirtualBox. If you would like to give it a try to see how you like it:

Click on View (menu bar) on the VirtualBox window, and click on Switch to Fullscreen.

To get out of fullscreen view, you'll see a gray line at the bottom that will pop-up when you move the pointer over it where you can click on the same above to go back to window view.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
I think Shyam is right. With Ubuntu in vBox, I only got the full 22" screen after I installed the Guest Additions. Question is whether the Win7 version works for Win8.
 

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
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    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7 HP SP1 64 bit, Win 8 CP in VirtualBox
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300
    CPU
    i5 2310 4 CPUs
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD 6670
I found this link to work perfectly for me. In Windows 8 choose your new screen size (just check your screen size in the host to get the desired resolution), and then in VirtualBox switch to fullscreen.

Set Custom Resolution in VirtualBox for Windows 8 | MSTechPages

Thank you. I will try this. Now I have the screen up to 16" which is quite nice. I set the DPI to 125% and it works quite well. But I will try what the article proposes.
 

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    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
Post back and let us know how it works out. Also, I tried Windows 8 CP 32 bit ISO first, but couldn't get Guest Additions to install. I read online somewhere that it works in 64 bit. I installed 64 bit in VirtualBox, and the Guest Additions worked fine. Just make sure when you click to install Guest Additions, don't autorun and open up the folder and doubleclick amd64 Guest Additions (that's what I did anyway). You might have to have Guest Additions installed to get the optimum screen resolution. FYI.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7 HP SP1 64 bit, Win 8 CP in VirtualBox
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300
    CPU
    i5 2310 4 CPUs
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD 6670
Post back and let us know how it works out. Also, I tried Windows 8 CP 32 bit ISO first, but couldn't get Guest Additions to install. I read online somewhere that it works in 64 bit. I installed 64 bit in VirtualBox, and the Guest Additions worked fine. Just make sure when you click to install Guest Additions, don't autorun and open up the folder and doubleclick amd64 Guest Additions (that's what I did anyway). You might have to have Guest Additions installed to get the optimum screen resolution. FYI.

Yeah, my 64bit guest additions work fine. I already knew that there was a problem with the 32bit guest additions. So I picked the 64bit version - although that was bigger and longer to download.

I also have a double boot Win8 on my laptop. Both the vBox version and the double boot work from a SSD - really fast. Even in vBox, the WEI is still quite good - forget the generic graphics though. I gave it 3GB of RAM which seems to work nicely. Resource Monitor shows good usage of the RAM

2012-03-02_1802.png


.2012-03-02_2349.png
 

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  • OS
    Vista and Win7
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Works great:

I now have HD 1080p resolution on non-hd monitor! It can be fitted to screen in Scale Mode (Ctrl + C).

Additions work great but only with the experimental WDDM driver.

The basic acceleration (without aero support) fails to install.

The WEI system score failed the first time with the experimental drivers in Win8.
Virtualbox 4.1.8 succeeds the score with it's own driver (3.5 score for vbox graphics in win7 x64).

Thanks
Hopachi
 

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Hi Te7,

Great tip - runs fine on my 64Bit CP!!

Regards

Robin (The other one) +1
 

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    6Gb
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    Sapphire HD5770
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    On-board
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    ASUS VW246H, Samsing Syncmaster 2233, Samsung Syncmaster T200HD
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    1920x1080
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    Coolermaster Silent Pro M700
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    Dell Inspiron 1501 with Win 8 CP 32 Bit - flying along!
Hi Robin,

Glad I could help.
 

My Computer

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  • OS
    Win 7 HP SP1 64 bit, Win 8 CP in VirtualBox
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    Dell XPS 8300
    CPU
    i5 2310 4 CPUs
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD 6670
Hi te7, Now to calculate exact resolutions for windowed & fullscreen on my various monitors!! Good fun.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
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    Homebuilt
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    Asus P6T-Se
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    6Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire HD5770
    Sound Card
    On-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VW246H, Samsing Syncmaster 2233, Samsung Syncmaster T200HD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500Gb
    PSU
    Coolermaster Silent Pro M700
    Case
    NOX
    Mouse
    Logitech Marble
    Internet Speed
    10Mbps
    Other Info
    Dell Inspiron 1501 with Win 8 CP 32 Bit - flying along!
Hi Robin,

How many virtual machines are you running, and which ones? In VirtualBox, I currently have Windows 8 CP, Windows XP Pro, Linux Mint 12, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, and Ubuntu (I like to experiment). The VMs i use the the most are Windows 8 & Linux Mint. I tried Microsoft's Virtual PC (it gave good fullscreen resolution on Windows XP), but it wouldn't let my VirtualBox 64 bit guests run. I had to uninstall Virtual PC (a Microsoft update, which I had to uninstall). Are you running XP in any VMs? If so, which gave the best fullscreen resolution for XP? The VirtualBox fullscreen resolution for XP isn't so hot.

Tom
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7 HP SP1 64 bit, Win 8 CP in VirtualBox
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300
    CPU
    i5 2310 4 CPUs
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD 6670
I found this link to work perfectly for me. In Windows 8 choose your new screen size (just check your screen size in the host to get the desired resolution), and then in VirtualBox switch to fullscreen.

Set Custom Resolution in VirtualBox for Windows 8 | MSTechPages

Thank you. I will try this. Now I have the screen up to 16" which is quite nice. I set the DPI to 125% and it works quite well. But I will try what the article proposes.

Thanks that works nicely for me. You need to put the full path to your VM in the name and give it a .vbox extension for it to work. It works for me with basic guest additions but if you try to add the experimental 3d support my setup locks up just prior to the logon screen. There are some workarounds on the VirtualBox forums but none worked for me. It seems to work OK provided you are in Full Screen mode so it will do.
 

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Hi te7,

I've got Ubuntu, DP 32 bit, DP 64 bit & CP 64 Bit in Virtualbox, Vista 64 & Win 7 64 triple boot with DP64 bit (I needed to do that when I deleted my XP partition & Bootmgr went with it!) Screen res in Ubuntu is ok, and now I can do the same for the CP64 bit - I think the DP's will be deleted. Probably wont go to Win 8 CP in triple boot mode - waiting for my state Pension to kick in (Or a lottery win!) then I will go to SSD's & a Raid arrary which will be a fair amount of work....!!

I'll have a play with resultions after I've (hopefully) upped my Memory to 12Gb this a.m.

Regards

Robin
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    WIN7 Home Premium 64-bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    Intel I7 920
    Motherboard
    Asus P6T-Se
    Memory
    6Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire HD5770
    Sound Card
    On-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VW246H, Samsing Syncmaster 2233, Samsung Syncmaster T200HD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500Gb
    PSU
    Coolermaster Silent Pro M700
    Case
    NOX
    Mouse
    Logitech Marble
    Internet Speed
    10Mbps
    Other Info
    Dell Inspiron 1501 with Win 8 CP 32 Bit - flying along!
Hi te7,

Done the memory upgrade (I'll give VBox a few more Gb to play with) and tried a variety of resolutions using the method posted but adding +1 to the CustomVideoModeN each time - so I now have a 1600x900 with no scroll bars which works very well in a window and 1920x1080 running in Fullscreen mode. The 1050 is too high for a HD Monitor (my old 1600x1200 would have been fine) in a window and why lose realestate in fullscreen mode!

Good stuff!!

Robin (The other one!)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    WIN7 Home Premium 64-bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    Intel I7 920
    Motherboard
    Asus P6T-Se
    Memory
    6Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire HD5770
    Sound Card
    On-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VW246H, Samsing Syncmaster 2233, Samsung Syncmaster T200HD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500Gb
    PSU
    Coolermaster Silent Pro M700
    Case
    NOX
    Mouse
    Logitech Marble
    Internet Speed
    10Mbps
    Other Info
    Dell Inspiron 1501 with Win 8 CP 32 Bit - flying along!
Yeah, I found that I couldn't go above 1024x864 in the VM on my 1920x1080 monitor without getting the scroll bars either. A workaround would be to use fullscreen mode with VirtualBox. If you would like to give it a try to see how you like it:

Click on View (menu bar) on the VirtualBox window, and click on Switch to Fullscreen.

To get out of fullscreen view, you'll see a gray line at the bottom that will pop-up when you move the pointer over it where you can click on the same above to go back to window view.

Brink, I'm afraid you're right. When I go to a higher resolution than 1024 x 864, the desktop is too big for my monitor. When I tried the Fullscreen option, it only turned the areas outside the desktop black.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
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