Solved New VM Install on Windows 11 .. full screen issue

THiBOR69 · Mar 7, 2024

Hello -
I just recently installed Oracle VM VirtualBox 7.0.12 with extension pack. I also installed VBoxGuestAdditions_7.0.97-158510, and finally Windows.11.Pro.23H2.22631.3235.EN-US.X64 -- It seems to all work and I can access the internet and network fine. My current problem is the display is not going full screen.

My view inside the VM is not filling my entire screen. Full screen does work but it is not expanding the VM window to my entire monitor. If I click on full screen from the top right menu ( the little square ) it will expand to complete full screen but very low res and HUGE TEXT. Scaling is set to default 100%. What am I doing wrong ?

Thank you

cereberus · Mar 7, 2024

I cannot say why you cannot get full screen but as you are using Pro, why not use Hyper-V which will handle screen resolutions much more easily (and generally faster too).

THiBOR69 · Mar 7, 2024

cereberus said:
I cannot say why you cannot get full screen but as you are using Pro, why not use Hyper-V which will handle screen resolutions much more easily (and generally faster too).

Well thank you for the sugestion, but I like VirtualBox and I know it can go full screen, I just forgot how..

cereberus · Mar 7, 2024

THiBOR69 said:
Well thank you for the sugestion, but I like VirtualBox and I know it can go full screen, I just forgot how..

I suggest you give it a try sometime - it has a lot of advantages when running a Pro guest in enhanced mode.

One of the main ones is that the virtual drives are in native Windows .vhdx format, and you can attach the .vhdx file as a dual boot option with a simple bcdboot command.

That way you can run the guest natively or in a virtual machine.

Also sharing files from host to vm is great as well.

I only use vb for non windows guests.

There are some great tutorials on the tenforums sister site.

hsehestedt · Mar 7, 2024

I'll have to note that I am not a user of VirtualBox so I can only take a guess here...

Have you tried adjusting the screen resolution in the guest VM to match the physical screen resolution? If the resolution matches your physical monitor, I would guess that this might make it occupy the full screen.

To do this, right-click on an empty area of the desktop on the guest OS and select "Display settings", then select the appropriate resolution.

hsehestedt · Mar 7, 2024

One more question: You note that you have the Vbox Guest Additions, but just to be clear, did you install those additions onto the actual guest OS?

gmcgee78 · Mar 7, 2024

What is your host OS?

cereberus · Mar 7, 2024

gmcgee78 said:
What is your host OS?

It says W11 Pro on 1st post.

Bree · Mar 7, 2024

hsehestedt said:
One more question: You note that you have the Vbox Guest Additions, but just to be clear, did you install those additions onto the actual guest OS?

Yes, that is the way it works in VirtualBox. You attach the guest additions ISO to the VM and install them in the guest OS.

gmcgee78 · Mar 7, 2024

That is the VM he still has to have a host. Open the Vm and in the upper left corner it will say machine. Click on machine and in the dropdown click on session information and then click on runtime information and make sure guest additions says 7.0.12.

THiBOR69 · Mar 7, 2024

Oh my I feel like such an idiot here.... I totally thought I had installed the guest additions CD but I never did !! LOL... I have it installed now and ALL is good :)

Thanks to all that replied.

hsehestedt · Mar 7, 2024

I saw your other related post where you note that your guest OS is showing the basic Windows display driver. That tells me that you almost certainly do NOT have the Guest Additions installed on the actual GUEST OS (the VM). From your first screenshot, note the "Devices" drop down menu near the top of the screen. Select that, then insert guest additions CD image. In the guest OS, install the guest additions from that CD image, reboot. That should solve the issue.

THiBOR69 · Mar 7, 2024

hsehestedt said:
I saw your other related post where you note that your guest OS is showing the basic Windows display driver. That tells me that you almost certainly do NOT have the Guest Additions installed on the actual GUEST OS (the VM). From your first screenshot, note the "Devices" drop down menu near the top of the screen. Select that, then insert guest additions CD image. In the guest OS, install the guest additions from that CD image, reboot. That should solve the issue.

You are correct.... thank you for mentioning that :)

hsehestedt · Mar 7, 2024

Ooops, sorry, I responded after you. Glad to see you got it working! It's easy to miss details like this. Too many steps to remember sometimes

Bree · Mar 7, 2024

THiBOR69 said:
My view inside the VM is not filling my entire screen.....

hsehestedt said:
I saw your other related post where you note that your guest OS is showing the basic Windows display driver.

I posted a screenshot like that on the other thread, replying with my VirtualBox VM - and yes, I had totally forgotten to install Guest Additions too

All done now. Auto-resize Guest Display is a neat feature, it changes the display to whatever size you have made its window....

hsehestedt · Mar 7, 2024

Maybe I need to play with Vbox. I was a user of VMware Workstation for many years, pretty much since it first came into existence. Unfortunately, they have been actually removing features lately, so I've abandoned it and switched to Hyper-V, but it never hurts to learn another Hypervisor.

Bree · Mar 7, 2024

hsehestedt said:
Maybe I need to play with Vbox. I was a user of VMware Workstation for many years, pretty much since it first came into existence. Unfortunately, they have been actually removing features lately, so I've abandoned it and switched to Hyper-V, but it never hurts to learn another Hypervisor.

Hyper-V is my hypervisor of choice, but I have VirtualBox on another machine, it's the only way I can run a Windows '95 VM.
I first installed VirtualBox to test Macrium's new viBoot support for VB that started with v8.0, then decided to keep it and play with it :wink:

383936d1674316794t-windows-95-a-windows-95-virtualbox.png

cereberus · Mar 7, 2024

hsehestedt said:
Maybe I need to play with Vbox. I was a user of VMware Workstation for many years, pretty much since it first came into existence. Unfortunately, they have been actually removing features lately, so I've abandoned it and switched to Hyper-V, but it never hurts to learn another Hypervisor.

Yep - each Hypervisor has pros and cons, particularly if Type 1 or Type 2.

Hyper-V is great at running Windows Pro or better guests.

It is not so good for other OSs as most can only run in basic mode and do not get sound. For these vb or vmware are preferable.

My main use of Hyper-V is to test Insider versions of Windows - also ypu can attach the .vhdx files and native boot from them as well.

I do use Ubuntu and Kali in Hyper-V (Kali is much easier) as they support xrdp so can be run in enhanced mode. Getting sound in ubuntu though is a complicated effort - Kali just works.

Hyper-V is less intuitive to a degree but there are a number of great tenforums tutorials by our legendary guru @Kari (hope you get well soon - we all miss you).

Here is a great tutorial for beginners.

Hyper-V virtualization - Setup and Use in Windows 10

How to Setup and Use Hyper-V in Windows 10 for OS Virtualization

www.tenforums.com

ajgringo619 · Mar 8, 2024

I've switched all of my VMs - Linux, BSD, and Windows - to Hyper-V; only real downside for me is the loss of the shared clipboard (don't care about sound). I gave xrdp and nomachine looks, but both were slow and/or glitchy. I really like Enhanced Mode, but my only Windows VM now is W11 Home so it doesn't work.

jimbo45 · Mar 8, 2024

THiBOR69 said:
Hello -
I just recently installed Oracle VM VirtualBox 7.0.12 with extension pack. I also installed VBoxGuestAdditions_7.0.97-158510, and finally Windows.11.Pro.23H2.22631.3235.EN-US.X64 -- It seems to all work and I can access the internet and network fine. My current problem is the display is not going full screen.

My view inside the VM is not filling my entire screen. Full screen does work but it is not expanding the VM window to my entire monitor. If I click on full screen from the top right menu ( the little square ) it will expand to complete full screen but very low res and HUGE TEXT. Scaling is set to default 100%. What am I doing wrong ?

Thank you

It's just possible that if Windows isn't activated then these sorts of changes might be disabled, I don't use Vbox but I do know if Windows isn't activated there are quite a few items such as personalisation etc will be disabled.

Just a guess though -- I'd suggest if on Windows 11 Pro like other people have suggested use Hyper-V -- fast efficoent and once you get used to it it's fine.

Cheers
jimbo