Win 8 screen size in Virtualbox

**robinbredin** · 10-17-2011

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

**Brink** · 10-17-2011

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

**robinbredin** · 10-17-2011

Originally Posted by Brink

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.

**Brink** · 10-17-2011

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.

**Capt.Jack Sparrow** · 10-18-2011

Hello there~

Have you tired to install Guest addons?

**whs** · 10-18-2011

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.

**Brink** · 10-18-2011

If you need help with installing the Guest Additions in VirtualBox, then steps 18-26 in the tutorial below can help show you how to.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...r-preview.html

**te7** · 03-03-2012

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

**whs** · 03-03-2012

Originally Posted by te7

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.

**te7** · 03-03-2012

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.

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